# Box 6. Aiming at the Expansion of Citizen Participation — JICA Partnership Project

To overcome issues faced by developing countries, active commitments to international cooperation by civil societies are important, in addition to government initiatives. In Japan, too, a growing number of citizens are participating in international cooperation. In response to the rising awareness of the people, JICA has been implementing the JICA Partnership Project since FY2002, to support citizen-level grassroots activities. This Project caters to cooperation activities that use experiences and techniques nurtured by Japan's non-governmental organizations (NGOs), universities, local municipalities, and public interest corporations, etc. The activities are implemented under the support of or jointly with JICA. Applicant organizations present their plans to support developing countries to JICA, which subsequently screens the plans, in light of whether they are appropriate to be carried out as part of ODA and whether they directly contribute to the lives of the local residents. Having cleared these conditions, the plans will be launched, with JICA entrusting them to the entities that proposed the plans.

The JICA Partnership Project is divided into three categories of: Grassroots Cooperation Support Type, Grassroots Partner Type, and Local Government Type.

## Grassroots Cooperation Support Type

• Budget ceiling: total of ¥10 million or less

• Duration: three years maximum

This type of support caters to those NGOs and public interest corporations that are experienced in activities within Japan, but less so in developing countries. JICA supports these entities to pursue international cooperation activities. Support activities in developing countries can be different from those carried out in Japan. JICA uses its know-how in assisting developing countries and thereby joins the applicant organizations in creating their projects, by offering advice from the planning stage and utilizing the expertise of its overseas offices.

## An example of the Grassroots Cooperation Support Type and the Grassroots Partner Type

Miyazaki International Volunteer Center (MIVC), a Japanese NGO, has been implementing a JICA Grassroots Technical Cooperation Project (Support Type) since FY2005. The Center collaborates with a local NGO, Dr. Graham's Homes, which runs a school in the District of Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. Until 2003, MIVC by itself had engaged in horticulture Projects in India as part of its educational activities, and it received many requests for technical instruction from farming households in the neighborhood of the Dr. Graham's Homes School.* The center therefore has responded since 2005 by building a horticulture technical center as well as giving instruction on the latest technologies for flower and vegetable farming. As a result of these activities, the neighboring farmers have increased the varieties of flower and vegetable they grow. Now they cultivate flowers such as gladiolus, sweet pea, statice, and delphinium. As well, they plant vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, sweet potato, tomato, and even Japanese rice. Furthermore, the farmers have also tried to establish their own sales channel. As a result, their products are now being sold in various places in India including Kolkata, Sikkim, and Delhi.

Thus far, MIVC has built greenhouses for flowers, with assistance of Miyazaki Prefecture, as well as a postal saving system to use interest for international cooperation. The Center has also participated in Miyazaki Prefecture's project to accept technical trainees from overseas. Having experiences with Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers in India in the 1960s, Ms. Sakuyo Sugimoto, MIVC's chief director, plays central roles in the Center's projects. She has promoted the cultivation of flowers and agricultural products, by launching the Japan committee for Dr. Graham's Homes School and setting up the horticulture department in the school.

In FY2008, acknowledging those various achievements, the Center was approved as an eligible promoter for Grassroots Partner Type. Ms. Sugimoto is now aiming at the further spread of flower production technologies in the neighboring farm villages, organizing shipments by producers, and further expansion of their sales channels.

Ms. Sugimoto and a local leader at their horticultural farm