JIACA volunteers.

JAPANESE International Cooperation Agency (JICYA) welcomes six new volunteers who will be serving in different sectors of the country.

Speaking to the paper yesterday, the volunteers expressed much interest in working in the country.

When asked why they chose to do volunteer work in the Solomons, to work abroad and help people, to share their experiences and learn new things stood out as the main reasons.

The volunteers are Mr Kazuo Imai (SV), Ms Mayumi Yasuda (SV), Mr Yuta Motoi, Ms Masae Murashima, Ms Risa Shimizu and Mr Yasuharu Tamai.

When asked why he decided to volunteer to work in the country, Mr Imai said that he used to work in Japan as a refrigerator engineer for Mitsubishi Company for forty-two years and after retiring at the age of sixty he wanted to do anything and going abroad was one of them. Mr Imai will work in the National Medical Store.

In regards to the above order of names the volunteers will work at National Medical Store, School of Nursing (SINU,MEHRD), Community development (Auki/MAL), Seghe Regional Clinic (Western province), Environmental Education (Isabel Environment office) and Community development (Fisheries division, G-province).

The volunteers include four from JOCVS and two senior volunteers. There are two types of volunteers under JICA which are JOCVS (Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers) and SV (Senior Volunteers).

JOCVS recruitment targets people who are between the ages of twenty and thirty-nine with areas of cooperation covering nine sectors and a diverse range of approximately one hundred and eighty sub-sectors which include agriculture, forestry and fisheries, fabrication, repair operations, civil engineering, sanitation, education, culture, sports and planning and administration.

As for SV, the recruitment is directed at people between the ages of forty and sixty-nine who have a strong desire to participate in cooperative activities in developing countries.

This recruitment will also allow these people to utilise their profound experiences including the specialised knowledge and technologies which have been cultivated over a long period of time.

JICA has been evaluating it’s volunteer programs thus resulted in the reconfirmation of the agency’s goals which are to contribute to the socioeconomic development or reconstruction of developing countries and regions, to strengthen friendship and mutual understanding between developing countries and regions and Japan and lastly to give back to society the fruits of volunteer-activity experience.