Japan’s Governmental Assistance in TVET for Industrial Human Resource Development: Changing Patterns of JICA’s Project-Based Cooperation

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter focuses on the Government of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in developing countries. We focus specifically on the assistance provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), as the organization mainly responsible for technical cooperation for TVET. We analyze the changing patterns of JICA’s technical cooperation for TVET in relation to the domestic and global policy contexts that have influenced it. Underlying Japan’s international cooperation is its endogenous philosophy of human resource development (hitozukuri), which seeks to foster human resources for social and economic development. Japanese TVET assistance has been formed by the interactions between the philosophy of hitozukuri, a concept unique to Japan, the development needs of Japanese overseas factories, and international trends of ODA. Before 1990, Japanese TVET assistance had been largely conditioned by Japan’s social and economic situation and the philosophy of hitozukuri, as well as Japan’s relationship with recipient countries. However, after 1990, when development goals started to be shared worldwide, international trends became more influential. Analysis of JICA’s performance data shows that TVET assistance has been implemented in response to socioeconomic circumstances and policy factors in Japan as well as international trends, which have changed over time. However, there are many influencing factors that cannot be generalized upon as they are unique to each target country and project, reflecting the tendency in Japan’s ODA to respond to the actual needs of target countries.KeywordsTVETHuman resource developmentHitozukuriTechnical cooperationIndustrial developmentASEAN hitozukuri centerExport promotionJapan’s ODA policyJapan’s ODA projectCompetency-based training (CBT)