The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is an independent government institution founded in 1974 to coordinate Japan’s official development assistance. JICA implements in an integrated manner all of the official development assistance programmes deployed by the country (technical cooperation, cooperation for financing and investments, grants) and promotes international cooperation actions through various initiatives, including the JOCV (Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers) programme, which is particularly active in Africa, where more than 1,500 volunteers have already been involved in various domains.

JICA is active in about 150 countries and regions around the world and has about 90 offices abroad, including nearly 30 in Africa.

 

Sport for development and peace

JICA’s actions within the sport and development ecosystem are deployed under various initiatives, notably technical cooperation and volunteerism under the JOCV (Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers) programme.
They contribute directly or indirectly to the capacity building of individuals and local organisations around 3 main pillars:

- Support for the development of physical education, health promotion and the improvement of non-cognitive skills through sports and extracurricular activities;

- Promotion of social inclusion and peace: accompaniment and support for the most vulnerable people in disadvantaged areas, in particular women, children and people with disabilities;

- Improvement of sports performance: development of suitable sports infrastructures in order to optimise the conditions of practice, monitoring of the best athletes to maximize their performance with a view to major international sporting events, sharing of experiences between players, etc.