On Thursday, 16 March 2023, JICA would hold the maiden lecture Series- “JICA Chair”, at Ghana’s Premier University, the University of Ghana, Legon-Accra to share Japan’s unique of development experiences.

The event would bring together policymakers, experts, academics, business leaders, the diplomatic corps, civil society organizations, ex- participants who have studied in Japanese Universities, all under one roof to exchange ideas, knowledge and experiences.

Japan is considered the world over as the first country to modernize from a non-western background to establishing a free, democratic, prosperous and peace-loving nation based on the rule of law, without losing much of its tradition and identity. In this regard, Japan possess rich experiences and could serve as the best example or blue print, for developing countries to follow in their own quest for development.

The lecture series therefore aims at sharing Japan’s experiences and lessons learned through its modernization and development cooperation with the hope that it can lead development studies globally and thereby contribute to sustainable development.

By way of background, JICA in 2018 launched the “JICA Development Studies Program (JICA-DSP)” in collaboration with various Universities in Japan, with an aim to produce future leaders of developing countries. This program was designed to offer opportunity to study respective academic fields at Japanese graduate schools, and Japanese studies that explores Japan’s modernization and development cooperation experiences, in light of its historical and cultural background.

In a bid to expand the opportunities of such Japanese studies in partner countries as well, JICA initiated the “JICA Chair (JICA Program for Japanese studies)” in collaboration with leading universities in partner countries.
JICA Chair’s activities include short intensive lectures conducted by lecturers, dispatched from Japan, on Japan’s development experiences, in the fields of politics, economics, public administration, law and others.

This maiden lecture on the theme “Japan International Cooperation Policy toward Ghana and Africa” would be led by Prof. KATO Hiroshi, Vice-President, International University of Japan. The event would be associated with Japanese cultural experiences organized by JICA volunteers as well as reports from ex-participants who studies in Japanese Universities.