Since 1988,
the JOCV Bhutan Program assists and encourages the activities
of young Japanese wishing to cooperate in the economic and social
development of developing countries on the basis of requests
received from these countries. The erstwhile JOCV Office in
Bhutan was upgraded to JICA (Japan International Cooperation
Agency) in July 31, 2003. JOCV program in Bhutan is executed
under JICA now.
Japan has made significant
contribution to Bhutan in the development of its agriculture
and the socio-economic infrastructure by providing equipment
and technical expertise in these fields. Also several young
Japanese volunteers have been dispatched to Bhutan in these
fields and others for the transfer of technical skills. Lately
with development and changes in the requirements, there have
been several requests for volunteers specializing in the field
of Information Technology and Architecture.
JOCV (Japan Overseas
Cooperation Volunteer) Volunteers fall into two categories:
a) JOCV b) Senior JOCV
A Senior JOCV in principle has to be a former JOCV.
The term of a JOCV can vary between six months to two and half
years, depending upon the requirement by the user agency. A
short term JOCV can serve ranging from six months to one year.
On the other hand a usual JOCV serves for two years and can
extend the term up to six months.
Bhutan has been seen
the dispatch of around 211 Japanese volunteers under the JOCV
program since the start of the program in fields varying from
specialists in Agriculture Development, Architecture, Information
Technology Specialists, Physical Education Instructors, Japanese
Language Instructors, System Engineers to name a few. At the
moment, we have 28 JOCVs serving in Bhutan in various fields
including two senior JOCVs.
