THE Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has announced the withdrawal of its recently announced “JICA Africa Hometown” initiative, citing public misunderstanding and the heavy burden it placed on its country’s local governments.
The organisation announced the withdrawal in a statement on its website on Thursday, September 25.
The initiative, unveiled during the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in August, was designed to pair four Japanese municipalities with four African countries to foster exchanges through cultural, educational, and community programmes.
“Originally, under this initiative, it was envisioned that exchange programmes would be coordinated and implemented among the Japanese local governments, relevant African countries, and JICA. The specific details were to be determined later.
“However, JICA believes that the very nature of this initiative—namely, the term ‘hometown’ and the fact that JICA would ‘designate’ Japanese local Governments as ‘hometowns’ – led to misunderstandings and confusion within Japan, placing an excessive burden on the four municipalities. JICA sincerely apologies to the municipalities involved for causing such situation.
“JICA takes this situation seriously. After consulting with all parties involved, JICA has decided to withdraw the ‘JICA Africa Hometown’ initiative, part of the statement read.
The organisation said it envisioned the effort as a way to strengthen grassroots international cooperation and deepen ties between Japan and Africa but the concept quickly sparked confusion within Japan, especially the use of ‘hometown’ and the agency’s role in ‘designating’ municipalities, which led to misinterpretations, adding that the local governments reportedly felt overwhelmed by the expectations attached to the designation.
Despite scrapping the programme, JICA stressed that international exchange remained central to its mission. .
The agency reaffirmed its commitment to supporting collaborative efforts between Japanese communities and African nations while distancing itself from speculation about immigration.
“JICA remains committed to providing thorough explanations to the public regarding its activities. Regarding the foreign nationals’ entry and stay in Japan associated with JICA programmes, JICA will continue to maintain its meticulous management system as before,” the statement added.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.