TRAINING AND DIALOGUE PROGRAMS GENERAL INFORMATION ON Seminar on FutureCity Initiative 環 境 未 来 都 市 構 想 推 進 セミナー JFY 2013 NO. J1391008 / ID. 1399102 From October 16, 2013 to October 26, 2013 This information pertains to one of the Training and Dialogue Programs of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which shall be implemented as part of the Official Development Assistance of the Government of Japan based on bilateral agreement between both Governments.
I. Concept Background On June 18, 2010 New Growth Strategy was approved by Japan s Cabinet and FutureCity Initiative has been implemented as one of the 21 National strategic projects of New Growth Strategy. The purpose of the FutureCity Initiative is to create world-leading successful city/town development cases in terms of environment, social and economy. The initiative strives to resolve common issues for the 21st century and to disseminate such model solutions both within and outside Japan. After the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, the idea of Town development for better preventing disasters is incorporated to the FutureCity Initiative. On June 20, 2012 the minister of Foreign Affairs announced at United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) that the government of Japan will execute the Green Future Initiatives comprising the advancement of FutureCity to the world as one of the pillars by transmitting successful examples of Japan s future cities for building a green economy and a resilient society in the world. In this regard, Japanese government, together with international organizations, such as OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), UN-DESA (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affaires), and other international organizations, will hold a series of international conferences in October 2013 at the City of Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, western Japan, that is one of the advanced model city in Japan and is selected by OECD as the first model city in Asia for urban green growth. By taking this opportunity, JICA intends to invite decision makers who are interested in the topic which attracts greater attention in the world. For what? This program aims at introducing FutureCity Initiative and advanced town building concept both in Japan and in the world through FutureCity Initiative International Forum as well as visiting model cities in Japan, including a model city severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake. This program will also be dedicated to the establishment of FutureCity Initiative Platform that will provide the information of cutting edge technology, innovative knowledge and good practices in the world. For whom? This program is designed for high officials in central/local government and universities that address technological, practical and political issues related to the concept of FutureCity Initiative. How? This program cultivates the abilities to plan, formulate, and implement town building projects for solving challenges of society through smart grid, renewable energy and better prevention of disasters under the FutureCity Initiative. Participants shall have opportunities to experience and grasp practical activities of model cities in Japan. 1
A series of International Forums will be held from October 18 to 20: October 18 - OECD Green City Program organized by OECD and City of Kitakyushu October 19-3 rd International Forum on the FutureCity Initiative organized by Cabinet Secretariat, the government of Japan October 20 - International Conference on the The Future of City Development organized by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, UNIDO, OECD, and City of Kitakyushu. The Platform to promote FutureCity Initiative is initiated by the government of Japan that will promote new town building both domestically and internationally. This Platform also promotes collaboration between towns, businesses, academic institutes and universities beyond countries. 2
II. Description 1. Title(J-No.): Seminar on FutureCity Initiative (J1391008) 2. Period of Program / Training Period in Japan: October 16, 2013 to October 26, 2013 3. Target Regions or Countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam 4. Eligible/Target Organization This program is designed for persons related to town building through FutureCity Initiative, those are high officials in central /local governments and universities. 5. Total Number of Participants: 40 participants (1 or 2 participants from each country) 6. Language to be Used in this Program: English 7. Program Objectives: This training course provides the knowledge and information of FutureCity Initiative that aims at solving challenges of society through smart grid, renewable energy, corresponding aging society and better prevention of disasters by attending International Forum of FutureCity Initiative. Participants have opportunities to experience and grasp practical activities of model cities in Japan, as well as visiting a city damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake 8. Overall Goal: The idea of FutureCity Initiatives will be widely recognized and applied in the actual city/town development in the world, in order to realize regional revitalization and a sustainable society through demand expansion and employment creation. 3
9. Program Schedule: This program consists of the following schedule. No Date AM/ Program Place PM 1 Oct.16 Wed Arrival in Japan JICA Kyushu (KIC) 2 Oct. 17 AM -Briefing KIC Thu -Introduction of FutureCity Initiative PM -Lectures and Discussions on FutureCity KIC Initiative 3 Oct. 18 AM -Introduction of Related Activities by the Int l KIC Fri Organizations -Report Presentation on the Current Situation in the Participating Countries PM -Participating OECD Green City Program: Kitakyushu Report Launch Conference (City City of Kitakyushu of Kitakyusyu, OECD, Kitakyushu CCI) 4 Oct. 19 Sat -Participating 3rd Int l Forum on the FutureCity Initiative (Cabinet Secretariat, City of Kitakyushu the Government of Japan) 5 Oct. 20 Sun -Participating Int l Conference on the Future of City Development (Ministry of Foreign City of Kitakyushu Affairs, UNIDO, OECD, City of Kitakyushu) 6 Oct. 21 Mon AM -Site Visits in the City of Kitakyushu: Higashida Area (Smart Community), Eco City of Kitakyushu Town (Waste Recycle Industrial Park) PM -Go to Yokohama JICA Yokohama (YIC) 7 Oct. 22 Tue AM -Day Off (Option: Attending Smart City Week 2013, Smart City Service Showcase and Seminars) 8 Oct. 23 Wed 9 Oct. 24 Thu 10 Oct. 25 Fri 11 Oct. 26 Sat PM -Go to Sendai Sendai AM -Site Visit of Higashi Matsushima City (FutureCity in Tohoku Area which affected by Great Tohoku Earth Quake & Tsunami) Higashi Matsushima City PM -Go to Yokohama YIC AM -Participating Asia Smart City Conference Yokohama PM -Site Visits in Yokohama Area Organized by Yokohama Smart City Week 2013 Steering Committee AM -Wrap Up Meeting within the Group YIC PM -Evaluation of the Training, Closing Ceremony YIC Departure from Japan - *Please refer to the following HP for the detailed information of the FutureCity Initiative International Forum: URL: http://futurecity.rro.go.jp/pdf/malaysia_experttalk.pdf 4
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III. Conditions and Procedures for Application 1. Expectations for Participating Organizations: (1) This program is designed primarily for organization that intends to address specific issues or problems identified in their operation. Participating organizations are expected to use the program for those specific purposes. (2) This program is enriched with contents and facilitation schemes specially developed in collaboration with relevant prominent organizations in Japan. These special features enable the project to meet specific requirements of applying organizations and effectively facilitate them toward solutions for the issues and problems. (3) Participating organizations are also expected to make the best use of the knowledge and practice observed through this program in collaboration with Japanese central and local governments, businesses and NGOs. 2. Expected Participants: (1) Essential Qualifications 1) Current duties: The nominee should be high officials in central /local government, and universities. 2) Relevant qualification: The nominee is supposed to become a leader or coordinator for town building for solving challenges of society under the FutureCity Initiative. 3) Academic background: The nominee should have a bachelor s or a higher degree. 4) Language: The nominee should have a good communication and writing skills in English. 5) Health: The nominee must be in good health, both physically and mentally, to participate in the Program in Japan 6) Civilian: The nominee must not be serving any form of military service. (2) Recommendable Qualifications 1) The nominee with the work experience in the area more than 10 years. 2) Recommended by the Counterpart Organizations of JICA's projects which implement activities related to FutureCity Initiative such as urban development, environment, aging society, etc. (for details, please refer to the conceptual diagrams on FutureCity Initiative on pp 5-8 of this GI.) 3. Required Documents for Participation: (1) Application Form The Application Form is available at the respective country s JICA office or the Embassy of Japan. *Pregnancy Pregnant participants are strictly requested to attach the following documents in order to minimize the risk for their health. 1) letter of the participant s consent to bear economic and physical risks 9
2) letter of consent from the participant s supervisor 3) doctor s letter with agreement of her training participation. Please ask National Staffs in JICA office for the details. (2) Report on Current Situation and Expectation The nominees are requested to submit the Report on Current Situation and Expectation with the Application Form. The Report is to explain the current situation of your town or country, as well as the description of your work and expectations. The format of the report is attached as the Annex of this GI. 4. Procedure for Application and Acceptance (1) Submission of the Required Documents Closing date for application to JICA Center in JAPAN: August 31, 2013 Note: Please confirm the closing date set by the respective country s JICA office to meet the final date in Japan. (2) Selection: After receiving the documents through due administrative procedures in the respective government, the respective country s JICA office (or Japanese Embassy) shall conduct screenings, and send the documents to the JICA Center in charge in Japan, which organizes this project. Selection shall be made by the JICA Center in consultation with the organizations concerned in Japan based on submitted documents according to qualifications. The organization with intention to utilize the opportunity of this program will be highly valued in the selection. (3) Notice of Acceptance After checking the suitability of each nominee for participating in this Seminar, JICA will send Notice of Acceptance to eligible nominees through the respective country s JICA office by not later than September 16, 2013. 5. Presentation to be Prepared by the Accepted Participants: The accepted participants are requested to make a presentation on the Current Situation and Expectation. The details of the presentation will be described in the item 1. Reports and Presentation: at the later Section V. Other Information. 6. Conditions for Attendance: (1) to follow the schedule of the program, (2) not to change the program subjects or extend the period of stay in Japan, (3) not to bring any members of their family, (4) to return to their home countries at the end of the program in Japan according to the travel schedule designated by JICA, (5) to refrain from engaging in political activities, or any form of employment for profit or gain, (6) to observe Japanese laws and ordinances. If there is any violation of said laws and ordinances participants may be required to return part or all of the training 10
expenditure depending on the severity of said violation. (7) to observe the rules and regulations of their place of accommodation and not to change the accommodation designated by JICA. IV. Administrative Arrangements 1. Organizer: (1) Name: JICA Kyushu, Training Program Division (2) E-mail: kicttp@jica.go.jp 2. Implementing Partner: (1) National Policy Unit, Cabinet Secretariat, the Government of Japan http://www.npu.go.jp/en/index.html (2) City of Kitakyushu http://www.city.kitakyushu.lg.jp/english/index.html 3. Training Place This course will be implemented at City of Kitakyushu (Fukuoka Prefecture), City of Yokohama (Kanagawa Prefecture), and Higashi Matsushima City (Miyagi Prefecture) in Japan. 4. Travel to Japan: (1) Air Ticket: The cost of a round-trip ticket between an international airport designated by JICA and Japan will be borne by JICA. (2) Travel Insurance: Term of Insurance: From arrival to departure in Japan. The traveling time outside Japan shall not be covered. 5. Accommodation in Japan: JICA will arrange the following accommodations for the participants in Japan: (1) From October 16 to 20: JICA Kyushu International Center (JICA Kyushu) Address: 2-2-1 Hirano, Yahata Higashi-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka, 805-8505 Japan TEL: 81-93-671-6311, FAX: 81-93-671-0979 (81: country code for Japan, 93: area code) Please refer to facility guide of KIC at its URL, http://www.jica.go.jp/english/about/organization/domestic/pdf/kyushu01.pdf *If there is no vacancy at JICA Yokohama, JICA will arrange alternative accommodations for the participants. (2) October 21 JICA Yokohama International Center (JICA Yokohama) Address: 2-3-1 Shinkou, Naka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken 11
231-0001, Japan TEL: 81-45-663-3251, FAX: 81-45-663-3265 *If there is no vacancy at JICA Yokohama, JICA will arrange alternative accommodations for the participants. (3) October 22 Hotel in City of Sendai, Miyagi Pref. (4) October 23 to October 24 JICA Yokohama *If there is no vacancy at JICA Yokohama, JICA will arrange alternative accommodations for the participants. 6. Expenses: The following expenses will be provided for the participants by JICA: (1) Allowances for accommodation, living expenses, outfit, and shipping (2) Expenses for study tours (basically in the form of train tickets) (3) Free medical care for participants who become ill after arriving in Japan (costs related to pre-existing illness, pregnancy, or dental treatment are not included) (4) Expenses for program implementation, including materials For more details, please see the brochure for participants titled KENSHU-IN GUIDE BOOK, which will be given to the selected participants before (or at the time of )the pre-departure orientation. 7. Pre-Departure Orientation: A pre-departure orientation will be held at the respective country s JICA office(or Japanese Embassy), to provide participants with details on travel to Japan, conditions of the workshop, and other matters. V. Other Information 1. Reports and Presentation: (1) Presentation on Current Situation and Expectation As described in the previous page, each nominee is required to submit his/her report following the instruction in the previous sections. Based on this report, each participant will be requested to make a presentation approximately for 10-15 minutes at the earlier stage of the program in order to share knowledge and background with other participants as well as the hosts. Visual materials such as Power Point and pictures may be helpful for your presentation if you bring them with you. When you use Power Point, it is preferable to use letters more than 24 points and not to use pictures on the background. (2) Wrap-Up Report The participants are requested to present wrap-up reports at the end of the seminar program in Japan to share the ideas and plans gained through the seminar among the participants and the hosts. Each participants will have approximately 10 minutes for the presentation. 12
Please include the following items in your wrap-up reports: - Which ideas in FutureCity Initiative are useful to your city/town? - How will you apply those ideas to your city/town? (3) Laptop PC Participants are requested to bring their own laptops upon arrival in Japan. They will be useful to take notes, modify reports, and prepare for presentations during the seminar. 13
Annex Report: Current Situation and Expectation Name: Country: Job Affiliation: Division/ Your position: 1. Job description (your position, office/organization, etc. ) 2. Current situations and challenges of your region and community regarding town building in terms of renewable energy, smart grid, corresponding aging society and preventing disasters 3. Plan to promote town building to solve social challenges by means of renewable energy, smart grid, corresponding aging society and preventing disasters 4. Intention of participating in this training and expectation from the training [Intention] [Expectation] 5. Your opinion regarding FutureCity Initiative. *E.g. Important factor to promote FutureCity Initiative 6. Organization Chart (Please attach organizational diagram of your organization )
For Your Reference JICA and Capacity Development The key concept underpinning JICA operations since its establishment in 1974 has been the conviction that capacity development is central to the socioeconomic development of any country, regardless of the specific operational scheme one may be undertaking, i.e. expert assignments, development projects, development study projects, training programs, JOCV programs, etc. Within this wide range of programs, Training Programs have long occupied an important place in JICA operations. Conducted in Japan, they provide partner countries with opportunities to acquire practical knowledge accumulated in Japanese society. Participants dispatched by partner countries might find useful knowledge and re-create their own knowledge for enhancement of their own capacity or that of the organization and society to which they belong. About 460 pre-organized programs cover a wide range of professional fields, ranging from education, health, infrastructure, energy, trade and finance, to agriculture, rural development, gender mainstreaming, and environmental protection. A variety of programs and are being customized to address the specific needs of different target organizations, such as policy-making organizations, service provision organizations, as well as research and academic institutions. Some programs are organized to target a certain group of countries with similar developmental challenges. Japanese Development Experience Japan was the first non-western country to successfully modernize its society and industrialize its economy. At the core of this process, which started more than 140 years ago, was the adopt and adapt concept by which a wide range of appropriate skills and knowledge have been imported from developed countries; these skills and knowledge have been adapted and/or improved using local skills, knowledge and initiatives. They finally became internalized in Japanese society to suit its local needs and conditions. From engineering technology to production management methods, most of the know-how that has enabled Japan to become what it is today has emanated from this adoption and adaptation process, which, of course, has been accompanied by countless failures and errors behind the success stories. We presume that such experiences, both successful and unsuccessful, will be useful to our partners who are trying to address the challenges currently faced by developing countries. However, it is rather challenging to share with our partners this whole body of Japan s developmental experience. This difficulty has to do, in part, with the challenge of explaining a body of tacit knowledge, a type of knowledge that cannot fully be expressed in words or numbers. Adding to this difficulty are the social and cultural systems of Japan that vastly differ from those of other Western industrialized countries, and hence still remain unfamiliar to many partner countries. Simply stated, coming to Japan might be one way of overcoming such a cultural gap. JICA, therefore, would like to invite as many leaders of partner countries as possible to come and visit us, to mingle with the Japanese people, and witness the advantages as well as the disadvantages of Japanese systems, so that integration of their findings might help them reach their developmental objectives.
CORRESPONDENCE For enquiries and further information, please contact the JICA office or the Embassy of Japan. Further, address correspondence to: JICA Kyushu International Center (JICA KYUSHU) Address: 2-2-1 Hirano, Yahatahigashi-ku, Kitakyushu-shi, Fukuoka, 805-8505, Japan TEL: +81-93-671-6311 FAX: +81-93-671-0979