Since it first accepted 138 participants in 1954, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has accepted approximately 270,000 participants from developing countries for training in Japan during the past 57 years.
In order to verify factors that contribute to the utilization of knowledge and techniques/skills after participants have returned to their countries, questionnaires were distributed through e-mail to 856 former participants, of whom 601 were Indonesian (total response rate: 24.4%), and 264 were Laotian (total response rate: 31.9%)
Interviews were conducted with 28 Indonesian and 15 Laotian ex-participants through snowball sampling.
In the questionnaire, most ex-participants stated that JICA training was valuable. The reasons they mentioned were that they could understand conditions in Japan through field trips/observation, gain up-to-date knowledge about Japan, and learn about the process of technological development in Japan.
About the usefulness of knowledge and techniques/skills gained in Japan for their work, knowledge was considered to be slightly more useful than techniques/skills.
On the other hand, the participants had some difficulties in utilizing knowledge and techniques/skills because of a lack of budget or facilities/equipment, and differences between conditions in Japan and their own countries’.
In the interview survey, the majority of ex-participants provided examples of good practices in which they actively utilized skills/techniques and knowledge they gained in Japan after returning to their countries. The three factors contributing to this result were (1) their needs matched Japanese resources used in training. (2) Ex-participants developed awareness and learned new things spontaneously during the training. (3) Ex-participants and Japanese instructors maintained a long-term relationship after the training.
This study suggests that in order to enable participants to apply knowledge and techniques/skills gained in Japan to their local circumstances, JICA needs to identify appropriate technology that developing countries wish to implement and to conduct follow-up related to adoption and diffusion in their countries through ongoing dialogue.