Commissioner, held discussion with Chief Representative of JICA Ethiopia Office!

Commissioner H.E. Ambassador Teshome Toga, held discussion with Dr. Katsuki Morihara, chief Representative of JICA Ethiopia Office, on Thursday 21st September, 2023, at his good office, where His Excellency shared the motion at Tokyo Symposium on Ethiopian DDR Program held from 28 – 30 August, 2023. As well, His Excellency shared the Commission mandate and the DDR program objectives, the program project and its basket fund, as well the institutional capacity building documents, the commission activities since its establishment and challenges, the status of partnership and cooperation, JICA’s involvement according to the Tokyo Symposium. On his side Dr. Katsuki Morihara said, DDR need to see a broader perspective. He clarified that JICA is not a funding agency. For JICA he said two things are in a pipeline; (1) a technical cooperation project for school (education sector administration, school construction, management and feeding), water and sanitation in Tigray and Amhara regions (though the technical cooperation on education in the Amhara region is stacked due to the current situation), (2) livelihood improvement, especially in agricultural sector through provision of inputs like fertilizer, climate resilience. With DDR, he said, JICA can focus on target areas of education and agriculture. Regarding the institutional capacity building, he said, JICA’s DDR expert can help the program processes. He added, though, not JICA, Japanese government can support the basket fund. H.E. Ambassador Teshome Toga, at conclusion emphasized on JICA to link its programs with the DDR program like on psycho – social trainings and livelihood support.