Technical Intern Training Programme (TITP), which has been implemented to expand the international support system for increasing the economic growth in developing countries, has some issues that need to be solved, since the social situation has been changing time after time.
by DEVNET JAPAN
One of the issues is that sometimes TITP has been used just to fulfill labor power for the implementing companies. The purpose of TITP is to transfer skills, technology, and knowledge to developing countries and to cooperate in their human resources development, which will play an important role in their economic development. TITP is not the solution to solve the shortage of human resources in Japan, even though it is one of the serious issues in the country.
Unfortunately, many ex-technical intern trainees in Japan, actually do not use skills and knowledge they got in Japan after returning to their home countries. According to the information from International Cross-Industrial Cooperatives (ICIC), a supervising-organization involved in TITP, most of them is working, or started their own businesses, in their own countries in other industries with the funds they got from the programme.
It would be essential that Japanese government together with the government of sending countries should build a strong partnership and should exchange real time information, in order to promote entrepreneurship and employment in the industries related to the skills the intern trainees learned through the programme, as well as to expand TITP in the right way, following the UN Human Rights and SDG principles. Both countries and international organizations, such as Devnet, need to share TITP’s original aim with related people.
At the same time, it will be necessary to create a system and a mechanism that encourages the trainees to utilize the skills and knowledge gained through the training in Japan after returning to their home countries.
As one of the measures taken to deal with this issue, in February 2020 Devnet collaborated with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce (VCCI) and signed an internship agreement with Hanoi Polytechnic College (HPC) in Vietnam. The purpose of this agreement is to create an internship program between HPC and the Japanese companies receiving the students as interns.
The students in college beauty department will be able to earn credits in Vietnam while learning the job in Japan. Devnet conveyed to HPC the meaningfulness of internship programme as additional role to complement TITP and the accurate information.
In the poor regions of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, the annual cash income is said to be about 240USD to 480USD. To improve this situation it is necessary to establish and implement human resources development programs, such as TITP and internship programme.
To establish a cross-border cooperation, Devnet discussed with Mr.Trinh Dinh Dung, Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam in 2016, and has been discussing with Ms. Minh, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and Chairman of the Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Council (VWEC) since 2018 in every visit to Vietnam.
In addition, JICA and Devnet are about to create a system aiming to realize investment and financing start-ups by using the technology acquired in Japan, in order to support the trainees returning to their home countries. In the first round of consultations with JICA in January 2020, Japanese government decided to allow JICA to make investments and loans available to the returned trainees for starting new business in the primary industry (agriculture, fisheries, livestock and forestry) in their home country. Unfortunately, this programme’s implementation has been postponed due to the COVID-19, but it will be resumed soon.
In Vietnam, primary industry workers are 60% of the total. Most families of the trainees are engaged in the primary industry. Therefore, building the workable system will positively influence the country. In order to implement the same system with the Japanese agricultural cooperative system and agricultural mutual aid system in Vietnam, Devnet has been discussing with the Japanese government and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
These systems will cover Vietnamese primary industry’s weak point, whose management is difficult due to natural disasters, pests, fires, etc. For international projects promoted by Devnet, Devnet has obtained a commitment by Japanese government’s mutual aid system management organization, in order to receive their active technical guidance as a special measure. Support for private sectors accepting trainees and interns is also becoming more and more important. It is reported that COVID-19’s outbreak has caused a downturn in implementing companies business performance, and they are now unable to maintain employment. However, this situation should not disadvantage the trainees invited by Japanese government’s programme. In order to solve the issues, Japanese government and international organizations such as Devnet must accurately understand the business situation of implementing companies and of the trainees in Japan, in order to support them.
Devnet is collaborating with private sectors, other non-governmental organizations and the Japanese Government in ensuring that the implementation of Japan’ s TITP fully incorporates the goals of 2030 UN’s Agenda for Sustainable Development.I n order to help TITP’s work in the right way, following the UN Human Rights and SDG principles, Devnet is sharing the actual information with Japanese government and Japanese embassies in the sending countries.
Devnet is also working to build a community with Japanese private sectors having international influence that facilitate these issues to be solved. It is believed that the community should be organized by not only some governmental related organizations, but also by more private sectors in order to solve the issues. As a first step, the Nagoya Branch of Devnet JAPAN was established on October 20, 2020 in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
The difficulty on employment of the trainees under current COVID-19 situation should not be addressed only by each implementing company individually. All companies related to TITP should work on together for their support.