JICA ABE -INITIATVE SCHOLARSHIP 2021
The Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) African Business Education initiative scholarship to study in Japan for the 2021 academic year has been launched. This scholarship is JICA knowledge co-creation program for long term participants. This year, the scholarship will be in two main categories.
a.) Masters Degree and Internship program in for Youth
This category covers a Masters Degree in a Japanese University and an internship in a Japanese company. Usually the internship is conducted upon graduation form the university. The Internship period can go from two (02) weeks minimum to six (06) months maximum.
b.) Ph.D., for for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Global Leaders
This category is for those interested in PhDs in a Japaneses university. For short the program is referred to as SDGs Global Leader.
- Background
At the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V), held in Yokohama in 2013, Prime Minister Abe announced the “African Business Education Initiative for Youth” (hereafter referred to as the “ABE Initiative”). This is a strategic five-year plan providing 1,000 youths in Africa with opportunities to study at Japanese universities as well as to do internships at Japanese enterprises. ABE Initiative builds on the concept that there is a need for human resource development in both private and public sectors of Africa through cultivating strong human network between Japan and Africa. At TICAD VI held in Nairobi in 2016, Prime Minister Abe reiterated the Initiative. At the TICAD 7 held in Yokohama in 2019, “ABE initiative 3.0” was announced which would invite 3,000 African youths to Japan over the next 6 years.
More than 1,200 participants from all the 54 countries have ever joined the program since 2014, and over 950 participants have completed. This has resulted in establishing a wide range of human resource network of ABE Initiative participants. Furthermore, many Japanese companies and ABE Initiative participants have collaborated in various ways to promote private sectors development in Africa.
In addition, there are still many challenges to achieve “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” in Africa. It is thus vital to develop human resources that contribute to tackling the challenges in the respective fields through policy decision and implementation. JICA established a new long-term training program from JFY 2019 to foster young/middle bureaucrats, academicians and leading human resources in various fields of target countries who will make influence on policy making processes of their countries or will contribute to socioeconomic development in near future.
Hence, JICA provides two (2) programs:
A: Master’s Degree and Internship Program of African Business Education Initiative for Youth and
B: SDGs Global Leader for those interested in Ph.D.,s
- Program Outline
For more information concerning the various programs, please select the program you are interested in below
The application forms and associated documents related to the scholarship application process can be downloaded from the links provided below