VI. General Policy Direction for Strategies in Each Field
International Cooperation and Friendship Exchanges that Japan will Promote

International Cooperation and Friendship Exchanges that Japan will Promote

1. Special Attention to Persons with Disabilities in Official Development Assistance

• Japan actively promotes projects receiving trainees from overseas and dispatching experts and volunteers (Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers: JOCV), etc., through agencies like Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). At the same time, Japan considers measures to encourage persons with disabilities to participate in international cooperation. These contribution are aimed at enhancing the ability of those engaged in the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, with the transfer of knowledge and know-how from Japan. Further, these efforts are in line with the spirit of Japanese "Official Development Assistance (ODA) Charter" which calls upon the Japanese Government to fully consider disadvantaged sectors in the society for effective implementation of assistance.

• Japan promoties cooperation which realizes comprehensive response to diverse needs of policies for persons with disabilities. This includes Grant Assistance, Grass-roots Projects and subsidies for Non-Government Organization (NGO) projects.

2. Promotion of Cooperation through International Organizations

• As a member of the Commission for Social Development, Japan actively participates in the project-planning Process of the United Nations for persons with disabilities. Further, to assist these projects, Japan makes financial contributions to the United Nations Voluntary Fund on Disability.

• Japan gives financial aids to the projects associated with "the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons." These contributions are to assist ESCAP(Economoc and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) and are made through the "Japan-ESCAP Cooperation Fund." Besides, Japan enhances the aids for projects which create barrier-free environment for persons with disabilities, through sending experts, etc..

• The promotion of international exchange and cooperation in special education fields through participation in and cooperation with (in forms such as the holding of seminars for specialists in special education, the dispatch of specialists from Japan and the acceptance of trainee visits by related organizations in Japan) regional cooperation initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region implemented by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

3. Promotion of International Cooperation and Exchange

• The promotion of the development of an international cooperation structure for information exchange on assistive devices.

• The promotion of international cooperation in forms such as the implementation of international joint research to marry superior Japanese industrial technology to overseas medical and welfare technology and thereby solve common issues faced by countries all over the world such as support for the independence, care and participation in community life of persons with disabilities.

• The promotion of the Alignment of Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) for assistive devices with international standards.

• The linking of countries and regions in Asia through methods su10ch as training of rehabilitation specialists and exchanges with private-sector groups, organized around the National Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled.

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The Government Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities
— A SEVEN-YEAR NORMALIZATION STRATEGY —
Tentative Edition in English

Translated by
the Secretariat of the Headquarter
for Promoting the Welfare of Disabled Persons,
Prime Minister's Office

6-1, Nagatacho 1-chome,
Chiyoda-ku, TOKYO, 100
JAPAN