A veterinarian is one of two volunteers from  the Japan International Cooperation Volunteers (JICA) volunteer program who are preparing to get deployed to Samoa.

Ryohei Sato, who is a vet by profession, will be attached to the Animal Health and Production Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and will be based in Savai’i.

His colleague, Koki Iinuma, will work in community development under the Nations Development Programme’s GEF/SGP Global Environment Funds/Small Grants Programme.

According to a press release issued by the JICA, part of their roles as JICA volunteers is to improve human quality of life, share technical knowledge and skills, promote good relations, meet new people, further strengthen strategic development cooperation, and increase mutual understanding between Samoa and Japan.  

The total number of volunteers dispatched to Samoa since 1972 now stands at 644.  These does not include hundreds of past and present consultants and experts working within JICA’s grant aid projects in the country. 

The new volunteers are currently undergoing the first week of their five-week in-country training program, before officially commencing assignments with their requesting agencies.  

The orientation period gives them an opportunity to learn the Samoan language, and

experience their first-hand homestay in one of the villages through interaction with local families.

Six more volunteers are expected to arrive in the country at the beginning of next year and will work in education, health and sports.  Their 10-week pre-departure training is already underway in Japan.