The Japan International Cooperation Agency (独立行政法人国際協力機構, Dokuritsu gyōseihōjin kokusai kyōryoku kikō?), abbreviated JICA, from the English Japan International Cooperation Agency, is an independent government agency that coordinates Japan’s official development assistance .
Its mission is to help the economic and social development of developing countries and to promote international cooperation.
The current body was established on October 1, 2003 in accordance with the project defined by the law on the independent government agency for national cooperation (2002). It succeeds the (Japan) International Cooperation Agency (known by the same acronym of JICA); the latter, founded in 1974, was a semi-governmental organization placed under the authority of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Since 2012, it has been chaired by Akihito Tanaka, who succeeded Sadako Ogata, former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
