Cultural Grant Assistance

is a funding program aimed at promoting culture, sports, and higher education in developing countries, including support for cultural heritage conservation. The program objectives, target beneficiaries, application process, and key features are as follows:

Objectives:

• Promote culture, sports, and higher education.
• Support improvement of facilities and purchase of equipment for cultural heritage conservation.
• Enhance mutual understanding and friendly relations between Japan and recipient countries.

Target Beneficiaries:

• National government agencies of eligible developing countries (as aid is provided in the form of grants to governments).
• Eligible countries are selected from the DAC list of ODA recipients.

Application Process:

• The recipient country's liaison organization (e.g., Ministry of Foreign Affairs) formulates target projects.
• A comprehensive application is submitted to the Japanese Embassy or JICA overseas office.

Key Features:

• Covers costs for procurement, transportation, installation of equipment, and construction/restoration of facilities.
• Supports activities such as Japanese-language study, promotion of sports (including traditional Japanese martial arts), and cultural heritage preservation.
• Since 1975, supported 1,450 projects with a total disbursement of 70.7 billion yen.
• Examples include digitization equipment for libraries, TV production equipment, museum exhibition equipment, and museum construction.

Additionally, there is a related Grant Assistance for Cultural Grassroots Projects (GCGP) targeting non-profit organizations at the grassroots level to promote culture and higher education with grants up to 10 million yen per project, focusing on sustainability and impact.

For detailed application and eligibility, applicants must submit project proposals, budgets, feasibility studies, and organizational information to the Japanese embassy or consulate in their country. The Japanese Government evaluates projects based on objectives, impact, and cost before approval and grant contract signing.