Monthly Activity Report of JICA Malaysia (The March 2015 issue) Main Activities in March/April

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1 Monthly Activity Report of JICA Malaysia (The March 2015 issue) Main Activities in March/April Signing of Record of Discussions (RD) with the Department of Environment (DOE) on the Project for Development of Mechanism for Household E-Waste Management in Malaysia (6 th March) Following the technical cooperation project titled The Project of Model Development for E-Waste Collection, Segregation and Transportation from Households for Recycling from September, 2011 to March 2013, JICA and Department of Environment (DOE) has mutually agreed and signed the Record of Discussions to kick off the second phase of Technical Cooperation titled The Project for Development of Mechanism for Household E-Waste Management in Malaysia on 6 th March, The second phase of technical cooperation project will further support DOE to enhance its capacity towards formulation of an effective & acceptable EPR model under the Malaysia scenario as well as the finalization of related guidelines & operation of EPR model for the household e-waste management in Malaysia. It will also facilitate implementing mechanism for sustainable collection and environmentally sound recycling of household e-waste in the country. The RD was signed by the Director General of DOE and Chief Representative of JICA Malaysia Office, while the solemn ceremony was witnessed by respective representatives from related government agencies such as Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Department of National Solid Waste Management, Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, State DOE etc.

2 Project to Support Participation for Persons with Disabilities The project and the Department of Social Welfare are going to hold a JobCoach Training for NGOs from 2nd to 6th March and also organise Job Coach Trainings in March for 3 states social welafare departments. Job Coach Netwark Malaysia (JCNM) will be officialy launched and established by Department of Soacil Welfare on 20th March and JCNM will support DSW techinically especially to conduct training programmes. The 4 th Joint Coordinating Committee of Project for Research and Development for Reducing Geo-Hazard Damages in Malaysia Caused by Landslide and Flood (4 th to 6 th March) This project, launched in 2011 under SATREPS (Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development) program held the 4 th Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) in Kota Bharu on March, 05, 2015 and attended by 38 committee members including Malaysian Government departments. Prior to JCC, some researchers visited 3 project sites along East- West Highway on 3 rd March. Those sites were installed with landslide monitoring equipment by JICA. On 5th March, JCC was started with the opening speech by Chief Representative of JICA Malaysia office with the participations of 38 related researchers and government officials. After each group presented their progresses and outline of the terminal evaluation was explained. On 6 th March, some researchers visited flood affected area in Kelantan including Manek Urai and Kuala Krai, and others visited landslide monitoring site near Kenyir Lake in Terengganu to see and understand the actual situation of each monitoring spots. Mar 4, Pre JCC Meeting Mar 5, JCC Mar 6, Site visit in Kelantan

3 <New Volunteers> 4 new volunteers are expected to arrive in March as follows; 1) A Senior Volunteer in the field of Environmental Education attached to Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB), Sarawak 2) A Junior Volunteer in the field of Enfironmental Education attached to Solid Waste Corporation Malaysia, SWCorp, Kuantan, Pahang 3) A Junior Volunteer in the field of Environmental Education attached to Solid Waste Corporation Malaysia SWCorp, Alor Setar, Kedah 4) A Junior Volunteer as Social Worker attached to Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Hospital Selayang, Batu Caves, Selangor

4 Main Activities in February/January Participating in the Briefing on Implementation of Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) of Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Program etc. of Royal Malaysia Customs Department (25 th February) Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD, HQs) conducted a briefing on implementation of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA), Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the renewal Customs Information System (u- Customs) at the HQs in Putrajaya for private companies which are Authorized Economic Operators (AEOs) on 25 th February. In the briefing, Mr. Noboru Kurita, JICA expert to RMCD made a presentation to explain the methodology of the implementation of MRA between RMCD and Japan Customs and the current situation and measures about the AEO program and MRAs conducted by Japan Customs for the participants from the AEOs, RMCD Headquarters and State Customs. Project to Support Participation for Persons with Disabilities Phase 2 Joint Cooedination Committe of the project was held on 16th January to share the progress and the status of the project with all the related stakeholders. The project and the Department of Social Welfare organized the training for TOT (Trainers of Trainers) of DET (Disability Equality Training) from 25 th January to 7 th February at national Council of Welfare and Social Development Malaysia in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur. Only persons with disabilities are applicable to this course. In total 24 participatns from NGOs and public sectors from 7 Asian countries attended this training and 20 TOT and 4 TOST (Trainers of Senior Trainers) also participated this time.

5 Annual Meeting with MFA (27 th January) JICA, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Malaysia, the Embassy of Japan had an annual meeting on TCTP implementation on 27 th January. The purpose of this meeting is to review the TCTP programs jointly conducted in 2014, to identify the issues and challenges in implementation, and to discuss and agree further improvement. During the meeting, we also exchanged views on the new areas of collaboration. Third Country Training Programmes (TCTP) Workshop (11 th February) JICA organized the TCTP Workshop for Training Institutions on 11 th February in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malaysia (MFA). The purpose of this workshop is to share the outcome of the annual meeting (conducted on 27 th January) and to improve TCTP planning, implementation and evaluation through sharing good practices and discussion. A total of 55 TCTP related officials from JICA, MFA and the relevant training institutions participated in this workshop.

6 JICA Partnership Program Non-Revenue Water Reduction (NRW) Technology Training and Capacity Building Project in Malaysia Certificate Giving Ceremony on NRW Reduction Technology Certificate Giving Ceremony on NRW Reduction Technology of Non-Revenue Water Reduction (NRW) Technology Training and Capacity Building Project in Malaysia implemented by TSS Tokyo Water Co., Ltd.(TSS) in collaboration with Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang Sdn Bhd(PBAPP) was hold on 29 th January. Mr. Ryji Noda, Consul General of Japan in Penang, Ir. Jaseni Maidinsa, CEO of PBAPP, En. Mohd Hizan bin Kamaruzaman, Director of Project Management Division 1, Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water Malaysia (KeTTHA), Mr.Masanori Takizawa, Executive Director of TSS Tokyo Water Co., Ltd., and Chief Representative of JICA Malaysia attended the ceremony. Certificates were handed over to 7 engineers from PBAPP and 18 participants from Water Operators in other states who completed the training programmes. In accordance with this ceremony, 5 Japanese enterprises on NRW reduction namely AICHITOKEIDENKI CO., Ltd., Kubota-C.I. Co., Ltd, Showarasenkan Seisakusho Co., Ltd., Nihon Water Solution Co., Ltd., TSS Tokyo Water Co., Ltd presented their products.

7 Provision of Additional Emergency Relief Goods in Ressponse to Malaysia s Flood Disaster Since the middle of December 2014, the continuous heavy rain in Malaysia had caused the worst flood in past decades at northeast part and most eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia, particularly the states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang were severely affected. On 1st January, the Government of Japan provided emergency relief goods such as Water Purifier (30 sets), Water Storage Tank (50 sets) and Generator & Code Reel (40 sets) for victims in the aftermath of this unprecedented flood. As the circumstances still persist, the Government of Japan has further decided to respond to the request of assistance from the Malaysian Government by immediately offering additional emergency items such as tents (120 sets), blankets (1,000sets) and sleeping pads (1,022sets). The handing over ceremony was conducted at UN Humanitarian Response Depot, Subang, Kuala Lumpur on 22 nd January Mr. Ogu Salim Bin Omar, Deputy Secretary, Deputy Secretary of National Security Council, Mr. Yoshinori Kodama, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Japan in Malaysia and Ms. Kyoko Okubo, Senior representative of JICA Malaysia office attended this ceremony. In the remarks, Mr. Ogu mentioned that the total loss of the flood was estimeted at 2.9 billion Malaysian Ringgit (800 million US dollars) and affecting more than 300,000 victims. We would like to offer our deepest condolence and hope that the goods could benefit the victims and the affected areas. We also pray that the flood victims could get back to their normal life and the flood suffered areas recover as soon as possible. For your further reference Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Malaysia Office Suite 29.03, Level 29, Menara Citibank, 165, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur Tel :( 60-3) Fax :( 60-3) Mr. Kojiro Matsumoto, Chief Representative Ms. Yoshiko Miura (in charge)