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HOME  >  International Grant Program  >  2023

International Grant Program

International Grant Program 2023

Program Title: Cultivating Empathy Through Learning from Our Neighbors:
Practitioners' Exchange on Common Issues in Asia

Program Objectives

The grant program focuses on deepening mutual understanding and knowledge-sharing among people on the ground in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia who are finding solutions to shared issues. Through promoting direct interaction among key players, the grant program aims to survey and analyze situations in target countries, obtain new perspectives, and expand the potential of future generations.

With multinational teams comprised of participants from diverse backgrounds, projects can avoid conventional linear relationships, such as “supporter and supported” or “instructor and trainee,” and instead form cooperative and creative alliances that consider, act on, and construct solutions to shared issues. The grant program anticipates that these partnerships, which extend beyond such factors as nationality, age, and organizational affiliation, will produce significant social change through fostering a process of mutual learning.

Comments by Selection Committee Chair

Comments by the Selection Committee Chair on the International Grant Program 2023

Grant List

TYTID Project Title Project Leader Position, Organization Grant Amount (yen)
D23-N-0016 Development and Implementation of capacity Building Program for Child and Family Welfare Social Workers in Cambodia and Vietnam Mariko Kimura Honorary Professor, Japan Women’s University 8,500,000
D23-N-0025 Mutual Learning and Sharing Experiences for Enhancing "Community Capacity" through Community Based Tourism: Insights from Toei-Cho, Aichi Prefecture, and Nam Giang District, Quang Nam Province Hitomi Suzuki Researcher, Research Institute for Regional Planning & Development 8,700,000
D23-N-0040 Sustainable Coffee in Asia Connected by Migratory Birds - A Project to Promote Sustainable Coffee in Two Southeast Asian Countries by Environmental Assessment Methods Using Birds as Indicators Kazuo Koyama Director, Japan Bird Research Association 8,600,000
D23-N-0056 Joint Development of Citizen Empowerment Program for Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia Yasuo Kawawaki Professor, Kansai University of International Studies 8,700,000
D23-N-0061 Supporting Carers in Japan and Korea: Supporting Double Carers and Young Carers and Learning from Each Other towards Caring Democracy and Local Communities Azuma Keiko Representative Director, Double care support Association 9,300,000
D23-N-0089 Designer residence program for building relationships of mutual circulation Mikiharu Yabe Director, Agent Hamyak Inc. 8,500,000
D23-N-0092 Building a platform for mutual-learning and supporting social entrepreneurs, connecting Japan, India and Cambodia, with an ultimate goal of creating an empowering social investment community Satoko Kono President, ARUN Seed 9,000,000
D23-N-0100 Mutual Learning Project for Emergency Medical Care through Multinational Joint Training in Countries Prone to Natural Disasters Mototaka Inaba Manager/Project Leader of ARROWS project, Peace Winds Japan 8,700,000
Total 8 70,000,000

Grant Framework

Please read through the Project Proposal Guidelines for details.

Target
Countries
East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia *
Required
elements for
Project
Transnational, Cross Sector, Mutual Learning, Foresight
Project Period One year (Nov 2023 – Oct 2024) or Two years (Nov 2023 – Oct 2025)
Expected
Output
Projects are required to;
1) identify issues and conduct a review by surveying and analyzing the situation in target countries;
2) carry out activities aimed at providing solutions to issues;
3) produce and disseminate tangible output
Potential
Applicants
Diverse team based in multiple target countries. Team members could include those with practical experience and knowledge on addressing issues in the target countries, such as practitioners, researchers, creators, policy makers, and journalists and other media representatives.
Grant Amount (maximum per project) One-year project: JPY 5,000,000
Two-year project: JPY 10,000,000
Total Amount
of Grants
70 million yen
Proposal Submission Period From April 3 to June 3, 2023, 11:59 p.m. Japan Standard Time
Applications Web-based application via Foundation website only
Selection of
Grants
Formal decisions on the awarding of grants will be made by the Toyota Foundation Board of Directors at a meeting to be held in late September 2023, based on the deliberations of responsible Selection Committee consisting of external experts.

* East Asia: Japan, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, South Korea, Mongolia
 Southeast Asia: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
 Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam
   South Asia: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Please also see FAQs.

Program Guidelines and Application Form

※The application closed on June 3, 2023. Thank you for your interest.

Online briefing sessions in Tokyo (not compulsory) *The language will be in Japanese.

April 12, 2023 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (JST)  Application closed
April 18, 2023 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (JST)  Application closed
Please check the main questions and answers at the briefing session in April 2023 hereこのリンクは別ウィンドウで開きます. 

Aside from the briefing session, applicants can consult with the program officers of the Toyota Foundation in advance of applying via email. This prior consultation is available only until May 22, 2023. If you wish to have the prior consultation, please send the summary of your project proposal within 2 pages. 
For the details, please refer to the Project Proposal Guidelines.
Also see the the FAQ.


Recommended Movies

Online Seminar 2022: Project Reports and Dialogue: "Let’s Talk about Empathy - Conversations Between the Grantees"このリンクは別ウィンドウで開きます

As the coronavirus pandemic has reduced the number of opportunities to meet others face-to-face and much communication is now done online, the significance and way of mutual exchange, as well as the empathy expected to be nurtured from it, need to be reconsidered.
Under the theme of "Let’s Talk about Empathy - Conversations Between the Grantees," a series of dialogues were conducted, featuring “Education”, “Power of Design”, and “Health and Care”.

Online Luncheon Seminar 2021: "Ethics and Logics of International Collaborative Projects"このリンクは別ウィンドウで開きます

In this series of seminars, we not only introduced the content of the projects, but also discussed the underlying ethics and logics of these projects in depth with experts, and disseminated the content to those who were interested in.

Online Luncheon Seminar 2020: "Learning from Each Other in the Age of COVID-19: Human Mobility and the Future of Multicultural Society"このリンクは別ウィンドウで開きます

Grantees of the Toyota Foundation's International Grant Program and the Special Subject Program "Migrants and Japanese Society", discussed the impact of COVID-19 on their projects, as well as changes and issues related to international human mobility and shared their knowledge and experience, in line with the keywords of "Medical Care and Nursing Care" and "Information and Institution”.

Recommended Documents

Project report "Let's Talk about Empathy - Conversations Between the Grantees"PDFファイル(1624KB)

Under the theme of "Let’s Talk about Empathy - Conversations Between the Grantees," series of dialogues featured discussions on how to understand empathy through projects and how to use it to solve social issues, etc. as well as reports on the outline of grant projects in the categories of Education, Power of Design, and Health and Care.
This report provides an overview of the projects undertaken by the speakers and a summary of the discussion points.

Event report "Online Luncheon Seminar: Ethics and Logics of International Collaborative Projects"PDFファイル(1463KB)

The event was designed to provide a forum for in-depth discussion and reflection on the ethics and logic underlying international collaboration through a total of four sessions, involving recipients of the International Grant Program and outside experts.
This report provides an overview of the projects implemented by the speakers and the key points discussed at all four seminars.

Event report "Online Luncheon Seminar: Learning from Each Other in the Age of COVID-19: Human Mobility and the Future of Multicultural Society"PDFファイル(1457KB)

Grantees of the Toyota Foundation's International Grant Program and the Special Subject Program “Migrants and Japanese Society”, discussed the impact of COVID-19 on their projects, as well as changes and issues related to international human mobility and shared their knowledge and experience, in line with the keywords of “Medical Care and Nursing Care” and “Information and Institution”.
In this report, we introduce the highlights of the 4 sessions and the closing discussion by commentators.

The Ways to Have a Better Dialogue for Empathy: Mutual Learning and ExchangesPDFファイル(2331KB)

This booklet introduces the content of the joint symposium between the University of Tokyo Program for Leading Graduate Schools Integrated Human Sciences Program for Cultural Diversity (IHS)このリンクは別ウィンドウで開きます and the Toyota Foundation, which was held on February 7 and 8, 2020.
In this symposium, the grantees of the Toyota Foundation and the researchers and students in IHS have gathered and discussed various methods and experiences in project management as well as raising public interest in social issues, focusing on dialogues with society.

WHAT BRINGS US BEYOND UNDERSTANDING TO EMPATHY ?PDFファイル(3100KB)

In Baguio (the Philippines)このリンクは別ウィンドウで開きますBangkok (Thailand)このリンクは別ウィンドウで開きます , and Sendai (Japan)このリンクは別ウィンドウで開きます, the participants shared their views on the International Grant Program and their experience of their granted project.
The Foundation would like to call the attention of potential applicants to the booklet as it is full of lessons learned. It is strongly recommended to read.

International Grant Program evaluation reportPDFファイル(341KB)

The Toyota Foundation established the Evaluation Committee composed of four experts in May 2018 to evaluate the International Grant Program. The Evaluation Committee members and program officers of the International Grant Program team interviewed project representatives and members. 31 of the total 63 projects supported between fiscal 2014 and fiscal 2017 were selected with consideration given to thematic and regional balance. 
This final report by the committee provides you some specific ideas about the aim and the targets of the International Grant Program. We would be glad if the potential grantees go through this report before they submit their proposals.

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