Reasonable Accommodation Policy of JASID
(Revised, January 2023)

1. JASID’s reasonable accommodation policy is based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
2. The Planning and Management Committee shall take charge of JASID’s reasonable accommodations.
3. The JASID Secretariat shall enquire of all new applicants for membership regarding the needs for accommodation upon first contact. For incumbent members of JASID, the secretariat shall ask about their needs through JASID’s mailing list. Any member of the JASID can appeal for needs for reasonable accommodation to JASID at any time.
4. In response to the requests from new applicants and current members, the Planning and Management Committee shall determine the scope of reasonable accommodation after consultation with them.

Implementation Guideline

1. The JASID Reasonable Accommodation Working Group, which is under the administration of the Planning and Management Committee, shall serve as the entry point for new applicants and incumbent members with disabilities, with respect to initial contacts, consultations with respective applicants and members, arrangements of necessary services, and cost adjustments.
2. For deaf or hard-of-hearing members, the Planning and Management Committee shall hire sign language interpreters with sufficient translation capabilities concerning various international development issues, upon request by the member.
3. The Planning and Management Committee shall hire guides for blind or visually impaired members, upon request.

4. JASID shall investigate how JASID’s websites should be improved regarding accessibility for blind or visually impaired persons.

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Greetings from the President

Welcome to the Japan Society for International Development (JASID) website.

My name is Shoko Yamada of Nagoya University, and I was appointed the 12th President of JASID at the General Assembly in November 2023. For three years, the executive members and I will strive to make the experience with this Society fruitful and rewarding for everyone involved. For that sake, we will make necessary reforms to meet the current situations surrounding the field of international development and academia as a whole, while inheriting the foundation and wills of our predecessors, including the outgoing president Jin Sato.

Our policies for this term are

1. Redefinition of international development studies
2. Synergy from diversity
3. Creation of excitement

The first point, “Redefining international development studies,” is an idea to take advantage of the momentum of global changes to consider the relevance and advancement of this academic field.

More than 30 years have passed since the Society was established in 1990, and the environment surrounding international development has changed dramatically. The 2023 revision of Japan’s Development Cooperation Charter shows that the vertical relationship between donor and recipient countries has become multi-polar, the state’s role as the dominant actor in development has been shaken, and the way ODA is viewed in Japanese society has changed dramatically.

In addition, the promoted idea of sustainable development makes it difficult to apply a unified model of development to diverse societies. Given that sustainability cannot be achieved without reconciling different needs, we must consider the desirable state of affairs for people of concern according to the contexts, to realize the humanitarian and public welfare that “international development” aims to achieve. After experiencing the recent geopolitical crises and the coronavirus catastrophe, it seems obsolete to consider international development solely as an issue for developing countries, separated from domestic issues of developed countries.

In this phase of change, I would like to consider, together with the Society members, what role research will play and what kind of place this Society, where practitioners and researchers gather, should be, and create an enabling environment.

The second point, “synergy from diversity,” promotes synergy while respecting differences in academic fields, professions, and attributes.

I myself am the first female president of this Society. Putting gender aside, as the majority of this Society’s members have worked in various situations around the world, I assume that they have experienced being a minority in some attribute or have interacted with people who are. I believe that the attitude to respect differences from others will also lead us to the commitment to reconsider the essence of international development studies in today’s world, beyond national and social boundaries.

In order to redefine the academic field, our sites of academic exchanges, such as conferences, research groups, and journals, would be the foundation that leads diversity to synergy. Based on this consideration, in the 12th term, committees and working groups initiate some innovations.

Based on the preparations started in the earlier terms, a working group to promote reasonable accommodations for members with disabilities was established and started considering the guidelines and rules.

In terms of research, it is important for this interdisciplinary society to not only have people from various disciplines, research themes, methods, research target areas, and affiliated organizations parallelly and separately, but also to encourage them to cross disciplinary boundaries and collaborate.

To make it happen, this Society should be a place where members can look for academic stimulants that are not available in their ordinary places, such as gaining new ideas and encountering interesting people, and where such expectations will be realized as an actual experience. Therefore, for the next three years, we will do our best to make this an exciting place to be (“Creation of excitement”).

We will support the host universities of spring and fall conferences so that hosting will be an opportunity for them to communicate their unique features, research, and social activities in the community, instead of an overwhelming burden.

In addition, we would like to highlight young scholars doing good research and scholars in the areas that have not been well represented in this Society in the past. To achieve this goal, we will boost the selection of academic awards and student paper competitions and promote the exposure of award winners through the Society’s media and by encouraging their participation in activities within and outside the Society.

We would also like to actively show the paths for members with unique and experimental research ideas to establish research groups, which can organize sessions at the annual conferences or propose a special issue in the Society’s journal.

We are also considering events and mechanisms to reach out not only to those already active in the Society, but also to potential interest groups working on international and local development issues.

How far can we realize such a list of ambitious activities? It may depend on how much we, the board members, enjoy these activities and how far our fun spreads within and outside the Society.

Former President Sato used to say that running an academic society is a volunteer activity in its fundamental sense. We do this not to get direct compensations, but to contribute to the Society that has nurtured us, so that it will continue to be a place where members can disseminate their research, receive comments from seniors and other members, and grow by exchanging ideas and opinions with each other.

In order to create an exciting place for the Society members, we, the board members, must be the ones to excite first, make suggestions, and take action. I would also be very happy if you, the Society members, could contribute your ideas to the Board.

The 12th Japan Society for International Development
President Shoko Yamada

This Year (FY2024)

1,580

*The number of members represents the number of members at the time of the General Assembly each year.

• FY2023: 1,619
• FY2022: 1,613
• FY2021：1,614

FY 2011 – FY 2020

• FY 2020: 1,619
• FY 2019: 1,648
• FY 2018: 1,643
• FY 2017: 1,642
• FY 2016: 1,658
• FY 2015: 1,634
• FY 2014: 1,678
• FY 2013: 1,704
• FY 2012: 1,740
• FY 2011: 1,816

FY2010 – FY2000

• FY 2010: 1,831
• FY 2009: 1,773
• FY 2008: 1,677
• FY 2007: 1,765
• FY 2006: 1,650
• FY 2005: 1,520
• FY 2004: 1,498
• FY 2003: 1,396
• FY 2002: 1,300
• FY 2001: 1,217
• FY 2000: 1,092

Up to FY1999

• FY 1999: 963
• FY 1998: 974
• FY 1997: 940
• FY 1996: 905
• FY 1995: 905
• FY 1994: 843
• FY 1993: 871

Present Executive

Approved in the General Assembly, 11th November, 2023.

President

• YAMADA, Shoko (Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University)

Vice president

• OGUNI, Kazuko (Faculty of International Welfare Development, Nihon Fukushi University)
• MATSUMOTO, Satoru (Faculty of Intercultural Communication, Hosei University)

Executive Director

• OYAMADA, Eiji (Graduate School of Global Studies, Doshisha University)
• KANO, Tsuyoshi (College of Informatics and Human Communication, Kanazawa Institute of Technology)
• KITAMURA, Yuto (Graduate School of Education, University of Tokyo)
• KIMATA, Yoichiro (Japan International Cooperation Agency)
• KUDO, Shogo (Faculty of International Liberal Arts）
• SAWADA, Yasuyuki (Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo）
• SHIMADA, Go (School of Information and Communication, Meiji University）
• SUGITA, Elli (Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University）
• SEKIYA, Yuichi (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo)

Executive Director/ Secretary General

• HOSHINO, Akinari (Nagoya University)

Directors

• IKEGAMI, Hiroshi (Osaka University of Economics and Law)
• KURODA, Kazuo (Waseda University)
• SATO, Kan (Tokyo Institute for Development Sociology; TIDS)
• TAKAHASHI, Motoki (Kyoto University)
• SATO, Jin (The University of Tokyo)
• ITO, Sanae (Nagoya University)
• FUJIKAKE, Yoko (Yokohama National University)
• YAMAGATA, Tatsufumi (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University: APU)
• SAWAMURA, Nobuhide(Osaka University)
• HATSUKANO, Naomi (IDE-JETRO)
• MINE, Yoichi (Doshisha University)
• TAKADA, Jun-ichi (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
• OGAWA, Keiichi (Kobe University)
• IKEMI, Mayu (Sapporo International University)
• SANO, Mayuko (Fukuoka Prefectural University)
• MICHINAKA, Maki (NIPPON HYORON SHA CO., LTD.)
• SHIGA, Hiroaki (Yokohama National University)
• KATAYANAGI, Mari (Hiroshima University)
• SAKAUE, Katsuki (Kobe University)
• KAWAGUCHI, Jun (University of Tsukuba)
• KODAMA, Masahiro (Kobe University)
• FUJIYAMA, Mayumi (NTC International Corporation)

Auditors

• KAYASHIMA, Nobuko (Japan International Cooperation Agency)
• SATO, Mine (Institute of Urban Innovation, Yokohama Yokohama National University)

After WWII, in addition to the former colonies to become politically independent, the rise of socialist states, or the industrial nations to recover economically, economic development became the priority in every nation-state across the globe. Each nation-state has tried to enhance economic growth of its own and move its industrial structure forward through monetary, financial, industrial, and trade policies on the one hand, and develop and strengthen mechanisms for the international economic cooperation that foster solid economic development in each nation, on the other.

As a result, trade, private investment, and ODA have increased dramatically. Nations get more economically interdependent. Many countries, regardless of developed, socialist, or developing countries, have experienced economic growth.

However, during this same period, we have also seen unbalanced growth due to tensions between East and West, which was between superpowers (US and Soviet), disputes in various areas in the world, or political instabilities within developing countries. Gaps between developed and developing countries, or what we call North-South problem, have especially been widening. Even gaps within developing countries, or South-South problem became an issue in an international economic arena.

Under such economy-driven development, social inequalities have enlarged in many societies. Especially during 80s, with the Structural Adjustment Programs, many developing countries experienced problems like unemployment, inequalities, weakened social capital, sever influences on education and health services, and rapid increase of refugees. These problems produce North-South problem even within a country.

Furthermore, poverty and unplanned development have accelerated environmental disruption and pollution at the global scale. Issues in international development cover, therefore, not only economic aspects, but include various social problems.

Under these international political and economic circumstances, it is recognized that Japan, as an economic power, has to play more and more leading roles. International society expects Japan to show her leadership in sustainable economic growth without inflation; maintaining an international open economy; reducing unbalance in international mobility; promoting technical transfer and technology development; strengthening ODA schemes; environmental protection at the global scale; preserving indigenous cultures; and solving refugee problems. However, Japan does not respond well to these expectations, because she is usually “small and slow.” She is so in bi-lateral negotiations on commerce, investment, development assistance. It is especially true when it comes to international economic, social, and political rule-setting and strengthening international development mechanisms. We have to respond to the expectations from the international society toward Japan’s leadership. Now we have a great opportunity to do so. It is also necessary to expand development education to Japanese citizen in order to deepen their understanding about issues in development and gain further support to the development cooperation, given that Japan became the first or second largest donor.

Therefore, we propose establishing a policy research institution that tries to bring together knowledge and experience about development from multiple disciplines, ranging from economics and management to politics, sociology, anthropology, agriculture, technology, medicine, and so forth. We also aim to contribute to the development of human resources for further enrichment of research and practice in the field of international development.

• SHIMOMURA, Yasutami
• WATANABE, Toshio
• HIRONO, Ryokichi
• TOYODA, Toshihisa
• KIKUCHI, Yasushi
• ESHO, Hideki
• IMURA, Hidefumi

Apr. 2021

Articles of Agreement of Japan Society for International Development

*This English version of the Articles of Agreement of JASID is an excerpt from the Japanese version of the Articles of Agreement of JASID.

Synopsis

The Japan Society for International Development (JASID) is a a cross-sectional and inter-disciplinary academic society that tries to bring together knowledge and experience about development issues from multiple disciplines such as economics, management, political science, law, sociology, anthropology, agriculture, education, technology, and medicine, etc. We also aim to contribute to the human resource development in the field of international development through our academic activities.
The highest decision-making body of JASID is the General Assembly of all members. The Board of Directors, which consists of 35 directors, is organized under the General Assembly to determine annual activities and procedures. The Executive Board acts as the administrative body of JASID. Each member of the Executive Board chairs a designated committee organized for specific purposes.

Application for Admission

Application for membership is accepted at any time.
Those who want to be a JASID member is encouraged to visit JASID membership register page.

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