Nippon Foundation - Current Priorities

Current Priorities

Today, the foundation continues to support programs in the maritime, domestic social welfare, and international cooperative support fields.

From its website, it is most interested in supporting projects that fall under one of the following categories:

International Cooperative Support

• Improvement of Basic Human Needs

Initiatives to assist people throughout the world to meet their basic human needs, and to contribute to the improvement of human welfare through programs in such areas as healthcare, support of disabled persons and those who are socially vulnerable, agricultural development, population issues, community development, refugee aid, and disaster relief. In recent years, the foundation has been devoting a large amount of effort to the elimination of leprosy in both the medical and social (stigma-related) fields. Projects comprising novel ideas, approaches, and technology, as well as those that involve multilateral undertakings, such as south-south cooperation, will receive higher priority.

• Human Resources Development

Initiatives to foster a new generation of professionals, scholars, and students with a strong potential for future leadership. We support training and educational programs designed and executed by non-profit organizations and institutions of higher education. Our intention is to promote the formulation of an international network of professional people with shared goals and concerns.

• Promotion of International Collaborative Undertakings

Initiatives to foster cooperative approaches that meet the changing needs of the global community. We support cultural, social, and intellectual exchanges and collaborative undertakings which contribute to the development of greater mutual understanding and cooperative mindset in order to bring about social changes.

• Maritime Work

1. Projects that contribute to the formation of a new international order of the seas, by promoting mutual understanding and multilateral cooperation on ocean issues, and carrying out pioneering initiatives.
2. International capacity and network building projects that promote cooperation among ocean experts, as well as with experts in other fields, in order to foster a more comprehensive understanding of the ocean, and facilitate discovery/sharing of effective new technologies and knowledge.
3. Projects that foster sustainable regional development through multilateral cooperation, employing a comprehensive developmental approach that improves regional productivity while preserving the surrounding environment, including the coasts and ocean.
4. Projects that promote public understanding and appreciation of the ocean through international activities in the fields of social welfare, culture, and sports, with the cooperation/participation of ocean experts and professionals.
5. Other original and innovative international projects related to the ocean.