- Program Objectives
- Grant Framework
- Program Guidelines and Application Form
- Briefing Sessions
- Comments by Selection Committee Chair
- List of Grant Projects
- Recommended Documents
Program Title: Cultivating Empathy Through Learning from Our Neighbors:
Practitioners' Exchange on Common Issues in Asia
Now Calling for Application!
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.
| Target Countries |
East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia * |
| Required elements for Project |
Transnational, Cross Sector, Mutual Learning, Foresight |
| Project Period | One year (Nov 2024 - Oct 2025) or Two years (Nov 2024 - Oct 2026) |
| 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 1 to June 1, 2024, 11:59 p.m. Japan Standard Time |
| Applications | Web-based application via this 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 2024, based on the deliberations of responsible Selection Committee consisting of external experts. |
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- 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.
Please review the "Grant Overview," "Post-Selection Committee Chairman Evaluation," "List of Grant Recipients," "Reference Materials," etc. mentioned above. Once you have done so, please download the application guidelines, sample proposal, etc., and apply via the application entry.
| Format | Item | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
Project Proposal Guidelines |
||
| Application Form (Sample) |
*The blank word file is available after registering applicant information. | |
Application Form |
Application Entry |
From April 1 to June 1, 2024, 11:59 p.m. Japan Standard Time |
Online briefing sessions (not compulsory) *The language will be in Japanese.
| April 16、2024 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (JST) | Apply here |
| April 25、2024 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (JST) | Apply here |
- Please check the main questions and answers at the briefing session in April 2023 here
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 20, 2024. 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.
The chairperson of the selection committee provides comments on the content submitted in the previous year's application and on projects that received funding. Please take a moment to read these comments as they may be helpful for this year's application. For information on submissions made before this period, please refer to the annual reports.
Recommended Movies
| Format | Item | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Movie | Online Seminar 2022: Project Reports and Dialogue: "Let’s Talk about Empathy - Conversations Between the Grantees" |
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”. |
| Movie | Online Luncheon Seminar 2021: "Ethics and Logics of International Collaborative Projects" |
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. |
| Movie | Online Luncheon Seminar 2020: "Learning from Each Other in the Age of COVID-19: Human Mobility and the Future of Multicultural Society" |
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
| Format | Item | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| Project report "Let's Talk about Empathy - Conversations Between the Grantees"(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. |
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| Event report "Online Luncheon Seminar: Ethics and Logics of International Collaborative Projects"(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"(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 Exchanges(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) 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. |
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| WHAT BRINGS US BEYOND UNDERSTANDING TO EMPATHY ?(3100KB) |
In Baguio (the Philippines) , Bangkok (Thailand) , and Sendai (Japan), 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. |
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| International Grant Program evaluation report(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. |