Home > Bilateral Relations> JICA Volunteers in Palau >Hiroto Yamazaki/ Palau Supreme Court

JICA Volunteers in Palau

◆Alii from Palau!

Hiroto Yamazaki
JICA Volunteer
Palau Supreme Court

(Server rack)

　　　Alii! My name is Hiroto Yamazaki. I have been deployed to Palau as a computer engineer since March 2013. My mission is for 2 years. I am going to introduce my volunteer activities and life in Palau.

　　　My workplace is the Management Information System Department at the Supreme Court. Our department maintains and manages the computers, printers and servers of the Court. People submit formal documents of birth, death and trials are held at the court, so the court assumes an important role. Almost all information about trials is managed in an integrated system which is operated by our department. Although this system deals with the critical information about the people and country, the system had two serious problems. One is that the system had been developed by a foreign company and still needs some improvement. The other is that the court’s staff needs more training to maintain the system by themselves so that they don’t need to rely on the foreign company with problems on the system.

　　　My mission based on these problems is to improve the system and teach the staff how to maintain the system by themselves. More specifically, I have been (1) organizing the documents such as design and manuals, (2) improving the system and (3) transferring IT skills to the staff. I have been listening carefully to the staff’s needs for the system improvement. I have been teaching them basic computer skills, database and programming with the materials that I made. There was a staff turnover midway, so I had to teach the new staff all over again from the beginning. However, the system is getting improved gradually, and also the staff is getting better skills. There is no end in learning computer skills, so we have to keep learning to catch up with the latest technology.[ My last mission is to help assure the staff can keep on learning IT and keep up with advancing technology for their works after I leave Palau.] The issues that I mentioned exist not only in the court but also in other organizations or companies in Palau. Most of them are developing the infrastructures of information so that many operations are computerized. However, it is very difficult to operate the system optimally even if they have the latest equipment and software installed. I guess that is because there is a shortage of human resources with high computer literacy and comprehensive IT strategies are not established at both levels of government and organization.

(Itabori sensei and my piece)

(Sunset)

　　　Finally, I would like to introduce how I spend my holidays. I usually do exercise such as running or swimming in Rock Islands. I’m stuck behind a desk when I work, so I always try to go out when I am off. I can see sharks, turtles and manta rays when I go snorkeling or diving and I can see rainbows and beautiful sunsets when I go running. Whenever I am outside, I can feel breath-taking nature of Palau. Sometimes I make Itabori (story boards). My itabori teacher teaches me how to design and carve itabori. Thanks to him, I have made 6 pieces so far. I am not only working but also I am enjoying Palauan nature and culture while I stay in Palau