Summary of ODA Evaluation

This annual report presents a summary of MOFA’s third party ODA evaluations in FY 2017. The results of evaluations commissioned to external evaluators from development and diplomatic viewpoints are respectively summarized.

Evaluation from Development Viewpoints

In most evaluation projects, target policies were consistent with Japan’s high-level ODA policies and recipient countries’ needs, which resulted in high ratings for ‘Relevance of Policy’. However, there seemed to be some issues to be solved as to development effects, which resulted in partially unsatisfactory ratings for the criteria of ‘Effectiveness of Results’ in several evaluation projects. As for ‘Appropriateness of Processes’, rating results were relatively high in most projects, meaning policy making and the implementing process were appropriate to ensure effective and efficient ODA.

Since FY 2017, MOFA has been using a revised rating scale using alphabetical rating (A to D) to evaluate development effects, aiming for clear and apprehensible evaluation reports for all. Meanwhile, the alphabetical scale may cause misleading, therefore we recommend readers to refer to the Summary of each evaluation results.

● Evaluation from Development Viewpoints

This section shows the rating results from the evaluations conducted in FY 2017 While ratings let readers grasp the results quickly, it could mislead them without understanding the background of each evaluation target. For details, please refer to the Summary of each evaluation results. 

Ratings scale
A Highly Satisfactory
B Satisfactory
C Partially Unsatisfactory
D Unsatisfactory

Note Until FY 2017, MOFA hadn’t conducted evaluations on grant aid projects that were urgent or related closely to diplomatic strategy such as emergency grant aid, non-project grant aid and food aid projects. However, the external review of MOFA’s administration in 2016 resulted in the change, and MOFA has been conducting third party evaluations of completed grant aid projects of more than ¥10 million scales since FY 2017.

Evaluation from Diplomatic Viewpoints

To fulfill accountability to the public, efforts were made to improve evaluation quality and quantity with regard to (1) why ODA is important for Japan’s national interests (diplomatic importance) and (2) how ODA has contributed to Japan’s national interests (diplomatic impact).

Significant diplomatic impacts have been confirmed in several evaluation projects: increased amount of Japan’s investment and number of Japanese companies in the region (India, Connectivity in the Mekong Region), expanded interaction at multi-levels through public-private projects (Uganda), increased favorable image towards Japan, getting an ODA project site printed on the local paper currency (Cambodia), and receiving large donations from partner countries after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (JICA volunteer projects).

Response Actions to Recommendations

Although each third-party ODA evaluation has different circumstances, there are common types of recommendations in the seven evaluations in FY2017. The recommendations and response actions can be summarized and categorized into 6 types.

Improve Policy Formulation

Development cooperation policies should state why the particular cooperation is necessary and its revision timing should be flexible.

Country Assistance Evaluation of India: It was recommended to revise the Country Assistance Policy for India regardless of the periodic revision cycle, considering India’s rapid growth and its increasing importance of the bilateral development partner ship. In response to the recommendation, MOFA has set an action plan to pay close attention to India’s situation including their policy change and to review the policy contents.

Emergency Grant Aid for the Project to Implement Measures in Response to the Influx of Syrian Refugees (FY2013 Jordan): It was recommended that MOFA should not only respond to the partner country’s needs but also judge the appropriate scope for projects on its own at an early stage in the process. In response to the recommendation, MOFA’s action plan is to share information on the countries’ needs with other donors to plan effective projects in future.

Strengthen Public Relations

Given the limited ODA budget, MOFA’s PR should be more strategic and effective to strengthen the effects of development cooperation.

Country Assistance Evaluation of India: MOFA should use more effective approaches to give audiences more powerful impacts. For example, use of before/after pictures for the assistance in the area of supporting sustainable and inclusive growth may be effective since the effect is not always visibly large enough to catch people’s eyes. In response to this, MOFA has set an action plan to consider the way to approach wider audiences, cooperating with the embassy and the local JICA office.

Emergency Grant Aid for the Project to Implement Measures in Response to the Influx of Syrian Refugees (FY2013 Jordan): Japan should effectively conduct PR to inform international society about its efforts to help the Syrian refugees and fulfill accountability in Japan. “Non-Project Grant Aid (FY2014 Palestine): MOFA should provide public with more information about projects that are highly appreciated by Palestine People to promote Japanese people’s understanding. In response, MOFA has set an action plan to release information on Japan’s efforts to help the Syrian refugees at various opportunities such as summits, foreign ministers’ meetings, and international conferences, and publicize events related to projects that delivered significant results on MOFA’s website.

Evaluation of Japan’s ODA to Africa through the TICAD Process for the Past 10 years: It was recommended to add more detailed explanation on policy principles to the policy documents. Although MOFA considers it had provided a clear and sufficient explanation, for example, in the document Japan’s Measures for Africa at TICAD VI (2016), MOFA reviews the policy documents when designing the new assistance policy towards TICAD VII.

Efficient Procedures

While it takes time to go through necessary and appropriate processes, assistance should be provided at the timing when development and diplomatic effects can be maximized.

Country Assistance Evaluation of Cambodia: MOFA and JICA should further simplify and speed-up in decision making and project planning especially for infrastructure projects which take more time from planning to completion. In response to the recommendation, MOFA has made an action plan to enhance the ODA Taskforce and commit to more information sharing with stakeholders in order to simplify procedures.

Evaluation of Japan’s ODA to Africa through the TICAD Process for the Past 10 years: MOFA should further speed-up the design process for prioritized projects, which could contribute to enhancing Japan’s presence in Africa. In response, MOFA has made an action plan to keep up the current efforts towards prompt project formulation.

Strengthen Implementaton Structure and Donor Coordination

It was recommended to provide ODA that triggers investment by private sector and have effective coordination with NGO and other donors in order to enhance the effect of ODA.

Country Assistance Evaluation of Cambodia: It was recommended that government actors and the private sector should cooperate to fund high-quality infrastructure projects to secure aid quality and quantity. In response, MOFA has made an action plan to cooperate and coordinate with the private sector considering characteristics of each project to further improve the effect of ODA.

Country Assistance Evaluation of India: It was recommended that JICA should increase the number of staff at the local office to cooperate with local NGOs and companies and to help Japanese companies to setup business in India. MOFA has asked JICA to examine the necessity of increasing staff considering increasing ODA in India.

Country Assistance Evaluation of Uganda: It was recommended to involve the private sector in the ODA Taskforce and to create opportunities to discuss investment, human resource development, coordination among government actors and private sectors with NGOs and Japanese companies in Uganda. MOFA will continue to hold information exchanges with NGOs and Japanese companies as necessary.

Evaluation of Japan's ODA to Africa through the TICAD Process for the Past 10 Years: It was recommended to further cooperate with TICAD co-host organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the African Union Commission (AUC) to enhance assistance results. MOFA has been cooperating with those organizations and will continue the efforts aiming for further ODA improvement.

Further Human Resource Development and Communication

It was recommended to further support human resource development in partner countries and increase communication at projects sites.

Country Assistance Evaluation of Cambodia: MOFA should provide more opportunities for Cambodians to study in Japan because those who have studied in Japan are now contributing in economic fields and are playing an important role in bilateral relations. MOFA will review its feasibility consulting stakeholders when requested by the Cambodian government.

Country Assistance Evaluation of Uganda: It was recommended that MOFA should have a strategy to develop and utilize human resources that are knowledgeable about Japan and know about Japan’s ODA in government and development fields in Uganda, and also to provide them opportunities in Japan’s development cooperation projects. After the recommendation was proposed, a Ugandan Japan alumni association was established. MOFA will utilize the network of people who have studied in Japan and participated in JICA’s work training to have better communication with the Ugandan government and stakeholders and deepen their understanding of Japan’s ODA policy.

Promote Regional and South-South Cooperation

It was recommended to promote the approach of triangular cooperation (Note 1) and South-South cooperation (Note 2) for countries with higher income among developing countries to efficiently use ODA budget.

Evaluation of Japan's ODA to Africa through the TICAD Process for the Past 10 Years: It was recommended to promote regional cooperation projects that target more than two countries and South-South cooperation to spread cooperation effects within African countries. MOFA will continue implementing regional cooperation and South-South cooperation and consider how to reflect it in assistance policy for African countries when revising.

Evaluation on Japan's Assistance to Connectivity in the Mekong Region with a Focus on the Southern Economic Corridor: It was recommended to leverage each recipient country’s expertise when implementing regional cooperation. In response to the recommendation, MOFA has set an action to send long-term experts for technical cooperation and invite officials in the Mekong region to participate training in Japan in order to help them to make justice systems and build nations. MOFA will also enhance effectiveness of ODA through South-South cooperation and coordination with multinational donor agencies, and flexible use of loans, grant aid and technical cooperation.

Note 1: Japan implements cooperation projects jointly with other donor countries and/or aid organizations for development of a specific country.

Note 2: Cooperation provided to less developed countries (LDC) with little development progress using development experience and/or human resources of more developed countries (MDC) where development is progressing comparatively.

Examples of Response Actions to Recommendations based on Individual Circumstances

Individual circumstances was well considered in the Evaluation of JICA Volunteer Program.

A recommendation was made that, given that JICA volunteers are expected to play a role as “grassroots diplomats” locally. JICA volunteers need to have decent knowledge on their own country and good communication skills. In response, JICA has responded that it would review the curriculum and lectures of pre-dispatch training. Moreover, as a recommendation specifically for the Nikkei Communities Volunteer Program, it was recommended to improve recognition for Volunteers for Nikkei Communities among the people of Japan, in addition to strengthening training on the principle of Nikkei community support, expansion of the volunteer application requirements to include Nikkei persons, and strengthening of participation in various activities in the dispatch destination countries. In response, response actions were to improve pre-dispatch training and learning, to recommend people in overseas Nikkei communities with Japanese nationality to apply, to disseminate and increase contributions to local society through Nikkei communities, and to improve name recognition through strengthened public relations work in Japan.

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