Overview of Other ODA Evaluations
Evaluations Based on the Government Policy Evaluations Act (GPEA)
Since the enforcement of the Government Policy Evaluations Act (GPEA) in 2002, each ministry or agency of the Government of Japan is required to conduct self-evaluations of the policies under its jurisdiction.
MOFA conducts ex-post evaluations of its overall economic cooperation policies, ex-post evaluations of pending and unfinished projects,1 and ex-ante evaluations of projects exceeding a certain monetary value2 based on the GPEA and its Order for Enforcement.
● MOFA Website
https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/oda/shiryo/index_hyouka05.html
1 “Pending projects” include projects for which the Loan Agreement has not yet been signed or loan disbursement has not yet begun five years after the policy was determined and others. “Unfinished projects” include projects for which loan disbursement has not yet been completed ten years after the policy was determined and others.
2 Ex-ante evaluations are implemented for grant aid projects in which the maximum amount of aid offered through an Exchange of Notes (E/N) is one billion yen or more and ODA loans in which the maximum amount offered through an E/N is 15 billion yen or more.
Evaluations by Other Ministries and Agencies
Other than MOFA, each ministry and agency also conducts ODA-related evaluations as part of evaluations of policymaking, policy enforcement, and project implementation in areas under their jurisdiction based on the GPEA. For details, please refer to the website of each respective ministry or agency linked below.
● Financial Services Agency (FSA)
Training program for financial officials in developing countries (supervisory seminars)
https://www.fsa.go.jp/common/budget/kourituka/03_R4/saisyuu/22_0022.pdf
(See Program 1 in the Administrative Project Review Sheet for Projects Implemented in FY2021.)
● Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC)
Promotion of Global Strategy in the ICT Sector
https://www.soumu.go.jp/menu_seisakuhyouka/kekka.html
(See the preliminary analysis table for evaluations of main policies/programs implemented in FY2021; the policies/programs include non-ODA projects.)
● Ministry of Finance (MOF)
Promote a wide variety of international cooperation, including financial support and intellectual assistance, to help developing countries stably develop their economies and societies
https://www.mof.go.jp/about_mof/policy_evaluation/mof/fy2021/evaluation2/index.html
(See p. 239-256 of the full version; the policies/programs include non-ODA projects.)
● Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
Promotion of international exchange and cooperation to contribute to the development of a prosperous international community
https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/kouritsu/detail/block30_00038.htm
(See project name “Policy 13: Promotion of International Exchange and Cooperation to Contribute to the Development of a Prosperous International Community (0421-0452)” in the FY2020 Project Review Sheet; the policies/programs include non-ODA projects.)
● Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW)
Participation in and Contribution to the International Community
https://www.mhlw.go.jp/wp/seisaku/hyouka/keikaku-kekka.html#hyouka
(See the preliminary analysis table for policy evaluation.)
● Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF)
Establishment of comprehensive food security
https://www.maff.go.jp/j/budget/review/r4/f/04_bunya05.html
(See project name “0101: Contributions to Cooperation in the Agricultural, Forestry, and Fishery Industries Through International Organizations” in the FY2021 Administrative Project Review Sheet; the policies/programs include non-ODA projects.)
● Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)
Support for development of overseas markets and inward investment
https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/policy_management/seisaku_hyoka/2021/index.html
(See Ex-Post Evaluation 4-2 in the FY2021 policy evaluation report; the policies/programs include non-ODA projects.)
● Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)
Promote international cooperation and coordination
https://www.mlit.go.jp/common/001423517.pdf
(The policies/programs include non-ODA projects.)
● Ministry of the Environment (MOE)
International coordination and cooperation related to global environmental conservation
http://www.env.go.jp/guide/seisaku/index.html
(The policies/programs include non-ODA projects.)
Evaluations by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
JICA evaluates individual projects (external evaluations by third-party evaluators or internal evaluations by JICA overseas offices depending on the aid amount) with the three aid schemes of technical cooperation, ODA Loans, and grant aid (under JICA’s jurisdiction). It also conducts comprehensive and cross-sectoral evaluations with specific themes (e.g., by region, issue, or aid modality), impact evaluations for evidence-based project implementation, and process analyses focused on the achievement of results from projects.
When conducting evaluations, JICA aims to promote the utilization of evaluation results to further improve projects from the perspective of “learning,” while also striving to ensure accountability by securing the objectivity and transparency of evaluations as well as publishing the evaluation results.
● JICA Website
Project evaluations
https://www.jica.go.jp/english/our_work/evaluation/index.html
Evaluations by Governments and Agencies in Recipient Countries
Each year, MOFA commissions recipient governments, government agencies, private consultants, and professional evaluators in a recipient country to conduct an evaluation on a development program in an area such as health, transportation, or disaster prevention. The aims of these evaluations are to enhance the recipient country’s evaluation capacities, secure improvements in ODA management and accountability, and promote understanding of Japan’s ODA in the recipient country.