12ODA in a wide range of the population. For example, it is essential to share PR strategies with Costa Rican stakeholders and obtain their cooperation and involvement in PR activities in order to efficiently promote Japan’s ODA. Moreover, Japan should implement more effective PR, such as the regular use of social media, including YouTube videos and publicizing outcomes of the assistance by the project, in order to reach people of all ages. II. Nicaragua Brief Summary of Evaluation ResultsDevelopment Viewpoints(1) Relevance of Policies (Rating A: Highly Satisfactory) As a whole, relevance of policies is extremely high in terms of consistency with Japan’s high-level ODA policies, priority areas of Nicaragua’s national development plan, international priority issues, and in terms of complementarity with the direction of other donors’ assistance. Japan’s ODA comprehensively covers all priority areas of Nicaragua and emphasizes transportation infrastructure development such as bridge and road development where Japan has comparative advantages.(2) Effectiveness of Results (Rating B: Satisfactory) A certain level of contribution was achieved in all priority areas. The contribution was significant in the area of bridge construction, which is known to be symbolic of Japan’s ODA. It was highly recognized among citizens and other donors in Nicaragua. Contributions in health and education sectors were also confirmed. Moreover, it was confirmed that the approach of technical assistance to cultivate local human resources coincided with the needs of Nicaragua to empower the community, which helped the sustainability of the project.(3) Appropriateness of Processes (Rating B: Satisfactory) Overall processes of formulating and implementing Japan’s ODA policy were deemed to be appropriate. In the Rolling Plan of Japan’s ODA policy for Nicaragua, the relevance between priority issues and some cooperation projects was not clearly shown in some projects; however, the cooperation programs and contents were reviewed and reorganized to clarify the direction of the country assistance strategy in 2017.Diplomatic Viewpoints(1) Diplomatic Importance Japan’s ODA to Nicaragua has diplomatic significance in two aspects: geopolitical importance and responding to global issues. Considering the regional economic potential and the geopolitical importance of Nicaragua, Japan finds it important to support for regional integration through the Central America Integration Organization (SICA) and to reinforce the bilateral relationship based on the development cooperation with each country of the region. Also, continuation of Japan’s ODA to Nicaragua is diplomatically important due to the need for international contributions to global issues.(2) Diplomatic Impact Community-based cooperation by JICA experts and volunteers has contributed to promoting pro-Japan views and friendship between the two countries. Furthermore, three bridges constructed through Japan’s Grand Aid on the roads leading to the neighboring countries are deemed to enhance Nicaragua’s trade with other Central American countries. The activation of logistics and distribution in Central America would accelerate regional integration in the medium to long term, which could make the region more favorable for Japanese companies to expand the business and even enhance Japan’s economy. Lessons Learned(1) Maximize the Impacts of Cooperation on “Disaster Risk Reduction” in Socially and Economically Vulnerable Countries Socially and economically vulnerable people are generally even more vulnerable to natural disaster. Therefore it would be useful to combine the elements of social development with the project, rather than focusing on disaster risk management alone. Moreover, it could be more efficient to strengthen their prevention ability to raise their awareness as part of a cooperation project.(2) Effectiveness of Infrastructure Development Cooperation with Japanese Superior Technology Cooperation in the infrastructure development using Japan’s technology fosters development in recipient countries along with economy in Japan when implemented by Japanese companies. Further, Japan’s high quality technology has been appreciated among the population and would lead Japan’s reliability and presence. III. Lessons Learned from Cooperation toward Both Countries(1) Supporting the Initiative of the Recipient Country It is certainly effective to support the priority sectors where the government of the recipient country takes initiatives in leading development. Because the government takes the lead to strengthen the surrounding institutional environment to bring about the outcome effectively, and there is high probability that the government commits to sustain and enlarge the outcome. For example, the government of Nicaragua promoted the National Program for Sustainable Electrification and Renewable Energy (PNESER), where the government demonstrated high commitment and brought out remarkable outcomes.(2) Collaboration with Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Collaboration with IDB was confirmed to be effective in Latin America for the following reasons: 1) Co-financing with IDB could produce greater development impacts by securing larger fund scale than implementing relatively small-scale projects on bilateral basis. 2) Since IDB is influential and has a close relationship with the Latin American and Caribbean countries, collaboration with IDB can help Japan in negotiating or persuading the recipient government. 3) It is easier for Japan to formulate and implement projects. 4) It is also efficient to collaborate from project formulation stage, because it can reduce the cost for feasibility study and other administrative costs of the recipient government.(3) Strategic Inter-Scheme Combination to Achieve Synergy Effect Combining relevant schemes in Japan’s ODA in one common program could generate synergy and greater impact than applying one scheme alone. For example, Japan firstly provided the Grand Aid to Costa Rica to construct a training center, and then dispatched the experts to the center in order to promote capacity development. In Nicaragua, mathematics textbooks and teacher’s guidebooks were developed through the technical cooperation project, then they were utilized and disseminated by JOCVs, which produced some positive results.(4) Points to be considered in Cooperating toward Multiple Countries or Regions Japan should consider the best way of approaching each theme when cooperating toward multiple countries or regions. For example, in case of specific themes such as health or education, it would be more efficient to apply knowledge, lessons learned, and results obtained in one country to third countries, rather than cooperating to multiple countries simultaneously. The Chagas disease control project in Nicaragua was an excellent case where the successful cases in neighboring countries were applied to Nicaragua, which contributed to reliable outcomes. On the other hand, when approaching the regional common issues that cannot be addressed by a single country, such as improving logistics within the region, it would be more effective to cooperate through a regional coordinating agency as a point of contact, which has an advantage in facilitating the unification of standards and procedures within the region. Also, more opportunities to contact senior officials representing each country can be expected to improve Japan’s presence in the region.(5) Establishing Specific Development Goals and Target Values at Program Level It is useful to formulate policy objectives more clearly as well as develop specific indicators to each cooperation program goals in order to properly evaluate ODA results at policy level. It would make it easier to assess the achievement of development goals as well as results of the policy, which would be beneficial in improving the policy.
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