Annual Report on Japanʼs ODA Evaluation 2020

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What is ODA evaluation?Japan conducts development cooperation for developing countries, using Ocial Development Assistance (ODA) in order to contribute to the peace, stability, and prosperity of the international community. ODA evaluation is a systematic assessment of the implementation and eects of ODA.ODA evaluation has two objectives: to improve ODA management and to strengthen public accountability. The Ministry of Foreign Aairs of Japan (MOFA) aims to enhance the eciency and eectiveness of ODA by investigating its implementation and eects and to gain public understanding and support by disseminating the evaluation results and improving transparency.Structure of Implementation ProcessMOFA is responsible for planning and formulating ODA policies, while the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is mainly responsible for implementing individual projects. MOFA and JICA collaborate on ODA evaluations by dividing their roles.Japan has steadily conducted ODA evaluations since 1975, prior to the implementation of the Government Policy Evaluations Act (GPEA) in 2002. Japan has developed an evaluation framework in collaboration with other international ODA institutions, including the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD-DAC).MOFA primarily evaluates ODA policies by commissioning third parties, such as external experts and consultants from the private sector. Meanwhile, JICA primarily evaluates the individual projects that it is responsible for implementing.MOFA also provides assistance with the aim of improving the evaluation capacity of developing countries.This annual report presents MOFA's ODA evaluations, aside from evaluations based on the GPEA.Utilization of ODA Evaluation ResultsIt is essential that the evaluation results and recommendations obtained from ODA evaluations are utilized by MOFA, which is responsible for planning and formulating ODA policies, and JICA, which is responsible for implementing individual projects. They must be reected in future policymaking and project implementation. Stakeholders in MOFA and JICA receive evaluation results and recommendations from evaluators and propose response action plans. One year later, MOFA checks the implementation status of the response actions and publishes the results in MOFA's ODA annual reports.Through this process, MOFA aims to improve ODA management and promote public accountability.Currentfiscal yearEvaluation report publishedTwo fiscalyears laterImplementation status ofresponse actions followed upFollowingfiscal yearResponse action plans releasedResponse action plans formulatedfor recommendationsImproved inimplementingagenciesImprovedin overseasestablishmentsReflected inassistancepolicies03