The importance of combating poverty is fully reflected in the goals of DAC's "Development Partnership Strategy." This has also been confirmed in the so-called "20/20 Initiative" of the United Nation's World Summit for Social Development of 1995, which calls on industrial countries to earmark at least 20% of their economic assistance, and developing countries at least 20% of their national budgets, to basic social needs.*4 The "Initiative for a Caring World" proposed by Japan *5 advocates the sharing of knowledge and experience to improve the welfare of people in developing countries.
The following factors are of special importance in the fight against poverty: equitable distribution of the benefits of economic development, implementation of economic cooperation projects directly aimed at assisting the poor, and the sharing of Japan's own experiences of economic growth and poverty eradication with developing countries.
Assistance for basic education and health and medical services plays a critical role in poverty alleviation programs and social development projects. The perspective of "women in development" (WID) and gender issues is of similar importance for developing countries.*6 As access to safe water constitutes a vital element in supporting human health, the scarcity of water resources could conceivably result in increased tensions in the future. For this reason, assistance for water resource development and the management and use of existing water resources has become increasingly important. To reduce regional disparities, assistance to rural and impoverished areas must be assigned greater importance. In many developing countries, large populations reside in rural areas. Thus, the elimination of poverty in such areas is of importance. The Asian currency and economic crisis has served to reiterate the importance of agriculture and of rural areas.
In light of the above, Japan will provide the following forms of support.
-- Japan will endeavor to achieve the goals of the "20/20 Initiative," while keeping in mind the objectives outlined in the Development Partnership Strategy.
-- Japan will assist developing countries in their efforts to improve policy formulation and implementation capabilities and to comprehensively address poverty alleviation. Japan will emphasize software-oriented cooperation such as the development of institutions that will promote the distribution of the benefits of economic development to impoverished populations.
-- Japan will employ comprehensive and cross-sectoral approaches involving WID and gender considerations, job training and employment creation, and micro-financing. Japan will also emphasize community-oriented and participatory approaches to economic assistance.
-- To reduce regional disparities, assistance will be provided for promoting the key rural industries of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. Similarly, local industries will be nurtured to create new employment opportunities. Emphasis will be placed on improving the living environment and on training community organizations.
Not only is access to education is a basic human right, it is a key factor in developing an effective response to the problems of poverty, population, and the environment in developing countries.
In the least-developed countries, as well as in many developing countries, access to elementary education is hampered by a lack of funds, educational facilities, teaching materials, and teachers. Consequently, nearly 860 million people throughout the world remain illiterate. The objectives of the Development Partnership Strategy include the promotion of elementary education and the elimination of gender disparities in elementary and secondary education. Japan's assistance in the field of basic education has included the construction of school buildings*7 and the provision of equipment and materials. For the elimination of gender disparities in Asia and Africa, Japan has been supporting the activities of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the education of girls.*8
In light of the above, Japan will provide the following forms of support.
-- In addition to hardware-oriented assistance for the construction of schools and provision of equipment and materials, Japan will upgrade its advisory assistance in both the areas of course development and educational administration, including assistance for the enhancement of system and capacity building in school administration, curriculum and teaching materials development, and teacher training.
-- Japan will pay special attention to supporting basic education for girls.
-- Active efforts will be made to utilize the resources of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers and to promote cooperation with NGOs in the education of local communities, as well as to promote community participation in the implementation of assistance projects.
-- Efforts will be made to ensure that assistance for basic education contributes to the improvement of job training and worker capacities in response to local needs and conditions.
Poverty and a lack of development directly affect people's health in developing countries. Past development efforts have resulted in the improvement of health indicators in developing countries. For instance, Japan has actively contributed to the WHO program for eradicating polio from the West Pacific region. Thanks to such efforts, polio has almost vanished from the West Pacific region and has declined dramatically on a worldwide scale.*9 However, nearly 12 million children under the age of five continue to die every year from preventable diseases. In order to respond to the many remaining challenges, it is essential that "primary health care" be made available to the greatest number of people possible. Humankind is also being threatened by emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and various parasitic diseases. It is necessary for Japan to collaborate with WHO and with other donor countries and organizations in the fight against these epidemics.
The Development Partnership Strategy identifies as one of its goals the promotion of health care medical services for reproductive health, including the reduction of infant mortality and mortality rates in pregnancy and during delivery.
In light of the above, Japan will provide the following forms of support.
-- Japan will continue to provide both hardware-oriented assistance and advisory assistance to core institutions of the medical and health care systems of developing countries.
-- Japan will emphasize primary health care and will provide assistance for the creation of health and medical systems geared toward providing basic health care services to the largest possible number of people.
-- Japan will make maximum use of its own past experiences to assist the governments of developing countries in policy formulation and improved capacity building and will promote improved health and medical policies through policy dialogues.
-- To effect sustainable cooperation, Japan will actively pursue community participation and collaboration with NGOs.
-- In view of the fact that economic crises most seriously affect the vulnerable members of society and their health, Japan will endeavor to prevent the erosion of past achievements in the area of health care.
(3) Women in Development (WID)/Gender in Developing Countries
Of the 1.3 billion people living in conditions of poverty throughout the world, 70% are women. Similarly, women are placed in disadvantageous positions in terms of education, employment, and health. Assistance for women is an important factor in achieving balanced and sustainable economic development in developing countries, as is the balanced participation of men and women in assistance projects and the distribution of the benefits derived from such projects. In 1995, Japan announced its "Initiative on WID" for assigning special importance to education, health, and the social and economic participation of women in the implementation of assistance projects.
In light of the above, Japan will provide the following forms of support.
-- Japan will provide active assistance for the health and education of women, family planning, micro-financing for promoting the economic independence of women, job training, and the improvement of the work environment. Moreover, Japan will assist developing countries in improving policy formulation capabilities in these fields.
-- Japan will endeavor to utilize monitoring and evaluate results pertaining to gender, while paying due attention to the impact of the participation of male and female community members in assistance projects on gender.