Chapter 2

Section 1

2. “Basic Policies” —how is ODA implemented?—

In the revised ODA Charter, the “Basic Policies” are newly established to clarify the most important concepts and basic principles of ODA and Japan places importance on them at every stage, from the ODA policy formulation stage to implementation. The “Basic Policies” consist of five items: (1) supporting self-help efforts of developing countries; (2) the perspective of “human security”; (3) assurance of fairness; (4) utilization of Japan’s experience and expertise; and (5) partnership and collaboration with the international community.

(1) Supporting Self-help Efforts of Developing Countries

The concept of actively supporting the self-help efforts of developing countries was first advocated by Japan, prior to other Western countries, based on Japan’s own experience of development and its experience of providing aid to East Asia. The original ODA Charter also stated “Japan attaches central importance to support for the self-help efforts of developing countries towards economic take-off.” In the revised ODA Charter, support for self-help efforts is positioned as “the most important philosophy of Japan’s ODA.” This is because Japan has always thought that only a recipient country advancing its own development based on its self-help efforts would lead to the true economic independence of that country and that the role of ODA was to support that process. The concept of support for self-help efforts is also behind the adoption by Japan’s ODA of the “request-based approach,” which means that assistance to be implemented based on requests from recipient countries. The international community is also increasing awareness of the importance of self-help efforts and ownership and these concepts are mentioned in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development-Development Assistance Committee’s (OECD-DAC) Development Partnership Strategy “Shaping the 21^st Century: The Contribution of Development Partnership (1996),” of which Japan played a leading role in formulation, and are also positioned as fundamental principles of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) that began to be formulated in the second half of the 1990s.

In addition, the first Ministerial Meeting of the Initiative for Development in East Asia (IDEA)^*1, a forum for sharing perceptions about the current progress of successful examples of East Asia-style development, was held in August 2002 and in the Joint Ministerial Statement adopted at that forum, the importance of ownership of development was emphasized.

And in the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) process, which is central to Japan’s assistance policy to Africa, Japan has been consistently advocating the ownership and partnership as its core principles. At TICAD III held in September and October 2003, assistance contributed to mobilizing the support by the international community for the “New Partnership for Africa’s Development” (NEPAD)^*2, which is a manifestation of Africa’s ownership.

The important elements that support these self-help efforts include human resource development, institution building including development of legal systems, and economic and social infrastructure building (social infrastructure including education, healthcare, sanitation, and water supply, and economic infrastructure including transportation, energy, and communications, etc). Human resource development is fostering the human resources of one’s own country which is indispensable in the process of nation building and economic development by developing countries. Also, institution building including legal systems and building social and economic infrastructure are fundamental to the development of those developing countries. Japan intends to continue to support these kinds of fields in future.

Good Governance

The revised ODA Charter states that Japan will “support the self-help efforts of developing countries based on good governance.” This is because “good governance” in developing countries is indispensable for effectively and efficiently advancing the development of those countries and because good governance is necessary in order to redistribute fairly within the country, including to the poor, the “fruits of growth” (wealth) obtained as a result of development. As used here, the concept of “good governance” includes elements such as democratic political systems (representative democracy), the rule of law, an accountable and efficient government, appropriate information disclosure by government, control of corruption, and the securing of human rights.

Respect and Support for the Independence of Developing Countries

In relation to support for self-help efforts, in the revised ODA Charter, it is clearly stated that Japan will give priority to assisting developing countries that make active efforts to pursue democratization and structural reform in the economic and social spheres. The charter says that Japan will “give priority to assisting” developing countries that “make active efforts to pursue peace, democratization, and the protection of human rights,” such as promotion of the peace process, post-conflict reconstruction, implementation of elections toward democratization and institutional systems reforms for securing human rights, and “make active efforts to pursue ... structural reform in the economic and social spheres” aimed at efficient government administration and clearly specifies policies to support these efforts of developing countries. This concept is consistent with the statement “Full attention should be paid to efforts for promoting democratization and introduction of a market-orientated economy, and the situation regarding the securing of basic human rights and freedoms in the recipient country” contained in the ODA implementation principles in the original ODA Charter and is intended to actively promote these efforts by developing countries.

(2) The Perspective of “Human Security”

As stated in Chapter 1, in recent years, the new concept of human security has become more and more important internationally. The revised ODA Charter states that “In order to address direct threats to individuals ... it is important ... to consider the perspective of human security, which focuses on each individual. Accordingly, Japan will implement ODA to strengthen the capacity of local communities through human resource development.” Below is an explanation of the concept of “human security” and how Japan is specifically realizing this perspective in its ODA.

The Project for the Construction of Auditorium at San Francisco School, Zacatecoluca City, La Paz Department (El Salvador: Grant assistance - grassroots/human security project)

The Concept of Human Security

“Human security” is the concept of protecting people from pervasive and critical threats to their lives, livelihoods and, dignity and attempting to integrate and strengthen measures placing importance on the human-centered perspective, in order to realize the rich potential of people.

The idea of “human security” was first publicly taken up in the international community by the 1994 United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Report. Subsequently, countries and international organizations have worked to develop and disseminate the concept of “human security” and Japan especially has made a significant contribution to this process. Human security was first introduced as a perspective of Japan’s diplomacy on the occasion of the ASEAN visit of then Minister for Foreign Affairs Keizo Obuchi in 1998. Later the same year, he visited Viet Nam as Prime Minister and declared that Japan would place importance on human security and establish the Trust Fund for Human Security. At the 2000 UN Millennium Assembly, then Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori called for the establishment of an international commission on human security comprised of experts from around the world. Consequently, the establishment of the Commission on Human Security was announced in January 2001 and Sadako Ogata, former UN High Commissioner for Refugees (current President of JICA), and Professor Amartya Sen, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge University, were named as co-chairs. Then, after discussions over a period of two years, the commission presented its Final Report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in May 2003. (Refer to Box 2 for the content of the report.) The report reconsidered the paradigm based solely on state security and stated that it was necessary to expand the focus of security from the state to the people and that comprehensive and integrated measures to ensure the security of people were necessary. It also defines human security as “to protect the vital core of all human lives in ways that enhance human freedoms and human fulfillment” and states that in order to ensure the lives, livelihoods, and dignity of people, a strategy for their protection and empowerment is necessary. In some countries, there are concerns that the idea of human security denies state security; that it invites humanitarian interventions; that it is nothing other than the intention of developed countries to ignore the state and attempt to get involved with individual people. However, the human security that Japan has in mind is nothing so shortsighted; it is based on the new perspective of attempting to deal with all of the issues faced by the international community by strengthening partnerships that are not bound by the existing frameworks of international organizations and interested parties. Japan intends to continue to work to disseminate and to put into practice this concept of human security.

Measures Based on the Human Security Perspective

Japan advocates “human security” as a concept of 21^st century international cooperation and is working to make the 21^st century a people-centered century. In order to promote human security, it is important for the people involved to understand the importance of the idea. Yet Japan intends not only to spread the principle, but also to think from the perspective of “human security” when implementing ODA and to actively promote ODA in a number of fields including education, health and medical care, the environment, gender, in order to empower local communities through human resources development taking into account the consolidation of peace, and nation-building.

In order to strengthen cooperation in the human security field, Japan established the Trust Fund for Human Security in the UN in March 1999. By December 2003, Japan had donated a total of about ¥22.9 billion, the largest amount among the trust funds established in the UN. Disbursements through the trust fund had been allocated to 94 projects and amounted to $117.4 million as of the end of December 2003. Looking at disbursements by category, most projects were in the health and medical care field (31 projects, $20.45 million), the poverty field (19 projects, $15.92 million), and the conflict field (13 projects, $54.07 million). The breakdown by region of implementation was: Asia: 39 projects ($31.78 million) and Africa: 20 projects ($20.07 million), etc.

Since fiscal year 2003, the former Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects scheme has been expanded and ¥15 billion has been allocated to the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects scheme, which more strongly reflects the concept of human security. It has been provided to NGOs, etc. for assistance for the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, etc., and to provide emergency assistance requiring rapid implementation, etc. For example, a project to comprehensively support the return of refugees in Timor-Leste was implemented in May 2003 and a project aiming at comprehensive regional development of Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea was implemented in September.

In order to realize human security in post-conflict regions, concerning reconstruction assistance for Afghanistan, Japan has already vigorously created nearly 100 projects under the assistance scheme, and is also working on the formation of large-scale projects in several regional cities, aiming at comprehensive development of the regions. In addition, Japan is advancing a comprehensive reconstruction assistance program in Afghanistan under the name of the “Ogata Initiative” through Emergency Grant Aid, in cooperation with a large number of international organizations, etc. (Refer to the Ogata Initiative.)

(3) Assurance of Fairness

When formulating and implementing ODA policy, it is necessary to take care that the benefits of ODA are fairly distributed among the people of the recipient country, including the local residents of the local area. For that reason, when implementing ODA, it is particularly necessary to consider the situation of the socially vulnerable in the recipient country, such as children, the handicapped, the elderly, etc., the gap between the rich and the poor and the gap among regions in the recipient country, and to pay full attention to the impact that Japan’s ODA project itself will have on the environment and on the local community in the area where the project is being implemented. Moreover, in order to realize balanced and sustainable development in developing countries, the perspective of gender equality in development is important because it is necessary to ensure that men and women are equally participating in development in and obtaining benefits from it.

These concepts were already contained in the original ODA Charter, but in the revised ODA Charter, they have been reorganized and positioned as one item in the “Basic Policies” that Japan must always place importance on in every stage of the ODA process, from the policy formulation stage to implementation. Concerning consideration for “the situation of the socially vulnerable, and the gap between the rich and the poor as well as the gap among various regions in developing countries,” and “environmental and social impact on the developing countries,” in addition to “full consideration,” the expression in the original ODA Charter, the revised ODA Charter uses the more active expression, “to assure of fairness.” And there are further details written on gender equality. Below is an explanation about the status of efforts to consider environmental and social impacts, the gender equality perspective, and consideration for the socially vulnerable.

Column 3

Japan’s Support for Women in Developing Countries/Measures for Gender Equality Measures

Japan is working to realize gender equality in developing countries and gender equality in assistance and in order to effectively and efficiently implement assistance, is taking into account the gender perspective. Below are two case studies of projects, the one to support women in developing countries and the other is an example in which the gender perspective was particularly effective in the formulation process of a common project. [A] Case Study of a Project to Support Women “Jordan: Family Planning and Gender in Development Project: Technical Cooperation Project” In Jordan, rapid population growth is having an impact on improvements to the living standards of residents in a variety of respects. It is thought that one of the reasons for this population growth is a lack of planned reproduction due to insufficient knowledge about family planning. And in regions where Islamic religious precepts are strictly observed, the improvement of knowledge about family planning and the social participation of women are sometimes obstructed, as the status of women is traditionally considered to be inferior. In response to this situation, the Government of Japan provided this technical cooperation project for Jordan in consultation with the Government of Jordan. Specifically, the project was based on the three pillars of (1) activities to promote family planning and maternal and child healthcare; (2) awareness-raising activities for local residents (including men); and (3) income generating activities for women. With the aim of reducing the rate of population growth and improving the health and status of women Japan supported: (1) capacity building for Community Support Teams, etc.; (2) raising the awareness of reproductive health of residents; (3) improving the quality of medical services in Maternal and Child Health Centers; and (4) activating income generating activities for women, through workshops by dispatched experts, acceptance of trainees, and provision of equipment. It was highly praised by local society to make much of the ownership of local community, such as training residents to be Home Visitors for awareness-raising, which was interviewed by the local state-run television station. Feedback from residents included comments such as “(After a hands-on workshop) I recommended planned parenthood to my younger sister. A planned birth with an interval of at least two years is ideal” and “When I was busy at the workshop, my husband helped out with the household chores. And he began to respect my social responsibility and to treat me as a full member of society.” So this cooperation project was effective in awareness-raising to residents. When carrying out projects incorporating the ideas of family planning or Women in Development (WID) in regions with strict religious precepts, it was sometimes necessary to explain that there is no contradiction between the idea of family planning and the religious precepts. Japanese experts tenaciously explained this to local religious leaders and in the end, they were able to get their message through to local residents through those religious leaders. This project was initiated in the Southern Ghor District in the Karak Governorate as a model area and the project was implemented over three years from 1997, and by June 2003, it was expanded to six areas in the Karak Governorate. Photograph A “The Scene at a Workshop” Photograph B “The Scene of a Survey for Well Construction” [B] Case study of a common project which utilized the gender perspective in its formulation “Mauritania Water Supply Project Formulation Process” In the project formulation process, sometimes information is acquired concerning the different roles of men and women in the area where the project is to be implemented through ex ante surveys of the situation in the field. For example, if it is the case that “the women are mainly responsible for drawing water,” then the views of women are important in deciding issues such as the location of the well. The photograph shows a survey of a grant aid project to construct a well in a village in Mauritania. In order to decide the location of the well, the village women were gathered here and asked to place stones on a map drawn on the ground to show where they would like the well to be constructed. Furthermore, the purpose of this project is to provide safe drinking water in order to eradicate water-borne diseases such as the guinea worm and others. For that reason, it is necessary for the residents to be sufficiently aware of the importance of safe water. In particular, because women have more serious health issues than men arising from overwork, pregnancy and childbirth, if hygiene education focused on women is implemented, it can be expected that the benefits of the project will be more efficiently derived. And through residents who most utilize the water supply facilities and benefit from them participating in the decision-making process, the residents can deepen their understanding of the project and maintain and manage the facilities appropriately by their own hand. In this way, the participation of women in the decision-making process, from the formulation of the project onwards, leads to an effective project appropriately reflecting the needs of the users and moreover, the active participation of women gives women an opportunity to play a role in society and leads to the improvement of status of women.

The Environmental and Social Impact of ODA Implementation

“Great attention will be paid with respect to factors such as environmental and social impact on developing countries of the implementation of ODA” means that the project implementing entity should be confirmed on their consideration not only for the impact on the natural environment but also for social impacts, such as the involuntary displacements of residents, the rights of indigenous people, with regard to land and natural resources etc. when implementing ODA, and efforts should be made to avoid or minimize the impact of Japan’s ODA projects on the environment and local community.

Japan was already implementing ex ante confirmation of measures by developing countries in accordance with the various environmental guidelines, and in recent years, it has been working to further enhance those guidelines. Concerning loan aid, after conducting public hearings and listening to a broad range of voices from experts, NGOs, and others, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) established the “JBIC Guidelines for Confirmation of Environmental and Social Considerations” in April 2002. The new guidelines stipulate that JBIC should consider not only environmental factors, but also social ones such as the displacement of residents, and the impact on aboriginal groups and women and they have become fully effective on October 1, 2003. These landmark guidelines introduce a system that allows local residents to lodge objections to ODA projects and they are applicable to the operations such as export credits of international financial organizations and others, in addition to loan aid.

Concerning technical cooperation, the “JICA’s Revising Committee on the Environmental and Social Considerations Guidelines” has been established within JICA. The committee is composed of external experts, NGOs, etc. and has conducted a series of studies concerning revision of the guidelines formulated from 1989 to 1994. The committee submitted its proposals to JICA in October 2003 and the plan is to implement a public comments procedure, etc., to seek a broad range of views from outside the organization, and to revise the current guidelines by March 2004. Concerning consideration for the environment and society in grant aid, it is planned to formulate the “Grant Aid Assessment Guidelines” corresponding with the JICA Environmental and Social Guidelines, which are going to be revised. In this way, Japan intends to continue and to strengthen confirmation of consideration of the impact of ODA projects on environmental and social factors.

In the revised ODA Charter, it is reiterated that the government will “adopt procedures to ensure that full consideration is given to the environmental and social impacts of implementation of ODA” in the “items of ensuring appropriate procedures” of the “Matters Essential to Effective Implementation” section. (Refer to Ensuring Appropriate Procedures.)

Assistance on Women in Development/Gender Issues

Concerning assistance on Women in Development (WID) and gender issues, in the revised ODA Charter, it is stated that “In particular the perspective of gender equality is important. Japan will make further efforts to improve the status of women, giving full consideration to the active participation of women in development, and to ensuring that women reap benefits from development.”

Since the announcement of the “WID Initiative” at the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995, Beijing), Japan has been working to ensure that women actively participate in development and receive the benefits of development. And in recent years, Japan has been actively implementing assistance for small-scale, locally-based efforts through NGOs and other organizations (Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects, etc.), assistance through the dispatch of experts and the acceptance of trainees, etc. (technical cooperation), and assistance through international organizations, etc. In particular, concerning Japan’s reconstruction assistance for Afghanistan, Japan has positioned the empowerment of women as a priority area and in 2003, dispatched experts to and accepted trainees from the Ministry for Women’s Affairs and from the Ministry of Education for girls’ education. The government intends, based on the revised ODA Charter, to place importance on the perspective of gender equality, to aim for fair and effective economic cooperation, and to make further efforts for the improvement of the status of women. Furthermore, Japan intends to take into account the fact that empowering women and girls promotes development of society and the economy.

Consideration for the Socially Vulnerable

It is clearly stated in the revised ODA Charter that consideration is to be given to the situation of the socially vulnerable. Most handicapped people in developing countries have few social participation opportunities, such as education or employment, and are deprived of necessary welfare services such as rehabilitation. It is necessary to take this situation into account when implementing ODA. Japan has been working to share its knowledge and experience with the developing countries in order to contribute to improving the welfare of their people. For example, in the Country Assistance Program for Thailand, Japan incorporated support for the socially vulnerable in the section of aid policies by priority area policies and is promoting assistance taking into account the importance of policies for handicapped people not only in Thailand, but throughout the region.

(4) Utilization of Japan’s Experience and Expertise

In the revised ODA Charter, “utilization of Japan’s experience and expertise” is positioned as one of the basic policies. Japan has accumulated knowledge and experience that is rare in the world. For example, Japan has a history of modernization since the Meiji Restoration, its experience of post-war reconstruction, loans from the World Bank, followed by its achievement of economic development through construction of core infrastructure under independent macroeconomic management. Furthermore, Japan has experience of reconciling economic conservation with economic growth, of creating an egalitarian society with a small gap between the rich and the poor, and of constructing national land resistant to natural disasters. There is also Japan’s experience of overcoming serious industrial pollution since the 1960s, and of building a new foundation for further development by overcoming crises such as the oil shocks of the 1970s through energy conservation policies. The revised ODA Charter does not assume that such experiences of Japan’s can simply be introduced to other countries and regions (without modifications). However, developing countries place high expectations on the technology, expertise, human resources, and systems nurtured through these experiences.

For example, President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki of South Africa stated “Africa has a long and glorious history and a distinctive culture ... I am interested in the Meiji Restoration and would like to know more about Japan’s development” in his speech entitled “The African Renaissance”²¹ delivered at the United Nations University (UNU) just before he became president. While staying in Japan to attend TICAD III, President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi visited Oita Prefecture, where he praised the “One Village One Product” movement²² which originated there, stated that he would like to introduce it to his own country, and has held a “Workshop on One Village One Product” after returning home.

As examples of the utilization of the experience and expertise of Japan, there is cooperation such as the introduction of group health checks and Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Handbooks, overcoming pollution, energy conservation, economic policy formulation and development of legal systems. In addition, regarding yen loans, the “Special Term for Economic Partnership” was introduced as a new condition for the provision of loans in July 2002, promoting the active utilization of Japan’s outstanding technology and expertise. Japan is also working to introduce and disseminate Japan’s construction technology to developing countries²³. For example, in order to prevent riverbank erosion, it has become possible to protect riverbanks for twice as long as with former construction methods by adopting traditional Japanese river construction methods which instead of using imported materials, use tree branches to weave into a mat and fill this mat with stones. Japan considers that utilizing outstanding technology and expertise rooted in Japan’s experience and supporting the development efforts of the recipient countries are important for effective development and for advancing development cooperation in a manner that is suitable for Japan. However, in this case, what is important is not to impose Japan’s way of doing things on developing countries or put Japan’s interests first, but to comprehensively and clearly grasp through policy consultations, etc. the assistance needs of the developing country, taking into account policies and situation of the country.

Regarding Japan’s policy to “utilize its advanced technologies, expertise, human resource and institutions,” the Japanese people working in the field putting their heads together with the local people in the recipient country and sharing the workload to carry out joint projects amount to more than mere economic cooperation. It is also extremely effective for deepening goodwill and mutual understanding with the people in the recipient country through person-to-person exchanges and technology transfers of Japan’s outstanding technology and expertise. And in implementing ODA, coordination with Japan’s major policies and its consistency with overall policy will be ensured, taking into account its relationship to Japan’s economy and society.

Mekong Riverbank Erosion Prevention Technical Cooperation Project (Photo: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

(5) Partnership and Collaboration with the International Community

As explained in Chapter 1, the international community in the 1990s saw prominent moves led by international organizations to develop internationally shared development goals, the MDGs and to harmonize aid procedure among donors and partners, in order to implement assistance more effectively and efficiently with limited aid resources. As a result, partnership and collaboration with developing countries, international organizations, donor countries, NGOs, and others has become more essential than ever. In this situation, Japan should not simply follow in the trend in the international community, but it should actively participate in the process of establishing international goals and aid modalities conveying its own assistance strategies and ideas. Based on this reality, while the sharing of development goals and development strategies centered on international organizations advances in the international community and a variety of actors provide assistance in cooperation, the revision of the current ODA Charter stated that “Japan will participate in this process, and endeavour to play a leading role.” And comparing the original ODA Charter with the new one, where the original ODA Charter stipulates that partnership and collaboration will be carried out “when called for,” the revised ODA Charter has revised this to read Japan will “enhance collaboration” and “Japan will endeavour to play a leading role.” Some of these partnerships and cooperative efforts in the international community are introduced below. (Refer to Part II for details about Japan’s efforts in trends in international assistance.)

Policy Consultation with Major Donor Countries

Japan is holding bilateral aid policy consultations with the US, the United Kingdom (UK), France, Germany, and other major donor countries and is carrying out exchanges of views and policy coordination in order to implement ODA more strategically, effectively, and efficiently. Japan is also carrying out exchanges of ODA staff with the US, the UK, Canada and Australia.

In particular, as allies, Japan and the US collaborate closely in the formulation of foreign policy and both have aid policies that emphasize the provision of project-type assistance on a bilateral basis. So they also cooperate in a variety of ways in the development field. Previously, cooperation between Japan and the US in the health and water supply fields was carried out, but recently they have been closely collaborating on measures toward peace-building in places such as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Iraq.

The UK has been advocating the common fund and budget support as aid modalities, while Japan has a different position with respect to these points, but in its relations with the UK, Japan has not been emphasizing these kinds of disagreements concerning the fundamental concepts of assistance, but has been working to find areas in which cooperation is possible between the two countries. In October 2003, the Director-General of the Economic Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for International Development visited Viet Nam together and held a seminar. This kind of cooperation between Japan and the UK is beneficial in the following respects: it mutually produces big benefits from the comparative advantage of both countries, it leads to a strengthening of the position of both countries in their relations with other donor countries, and it can act as a catalyst to the development community.

Cooperation with France is being advanced, particularly in the water sector. For example, in March 2003, the “Japan-France Water Sector Cooperation” project was announced. On the occasion of the G8 Evian Summit in June that year, a G8 action plan concerning water was put together under the leadership of Japan and France. The possibilities of cooperation with Germany in a broad range of fields, in particular water and African issues, are currently being explored, too.

In addition, Japan has been holding aid policy consultations at the Director-General level and exchanges of views concerning major issues in the development field with donor countries such as Australia, the European Commission, the Scandinavian countries, the ROK, and others and is working to deepen its understanding of the aid policy and aid mechanisms of each country.

Joint announcement of Japan-France Water Sector Cooperation

Consultative Group Meeting and Cooperation in Local Assistance Community

As a part of international assistance cooperation, consultative group meetings are held for each recipient country. In 2003, the Tokyo Conference on Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka and the Consultative Group Meeting for Mongolia were held in Japan, consultative group meetings were held for countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Viet Nam, and Uganda, and Japan actively participated in the discussions. In recent years, in addition to these consultative group meetings, assistance cooperation between donor countries and international organizations has become more vigorous at the local level, in particular, in low-income countries. In response, people involved in “country-based ODA task forces” actively participate in these developments, carry out policy proposals, and take the lead in aid conferences in Japan’s priority sectors as necessary. (Refer to the country-based ODA Task Forces.)

Participation and Leadership Role in Discussions about Assistance in International Organizations

Concerning development goals and development strategies in the international community, OECD-DAC has been a permanent forum for consultation and coordination among major donor countries and Japan has been the vice-chair of the DAC general meetings. In May 2003, Japan newly became vice-chair of a working group and is also actively participating in and contributing to deliberations, for example in the DAC Network on Poverty Reduction (POVNET), Japan took leadership in the infrastructure task team. The DAC Peer Review of Japan²⁴ was carried out in December 2003, in which constructive ideas were expressed on how Japan could implement ODA more effectively. There the DAC countries highly praised Japan for its various efforts (ODA reform, assistance to Afghanistan and Iraq, a variety of initiatives such as the holding of TICAD III, among others) undertaken despite its severe economic and fiscal situation.

In addition, with the increase in the interest of the international community in development issues in recent years, most notably the establishment of the MDGs, the ideal form of development in the 21^st century is being vigorously discussed in various forums such as the UN, the G8 summits, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Between year 2002 and 2003, the United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development, the Kananaskis Summit, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), the Evian Summit, and the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, etc. were held and Japan not only actively participated in these international movements, but also took a leading role in development issues in the international community, for example, by hosting the Third World Water Forum and TICAD III. In Part II, a detailed explanation is provided of Japan’s contribution to these discussions in the international community.

Enhancing Collaboration with International Organizations

Of Japan’s ODA disbursements by scheme, bilateral ODA accounts for three-fourths and contributions to multilateral organizations accounts for the rest. As indicated by these figures, bilateral ODA is the core scheme, however Japan is not just contributing funds to international organizations, it is also enhancing collaboration with them. For example, Japan is actively participating in their decision-making processes and also collaborates with them when implementing bilateral ODA. Japan intends to “enhance collaboration with international organizations that possess expertise and political neutrality.” And at the same time, concerning the management of the international organizations, Japan aims for greater efficiency in their budget and a fairer share for Japan’s contributions, ensuring that “Japan’s policies are reflected appropriately.” From this perspective, Japan engages in policy dialogues and multi-bi cooperation on projects with Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and UN agencies; Japan cooperates with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on all facets of development, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on health and medical care and education, the World Health Organization (WHO) on health and medical care, the International Labor Organization (ILO) on labor and human resources development, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on education and culture, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on population and reproductive health²⁵, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons, the World Food Programme (WFP) on food support, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) on AIDS countermeasures. (Details concerning collaboration with international organizations.)

Promotion of South-South Cooperation

Regarding collaboration and cooperation in the international community, the revised ODA Charter states that “Japan will actively promote South-South cooperation in partnership with more advanced developing countries in Asia and other regions.” South-South cooperation is provided by a developing country with a higher degree of development to another developing country with a lower degree of development, utilizing its own development experiences, human resources, etc., and it mainly takes the form of technical cooperation. Such cooperation enables cooperation among countries in a relatively similar social, cultural, and economic situation and development stage, which leads to effective and efficient cooperation. It is carried out based on ownership and the needs of the recipient country.

Japan has been carrying out South-South cooperation since 1975. For example, Japan is actively promoting Asia-Africa cooperation, whereby Asia’s development experience is applied to development efforts in Africa in ways befitting the actual conditions there. During TICAD III in September 2003, both the African and the Asian participants expressed a strong desire to promote Asia-Africa cooperation calling for measures to be taken for more concrete cooperation. Moreover, at the Japan-ASEAN Commemorative Summit in December 2003, the promotion of South-South cooperation was confirmed. Not limited to relations with Asia, Japan has cooperated with Egypt to support the reconstruction of the health sector of Iraq by dispatching a joint medical survey team sponsored by both countries to Iraq and holding workshops in Cairo and Tokyo which were attended by doctors and nurses from the three countries. Currently, the importance of South-South cooperation is widely recognized throughout the world, but there are very few countries actively promoting it and Japan is leading the world in this field.

Region-Wide Cooperation—Mekong Region Development Aid and NEPAD Aid

The revised ODA Charter additionally states, regarding partnership and collaboration in the international community, that “Japan will also strengthen collaboration with regional cooperation frameworks, and will support region-wide cooperation that encompasses several countries.” For example, Japan is collaborating with the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) to remedy regional disparities within the ASEAN region and to improve the competitiveness of the region, cooperating with surveys in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Viet Nam (the CLMV countries) to promote agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and other regional and local industries as well as comprehensive regional development, cooperating with the Mekong Region Development through international organizations such as the ADB, and providing policy support for NEPAD in Africa. The Mekong Region Development targets an extensive area covering all the countries, regions and districts located in the Mekong river basin including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China’s Yunnan Province. It was also discussed in the Japan-ASEAN Commemorative Summit in December 2003 and it was announced that assistance from Japan for the development was expected to reach $1.5 billion over the next three years. (Details about the Mekong Region Development.) Concerning Africa, NEPAD is placing importance on development cooperation by region and Japan is implementing region-wide projects that benefit multiple countries and is cooperating with the activities of subregional organizations such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

21. United Nations University http://www.unu.edu/unupress/mbeki.html
22. A regional revitalization movement to put into practice independent regional development based on ideas from the people themselves in the spirit of independence and self-help first proposed by Oita Prefecture Governor Morihiko Hiramatsu in 1974.
23. The Developing Countries Construction Technology Development Promotion Project (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport), Mekong Riverbank Erosion Prevention Technical Cooperation Project (JICA)
24. One of the major activities of DAC, this is a regular review of the aid policies and status of implementation of aid of DAC member countries by DAC member countries. The current DAC Peer Review of Japan covers the period from 1999.
25. “Reproductive Health” refers to a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, at all stages of life involved in the pregnancy and childbirth system and its functions and processes (WHO definition)