Chapter 2

Section 2

5. African Region²¹

Japan’s bilateral ODA to the African region in 2002 was approximately $580 million, and this accounts for 8.7% of total bilateral ODA.

Japan has been carrying out assistance in the African region placing importance on the following points, as stated in the Medium-Term Policy on ODA.

Africa is a region in which issues such as serious poverty, conflicts, hunger, infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome) and accumulated debt are concentrated. In recent years, the importance of African development issues has been recognized once again, and is increasingly gaining the attention of the international community. Most discussions concerning development in various international conferences since the United Nations (UN) Millennium Summit in 2000 have taken up African development issues and the various issues faced by Africa as themes. Anticipating this trend, Japan has been taking a lead in addressing the African development issues through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) process for ten years, since 1993. Japan held the First Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD I) in 1993 and the Second Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD II) in 1998, and adopted the “Tokyo Declaration” and the “Tokyo Agenda for Action” respectively. This has not only reawakened the interest of the international community in African development, but has also contributed to the birth of efforts by Africa itself, such as the establishment of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU), by consistently and continuously advocating African ownership and partnership with the international community as the basic philosophies of TICAD.

Japan is carrying out a variety of cooperation for the African countries taking into account these outcomes of TICAD. For example, at TICAD II Japan announced that it would provide grant aid amounting to approximately ¥90 billion planned to be over the course of the next five years in the education, health and medical services, and water supply sectors. By March 2003 Japan provided assistance totaling more than ¥83.6 billion (subsequently the goal of ¥90 billion was reached by the Third Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD III) held from the end of September to the beginning of October 2003). In addition, Japan is making efforts to provide support in the areas of infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS and malaria, agriculture and the development of socio-economic infrastructure which are necessary for economic growth, the consolidation of peace in conflict-affected regions, and human security. Furthermore, the TICAD process is promoting Asia-Africa cooperation and South-South cooperation within the African region. Particularly in Asia-Africa cooperation, concrete and distinctive projects have been created such as promotion of trade and investment in both regions and development of the New Rice for Africa (NERICA).

In anticipation of TICAD III which was to be held from the end of September to the beginning of October 2003, Japan designated the period before TICAD III the “Year for Soaring Cooperation with Africa” and developed active measures to address African issues. Specifically, in June 2002 Japan announced the “Solidarity between Japan and Africa—Concrete Actions”²² policy which closely connected development assistance with conflict prevention and the consolidation of peace. Based on this, Japan took a number of opportunities to convey its concepts to the countries of the world and exchanged views with key government figures including heads of state and ministers of foreign affairs concerning future cooperation policies. In March 2003, as a part of the preparation process for TICAD III due to be held six months later, Japan held the TICAD III Senior Official-level Preparatory Meeting.²³

Since many of the African countries are heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs), the share of loan aid including yen loans is low at approximately 1.6% and most of Japan’s assistance is provided through grant aid or technical cooperation. About 50% of the grant aid goes to the three sectors of education, health and medical care, and water supply and it is primarily focused on social development assistance for poverty reduction. Technical cooperation is mostly being provided for cooperation in the education, health and medical care, and agricultural sectors. In addition, Japan is promoting South-South cooperation. For example, in Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and Senegal, third country training has been implemented mainly for the neighboring countries centered on bases within the region.²⁴ Japan is also supporting third country training and dispatch of experts to third countries in Asia.

With regard to assistance for the consolidation of peace, for example, Japan is providing support in collaboration and partnership with the UK in the area of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) with the objective of promoting the social reintegration of ex-combatants in post-conflict Sierra Leone. Japan has provided cooperation of ¥300 million through grant aid for conflict prevention and peace building to the Japan-UK Cooperation which provides employment opportunities to ex-combatants through cultivation, afforestation, school reconstruction and other projects.

Out of the 42 countries in the world that are designated as HIPCs, 34 of them are concentrated in the African region. Japan is making a large-scale contribution to these countries within the framework of the Enhanced HIPC Initiative. Furthermore, Japan is providing active support toward the implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), a condition for the application of the Enhanced HIPC Initiative, in Tanzania, Ethiopia and other countries, and is implementing support for poverty reduction and development.

21. Region classifications are determined by MOFA. Here “African region” refers to the sub-Saharan African countries. Sudan is included in the Middle East region.
22. In relation to development, Japan places importance on “human-centered development” and announced a concrete cooperation package concerning issues such as education, improving market access for LDC products and agriculture (NERICA rice). For details refer to www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/ticad/tc_rentai.html.
23. Representatives from fifty African countries, six Asian countries, 19 donor countries, 26 international organizations and six non-governmental organizations (NGOs) attended this meeting and proposed the priority sectors for discussion in TICAD III, such as the consolidation of peace, health and infectious diseases, human resources development, agriculture, socio-economic infrastructure, and private sector development.
24. The infectious diseases countermeasures projects being implemented in Kenya and Ghana has been positioned as the base within the region for infectious diseases countermeasures. As for human resources development, Japan has established a “Base for African Human Capacity Building” within Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.