Chapter 2

Section 3. Current Status of Efforts in Areas of Concern in Relation to Aid Modalities, Implementation, and Management

1. Coordination of ODA Programs within the Japanese Government, among Implementing Agencies and with Various Schemes for Aid

One office and 12 ministries and agencies have ODA budgets, so collaboration among the office and the ministries is indispensable for the maintenance of consistency of ODA projects overall.

The “Basic Law for Central Government Reform,” enacted in June 1998, stipulated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) should play a core coordinating role in the government’s overall ODA policy. In response, MOFA has endeavored to strengthen collaboration among the related ministries and agencies by holding the “Experts Meeting of Technical Cooperation” (in February 2003 it was renamed the “Experts Meeting on Technical Cooperation”),” and the “Inter-Ministerial Meeting on ODA Evaluation.” Also, previously there was no framework for gaining a cross-sectional understanding of the grant aid, yen loans, funds through international organizations, other official flows (OOF), and trade insurance that are provided by the various ministries, agencies, and related organizations, and for ascertaining the overall flow of funds to recipient countries. To fill this gap, in November 2002 the “Experts Meeting on Financial Cooperation” was launched among MOFA, the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI).

Japan is implementing assistance that takes maximal advantage of the special characteristics of each type of financial and technical cooperation in ODA. For example, the “Human Resources Development Centers (commonly known as the Japan Centers)” introduced in Part I, have been implemented through grant aid and technical cooperation projects and through coordination of “hard” and “soft” cooperation. In addition, Japan is developing types of cooperation that more organically utilize collaboration between “soft” and “hard” cooperation, for example “ODA Loan Coordinated Detail Design (D/D),”²⁶ “Sector Program Development Study,”²⁷ and projects that implement technical cooperation along with financial cooperation, such as “Dispatch of Experts Coordinated with Financial Cooperation” and “Acceptance of Trainees Coordinated with Financial Cooperation.” In addition, support for the activities implemented by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), etc. through grassroots human security grant aid is directly delivered to the people of the recipient country and Japan is aiming to utilize it more effectively while taking into account synergistic benefits of other types of assistance. Looking at one example of this kind of coordination, support through the “Ogata Initiative” for Afghanistan discussed in Part I, is being used to carry out synthetic development of the regions by coordinating financial cooperation, support in cooperation with NGOs, the reconstruction of the principal road between Kabul and Kandahar being implemented by Japan, the reconstruction of the road between Kandahar and Spin Boldak being supported by Japan through the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and other projects.

And in the light of diversifying assistance needs, etc. in recent years, it is important for the related ministries and agencies to fully utilize their knowledge, know-how and human resources when implementing bilateral ODA, in particular technical cooperation. From this point of view, when implementing bilateral ODA, Japan endeavors to achieve effective and efficient collaboration and coordination of the aid implementing agencies, primarily JICA, and related ministries and agencies. For example, MOFA and the Ministry of Justice cooperated in the JICA project to support the development of legal systems in Cambodia (refer for details) and when the project is in the education sector MOFA and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology cooperated to implement assistance.

2. Coordination OOF and with the Private Sector

Looking at the flow of funds to developing countries worldwide, in 2001 ODA constituted 26.5% of total fund flows, whereas non-ODA funds such as OOF and private sector funds made up approximately three-quarters of the total fund flows. Therefore, in order to effectively and efficiently implement ODA, it is necessary to understand fund flows such as non-ODA OOF including export finance, foreign investment finance, untied loans, etc. through JBIC, the obtaining of trade insurance through NEXI, and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and bank loans from the private sector, divide roles and collaborate taking into account the qualities of each type of financing, and advance effective development assistance.

For example, the development of socioeconomic infrastructure was formerly implemented by the public sector but recently efforts to develop infrastructure utilizing the funds, technology and initiative of the private sector have been made.

From the perspective of supporting efforts to shift to a market economy in developing countries, it is extremely important to ensure diverse funds procurement that meets development needs. Provision of funds is being implemented through provision of public funds such as Japan’s ODA and OOF, trade insurance, etc. and through collaboration and mutual complementation between Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). The “Experts Meeting on Financial Cooperation” introduced above further strengthens this kind of coordination between ODA and other funds. Furthermore, in government-level dialogues about ODA with recipient countries, Japan is strengthening efforts toward more effective development in collaboration with Japan’s private sector by discussing the investment environment issue, etc. and promoting the improvement of domestic institutions.

The movement to strengthen collaboration with the private sector is gaining momentum within Japan too. For example, JICA began implementing the “Project Formulation Study Based on Private Sector Proposal” in fiscal year 2000. JBIC also introduced project formulation studies based on proposals and the Pilot Study in fiscal year 2001.

3. Support to and Collaboration with NGOs, etc.

Assistance activities by civil society, including NGOs, are becoming increasingly important in the international community because they enable not only fine-tuned and effective assistance tailored to the needs of local communities and residents in developing countries, but also speedy and flexible responses in providing emergency humanitarian aid.

Recognizing the merits of these activities and the increasing presence and role of NGOs, the government identified the strengthening of partnerships with NGOs as a key policy of MOFA in the “Ten Reform Principles to Ensure an Open Foreign Ministry.” The strengthening of relations with NGOs has also consistently been a prominent theme in subsequent reform proposals, such as those of the Second Consultative Committee on ODA Reform and MOFA’s Reform Advisory Board.

These recommendations have resulted in the “Fifteen Specific Measures for ODA Reform” and the “Action Program for Foreign Ministry Reform,” which contain the following measures for strengthening partnerships with NGOs: (1) reinforcing the functions of the existing NGO-MOFA Regular Meetings; (2) holding regular meetings between Japan’s overseas diplomatic missions and NGOs (NGO-Embassy Meetings); and (3) introducing Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO Projects and JICA Partnership Program to support their activities.

As for financial support for NGO activities, the government established Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO projects in 2002 (fiscal year 2003 budget of ¥2.2 billion) by integrating part of the existing Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects by Japanese and international NGO activities and the system of Grants for Supporting NGO Emergency Activities. The new scheme covers contributions to NGOs’ head office expenses, which were not eligible for assistance before. But it also obliges NGOs to accept external auditing of all applicable projects. Thus, the new system requires NGOs to discharge more accountability than before. JICA, too, is making efforts to strengthen its support for NGOs and other groups. In fiscal year 2002, for example, it established JICA Partnership Program, JICA Partnership Program with NGOs, Local Governments and Institutes and by reorganizing and integrating its former Community Empowerment Programs (fiscal year 2003 budget of ¥1.09 billion). (Refer to Part I for details).

4. Coordination with Other Donor Countries and International Organizations

In order to implement Japan’s assistance effectively and efficiently, it is important to closely collaborate with other donor countries and international organizations not only to simply avoid duplication of assistance, but also to aim for synergistic benefits from assistance. Based on this concept, in fiscal year 2002, Japan developed coordination with other donor countries and with international organizations. For details, please refer to Part II for details.

5. Support for South-South Cooperation

South-South cooperation is a form of cooperation provided by more developed countries, which use their experience and human resources to support other developing countries. South-South cooperation has the advantage that it is possible to smoothly transfer technology suited to the recipient country and to effectively use limited resources by providing technical cooperation from a country with a similar natural environment, language, technological level, or culture to the recipient country.

Japan initiated a third-country training project in Thailand for personnel of neighboring countries. In addition to support for South-South cooperation in Asia, Japan is also developing South-South cooperation in other regions, based on Asia’s development experience and the actual conditions in each of those regions. For example, through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) process Japan is actively promoting South-South cooperation for Africa, in particular Asia-Africa cooperation, and is carrying out human resources development of the people in African countries through training projects in Asian countries and making a variety of efforts to promote trade and investment in Africa.

And Japan is signing “Partnership Programs” with “emerging donor countries” that are actively promoting South-South cooperation. These programs set up a comprehensive framework for South-South cooperation and establish medium-term goals and plans concerning third country training, the dispatch of experts, the burden for expenses, etc. Japan is helping these countries to become more independent donor countries. As of December 2003 Japan was implementing cooperation based on these kinds of frameworks with 11 countries including Singapore, Thailand, Tunisia, Brazil, and Egypt (Refer to Part III for details).

6. Understanding of the Conditions in Individual Developing Countries and the Formulation of Country Assistance Plans

In order to increase the effectiveness of ODA it is important to understand the development issues in individual developing countries and to carry out assistance after fully taking into account conditions in each country. From this perspective, Japan has been formulating and publishing the country assistance plans explained in Part I. In fiscal year 2002, country assistance plans for Tunisia, Zambia and Nicaragua were formulated. And through inter-government dialogue about ODA with the recipient country Japan is working to achieve mutual understanding so that Japan’s assistance policies and the development needs of the recipient countries will be linked to each other.

7. Preliminary Studies, Monitoring of Implementation, and Ex-Post Evaluation

In order to implement ODA more effectively and efficiently, it is important to accurately assess the status of implementation and the results of ODA and make improvements when necessary. From this perspective, the ODA-related ministries and offices including MOFA, and the implementing agencies such as JICA, JBIC are implementing monitoring and evaluation to achieve consistent verification from ex ante to ex post stages. Also, taking into account the fact that importance is now given to strategic ODA for a whole sector or country in addition to individual projects, Japan is implementing policy level evaluation of assistance policies, for specific countries and program level evaluation for a whole sector, in addition to the evaluation of individual projects that was carried out previously. The major evaluations carried out in fiscal year 2002 are as follows.

At the policy level, the evaluations of Japan’s ODA policies for Sri Lanka and Thailand were carried out and the consistency of those policies with the needs of the recipient countries, the results of the assistance policies, and the appropriateness of the implementation process, among others were verified. The evaluation results were mostly good for both Sri Lanka and Thailand with respect to the extent to which the recipient country’s needs were reflected in the ODA polices and the objectives of those policies were achieved. However, the evaluations pointed out that Japan’s ODA policies do not clearly identify the objective of the assistance, nor the indicators to measure its achievement. In response to such evaluation results, the government is working to make further improvements when formulating future country assistance plans. For example, a logic model is introduced when necessary, and a study was conducted to examine whether indications are applicable to ODA policies. It is also pointed out that evaluation needs to be institutionalized into ODA implementation system to ensure better implementation of ODA policies. The government has been making use of the results of country evaluations in the formulation and review of the country assistance plans.

Japan also implemented a Priority Issue Evaluation on the Women in Development (WID) Initiative as one of its policy-level evaluations. In this evaluation study the consistency of the Initiative with international assistance trends, the results of the assistance, the appropriateness of implementation procedures, among others were verified. It was concluded that the Initiative was producing good results in such areas as education and healthcare sector. On the other hand, the evaluation recommended that the knowledge of experts and implementing agencies be utilized more in the implementation process, and hence the government is endeavoring to strengthen collaboration in the process of formulation and implementation of ODA policies with the participation of experts, NGOs, and related personnel from implementing agencies. Also it has been proposed that the WID Initiative should be revised to have a stronger Gender Mainstreaming component in light of the international trend to move forward from the WID approach to the Gender Mainstreaming approach. The government has been working with the awareness that the perspective of gender equality is required not only in WID, but in all stages and sectors of development, and intends to carry out the review of the initiative with this awareness.

At the program level, evaluation is carried out by sectors and types of aid. As an example, the evaluation of the NGO Project Subsidy Scheme was carried out. In this evaluation study, the role of the subsidy scheme in Japan’s ODA policies, its results, and the implementation process were verified. The evaluation concluded that the scheme played an effective role in Japan’s ODA policies as a mechanism for providing wide-ranging support to NGOs. On the other hand, the evaluation study pointed out that in order to ensure the results of projects, the evaluation system such as self-evaluations by NGOs should be introduced. In response to this recommendation, the government has decided to provide NGOs instructions to include self evaluation results in project reports as much as possible.

At the project level, evaluations of individual projects are carried out. Ex post evaluation is carried out for all completed ODA loan projects from the perspectives of appropriateness of the plan, efficiency of its implementation, results, and impact. An example is the Metropolitan Water Supply Project (Khanpur I Water Supply Project) in Pakistan, which is to develop water supply facilities using the Khanpur Dam as reservoir in order to meet the expanding demand for water resulting from urban development. The ex post third party evaluation made clear that the amount of water supplied per day since the completion of construction in 2000 has been less than was planned. The main reason for this is that the amount of water stored in the reservoir is declining due to drought, and it has not been possible to generate purified water as planned. And the evaluation indicated that another factor was the delay in the development of terminal water pipes, which is not eligible for ODA loans. As further increase in the demand for water is expected with the population increase in metropolitan area, it is reported that challenges include securing sources of water, and rehabilitation of water distribution networks. Responding to these challenges, Japan presented a short-term, medium-term and long-term action plan to the Government of Pakistan and the Pakistani side has already commenced its efforts toward realizing it.

Column 10

Vanuatu Rural Electrification Project—Project Review

Vanuatu is a country that consists of a number of islands. It suffered from chronic electricity shortages with the household electric rate of under 10%. It is essentially difficult to realize a sufficient supply of electricity in Vanuatu for geographical reasons, namely the demand for electricity was on a small scale and widely spread. What is worse, the Government of Vanuatu suffered from a chronic fiscal deficit. Vanuatu requested the Government of Japan for its cooperation in rural electrification to provide electricity to villages using renewable energy. In response to this request, the Government of Japan approved support (approximately $50 million) such as dispatching of six experts and acceptance of three trainees, provision of equipment, and covering of local costs (implemented from June 1999 to May 2002). With the objective of permanent rural electrification in Vanuatu, the project introduced the Solar Home System (SHS) in a total of seven villages and established an SHS operation and maintenance system for both the Energy Unit and the target villages. However, when a study was implemented at the interim stage of the project, it was discovered that the number of residents not paying their electricity charges was increasing and this was hindering the appropriate management of the project. This was because the amount of the fixed charge calculated based on the initial investment imposed a heavier burden on the lives of rural residents than had been anticipated, and the method of monthly payment was not compatible with the local custom of preferring to pay in one lump sum rather than by the month. If missed payments of electricity charges had continued in this fashion, there was a possibility that it would become extremely difficult to realize electrification in villages using renewable energy. In response to this situation, another discussion was held within the project. As a result, the Government of Vanuatu stopped using the fixed charge system, consulted with the electricity committee in each village, and adopted a five-stage charge system under which the residents can select an electricity charge matching their income level. As the condition of the project changed the plan was reviewed. For example, in villages where the electricity charge collection rate was particularly low, an explanation for the charge burden was given again. As a result, the collection rate increased substantially. For example, the collection rate in the village of Emua increased from 49.1% (average collection rate from November 1999 to April 2000) to 92.2% (average collection rate from July 2001 to December 2001). In the implementation of ODA, there are many examples like this where factors unforeseen in the initial formulation of the plan result in the creation of difficulties in promoting the project. However for that reason it is becoming more and more important to improve implementation conditions by appropriately providing feedback of the results from verification and issue analysis as was done in this project. Solar Home System in Vanuatu

Evaluation in various forms is being carried out for grant aid and technical cooperation as well. An example is in the evaluation of the “Project on Strengthening of Nursing Education (project-type technical cooperation)” in El Salvador, in which the consistency of the project with local needs, the degree of achievement of the project goals, and its impact, among others were verified. This project had the objective of training high skilled nurses and the main content of its activities was development of teaching materials and teaching guidelines for lectures and on-the-job trainings. The evaluation concluded that the project contributed to the improvement of educational methods and the training of nurses. On the other hand, the evaluation considered ensuring the sustainability of the project to be a future challenge and proposed to establish a better mechanism for taking over the project from donor to recipient country side and to strengthen the cooperation among related organizations. In response to this evaluation result, this project has held an additional training meeting on issues such as the formulation of guidebooks and manuals, and ways of using educational materials, hence making efforts to ensure sustainability of the project.

In this way the government is working to improve its ODA by implementing a wide range of evaluations from policy to individual projects level and by using the evaluation results as feedback for ODA implementation agencies/personnel. And the government publishes these evaluation results through the website of the government and implementing agencies in order to fulfill its responsibility to explain the situation of ODA activities to the people of Japan.

8. Fostering Development Personnel

In order to respond to the diversification of development issues and to coordinate assistance with the international community, it is essential to foster and secure human resources with a high level of knowledge and experience in specialized fields and familiarity with the conditions of developing countries and with excellent communication skills in foreign languages. Discovering and fostering development personnel are also important for promoting public participation and enhancing efficiency, which are important issues for Japan’s ODA.

In response to these needs, the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID), established in 1990 to promote the concept of an “International Development University,” is implementing various programs, such as training human resources in assistance-related fields, dispatching researchers and others overseas, and conducting surveys and research. In cooperation with the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS), FASID established the FASID/GRIPS Joint Graduate Program (leading to a master’s degree from GRIPS) in April 2000 and launched a doctorate program in April 2002. By offering advanced graduate studies that are practical and internationally valid on such subjects as development strategy, project management, and poverty reduction, these programs aim to equip people who are capable of playing a key role in the Japanese government, ODA implementation bodies, and other organizations and of becoming candidates for management positions in international organizations. FASID also dispatches instructors to Nagoya University and several other national and private universities to teach courses concerning development cooperation.

In fiscal year 2001 JICA expanded its “Associate Specialist Program,” appointing capable youths with interest and experience in international cooperation for assistance work in the field in order to provide them with opportunities to further enhance their knowledge and expertise. In order to properly meet the diversified needs of developing countries, JICA vigorously promotes public participation in ODA through the “open recruitment” system, the utilization of private-sector human resources, and use of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs) and Senior Volunteers, as well as through the “Programs to Support Citizen Participation in International Cooperation,” ^*1 which was established in fiscal year 2002.

The promotion of international understanding has been taken up as one of the subjects covered in the “period for integrated study” that has been implemented in Japanese elementary and junior high schools since fiscal year 2002, and students in the classrooms are enjoying more and more opportunities to gain knowledge of the problems faced by developing countries. In order to promote development education, the government, JICA, and JBIC are taking a variety of measures such as distribution of the “development education teaching packages.” The status of these measures is presented in Part I.

In fiscal year 2002 JICA implemented such development education programs as seminars for development education instructors and a scheme offering junior high school students practical experience in development. JICA is also making efforts to bring development education closer to local communities and to disseminate it at the elementary and junior high school levels, such as by assigning former JOCVs who worked in developing countries to serve as “Coordinators for International Cooperation” in international exchange associations and other organizations in all 47 prefectures of Japan.

9. Promoting Public Understanding and Participation

Because ODA is funded by taxes paid by the Japanese people, in order to continue ODA projects, the government must work hard to obtain the understanding and support of the people for ODA through public relations effort and the promotion of development education. At the same time, it is important to bring ODA closer to the people by further promoting ODA based on public participation.

Typical examples of ODA based on public participation are the JOCV and Senior Volunteer Program. In fiscal year 2002 the former dispatched 2,315 volunteers to 66 countries and the latter dispatched 434 volunteers to 43 countries. As previously noted the Programs to Support Citizen Participation in International Cooperation was established in fiscal year 2002.

Other programs to promote public participation include the holding of the ODA Town Meetings which commenced in August 2001, and the “ODA Citizen-Monitor Framework.” (Refer to Part I for details.)

10. Promoting Information Disclosure

The understanding and support of the public are essential to continuing ODA projects and to that end the government is making efforts to increase disclosure of information concerning ODA. The government is working to enhance information disclosure through its ODA-related websites, a lot of information concerning ODA is presented in a timely fashion on the MOFA, JBIC, JICA, etc. websites and they introduce the subject in an easy-to-understand way.

In addition, the government is making efforts to introduce and disclose information about Japan’s ODA to the people and promote their understanding of ODA through such means as the ODA White Paper and other government publications, the ODA Mail Magazine, ODA Town Meetings, the distribution of ODA-related pamphlets dealing with a variety of sectors and regions, and other such measures. The Government of Japan will continue to make these kinds of efforts to promote the transmission of information to the people. (Refer to Part I for details about the ODA Mail Magazine and the ODA Town Meetings.)

11. Others

(1) Increasing Transparency in ODA Project Procurement, etc.

The objective of Japan’s ODA is socio-economic development and improvement of welfare in the recipient country and since the funds of ODA are the taxes of the people and other kinds of things, unfair practices in procurement of ODA projects cannot be permitted. From the perspective of the appropriate and fair implementation of ODA, Japan began introducing new measures to prevent fraudulent practices in fiscal year 2000 and intends to continue to strictly enforce these measures and make efforts to enhance auditing functions.

MOFA is working to reinforce auditing in three respects: “more extensive audits,” “spot-checks without prior notice,” and “establishment of a system to adopt improvement measures.”

To carry out “enhanced extensiveness” of audits to loans, MOFA plans to gradually expand the number of countries subject to a review of yen loans procurement procedures by external specialists, which had been conducted in some countries since November 2002 and to systematize the submission of audited financial statements for some projects. In the case of grant aid, from September 2002 MOFA has made external auditing obligatory for grant assistance—grassroots/human security projects totaling ¥3 million or more (as opposed to the previous figure of ¥20 million or more). As for technical cooperation, JICA has introduced external auditing for its accounting records since October 2002.

Regarding the implementation of “spot-checks without prior notice” for loans, MOFA plans to introduce a system of external auditing for yen loan procurement procedures using a sampling of projects that were agreed upon at the government level, in principle in and after fiscal year 2002. In the case of grant aid, external audits including spot-checks without prior notice have been introduced for sampling of verified contracts. As for technical cooperation, the above-mentioned external auditing is being implemented in the form of spot-checks without prior notice.

Regarding the “establishment of a system to adopt improvement measures,” existing mechanisms by which the relevant departments of implementing organizations follow up on auditing results for loan, grant and technical cooperation will be expanded.

Column 11

Project to Grant Recycled Waste-Collecting Vehicles to Bhutan

Thimphu City, the capital of Bhutan, is modernizing and as a result of a dramatic influx of people from rural areas to the city. This has led to the amount of garbage in Thimphu City increasing from 8 tons to 20 tons a day over the last four years—a 250% increase. However, the prevalent method of collecting garbage in Thimphu City involves the city employees manually carrying the garbage from temporary garbage containers set up everywhere in the city to garbage trucks. Due to this inadequate garbage collection capacity, the garbage containers are a sanitation problem, as they attract flies and mosquitoes, wild dogs scrounge in them for food, etc., and there are concerns over environmental pollution due to the discharge of garbage into rivers. The man who first became keenly aware of these conditions was Yoshinobu Sasaki who had been dispatched to Bhutan as a Senior Volunteer (SV). He was teaching environmental education and through an informal meeting with the thrompon (mayor) of Thimphu he heard about the situation regarding the garbage issue and Bhutan’s request to Japan. He concluded that the garbage issue in Thimphu City was due to a shortage of waste-collecting vehicles and made up his mind to use Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects to provide recycled waste-collecting vehicles. He worked actively to achieve this goal, sending emails to cities in his home island of Hokkaido and taking advantage of trips home to lobby related people for support, and so on. His efforts brought results with Sapporo City deciding to provide five recycled waste-collecting vehicles to Thimphu City. Sasaki’s efforts were greatly assisted by the fact that there is an NGO in Sapporo which was established to promote friendship with Bhutan and a number of former JOCV volunteers were working for it. The Society for Promotion of Japanese Diplomacy, which has abundant experience of overseas activities, was in charge of repairing and inspecting the vehicles to be provided and transportation of the vehicles across overland routes that require extreme care, etc. In this project the activities of SVs, local authorities, NGOs, etc. bore fruit through Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects (provision of US$75,385 for repair, inspection and transportation expenses: equivalent to ¥8,066,195). This project can truly be said to have shown the efforts of all Japan. Through the introduction of the waste-collecting vehicles Thimphu City is improving the efficiency of municipal garbage collection services and, according to the civil authorities, urban door-to-door garbage collection has increased its coverage from approximately 10–15% of households to approximately 80% of households. The thrompon (mayor) of Thimphu City, Phuntsho Wangdi, has repeatedly expressed his appreciation to Japan saying: “Considering the rapid expansion of the city and the resulting increase in garbage, there can hardly have been a better example of well thought out, appropriate and timely assistance.” Five Waste-Collecting Vehicles Provided by Sapporo City Senior Volunteer Yoshinobu Sasaki with Thimphu City Thrompon Phuntsho Wangdi who first made Sasaki aware of the garbage situation in the city, and another local person

(2) Ensuring the Safety of ODA Staff

Japan is using its ODA budget to provide assistance in over 160 countries and regions and so the security in developing countries, where Japanese staffs are engaged in ODA activities, vary and change day by day. Since the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States (US), the issue of how to ensure the safety of ODA staffs engaging in assistance for peace-building has become extremely important in light of the frequent terrorist attacks throughout the world, especially in the Middle East and Southwest Asia.

Measures to ensure the safety of ODA staff are also positioned as an important issue in the strengthening of the implementation system in the revised ODA Charter and Japan has always taken every possible measure to ensure thorough security precautions for ODA personnel. (Refer to Part I for details about security measures for Japan’s overseas diplomatic missions.)

For example, JICA exchanges information with overseas Japanese embassies and takes timely and appropriate measures tailored to the security conditions in each country and region. Specifically, these measures are as follows.

JBIC is taking measures similar to those being taken by JICA, and, in addition, is taking the following safety measures.

26. The Detail Design (D/D) of an ODA loan project is implemented as a JICA development survey project and the consultants dispatched from Japan design the project jointly with the recipient country.
27. The specific sector of the recipient country is selected, coordination with the government of the recipient country, other donor countries, and international organizations is carried out, specific development policies are formulated, and comprehensive coordination of Japan’s technical cooperation and financial cooperation in that sector is carried out.