Japan's Official Development Assistance White Paper 2010
Chapter 2 Concrete Measures for the Future — What’s Changing?
The ”ODA Review” presents a range of concrete measures. This chapter will lay out a set of concrete measures for implementing the new ODA paradigm.
Section 1 will introduce a multiple spectrum of concrete measures, including ”strategic aid implementation”, ”effective aid implementation”, ”strengthening the functions at the field level”, ”improving evaluation”, ”cooperation with diverse stakeholders”, and ”taking a leadership role in the international community”.
Section 2 will present measures, including ”broadening public participation and sympathy”, ”increasing the visibility of ODA”, ”improving the efficiency of public relations activities”, and ”concrete efforts for promoting public understanding and support”.
Section 3 will introduce ”reinforcing the policy-making functions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs” and ”reform of JICA”.
Section 4 will discuss efforts to ensure the mobilization of development funds for responding to new international challenges. The section will introduce efforts to ensure ODA funds, private flows, and non-ODA government funds, as well as efforts related to innovative financing.
Section 1 More Strategic and Effective Aid Implementation
Amidst Japan’s difficult economic and fiscal conditions, Japan will strive to implement more strategic aid and thereby maximize its effects within a limited budget.
1. Strategic Aid Implementation
First, in order to carry out strategic aid through “selection and concentration,” bilateral and multilateral aid policies will be decided with respect to each recipient country and organization, taking into account a program’s relationship to the priority areas of Japan’s development assistance, the recipient countries’ development goals, and their bilateral relations with Japan. Based on this analysis, Japan will assess the policy usefulness of providing assistance across countries and regions and extend assistance under the Priority Policy Issues for International Cooperation formulated in the beginning of every fiscal year.
Second, the function of the Headquarters of International Cooperation Policy Planning (Note 2) will be actively utilized. In particular, the Headquarters meeting will be convened under the political leadership of the Foreign Ministry to discuss and set the aid direction.
Third, Country Assistance Programs (CAPs) (Note 3) will be redesigned into a concise and more strategic form. Existing CAPs and Rolling Plans (Note 4) will be integrated, and the contents and the formulation process of the CAPs will be streamlined. In principle, CAPs will be drawn up for all of the ODA recipient countries.
Notes:
(2) The Headquarters of International Cooperation Policy Planning was established in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in April 2006 with the Minister for Foreign Affairs serving as its Chair. The Headquarters discusses region-specific aid policies as well as area- and issue-specific measures, taking into account the strategic vision of Japan’s foreign policy as a whole, etc.
(3) As part of efforts to improve ODA’s strategic value, efficiency, and transparency, five-year plans are created, bearing in mind the development issues, etc. of aid recipient countries. CAPs are formulated for major aid recipient countries.
(4) In principle, Rolling Plans are created for all ODA recipient countries. Individual ODA projects are classified under the priority areas, etc. which have been identified for each country and are compiled into a list.