Japan's Official Development Assistance White Paper 2011
2. Increasing Public Participation
(1) The Importance of Encouraging the Understanding and Support of the People
ODA is indispensable for Japan's diplomacy; under the current severe economic and financial circumstances, gaining support for an increase in ODA is impossible unless the significance of development assistance is adequately explained. The importance of gaining understanding and support of the people is also emphasized in the ODA Review Final Report released in 2010.
From this standpoint, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and JICA provide Japanese citizens with a variety of opportunities to participate directly in the actual process of development assistance and to experience ODA sites on the ground where ODA projects are implemented. Public participation is enhanced at a variety of levels in a variety of ways, which includes; encouraging discussions and dialogues regarding development assistance, promoting development education, publishing information regarding the current state of development assistance, and introducing and communication of such activities to a wide audience including those in local cities and various groups of people and organizations. At the same time, it is recognized that development of human resources and developmental research are important tools to appropriately respond to the diversifying and increasing complexity of development issues. It is also important to promote an understanding of Japanese philosophy regarding development assistance in the international community; meanwhile the importance of collaborating with researchers has grown.
Further, it is also very important, in implementing ODA projects to make efforts for the people in recipient countries to understand Japan's assistance, and Japan enhances local public relations in collaboration between overseas diplomatic missions and local JICA offices.