Japan's Official Development Assistance White Paper 2012
(3) Water and Sanitation
Water and sanitation is a serious issue related to human life. In 2010, approximately 780 million people worldwide had no access to safe drinking water such as water supply or wells and approximately 2.5 billion people—about a half of the population of developing countries—had no access to basic sanitation such as sewage systems.(Note 7) More than 1.5 million children under five years old lose their lives annually due to diarrhea caused by a lack of safe water and basic sanitation facilities.(Note 8)
<Japan's Efforts>
At the Fourth World Water Forum in 2006, Japan announced the Water and Sanitation Broad Partnership Initiative (WASABI). Japan's disbursements of aid for water and sanitation are the largest in the world. Japan provides comprehensive support for both the knowledge and expertise as well as the equipment and facilities based on Japan's experiences, knowledge, and technology in the following: (i) promotion of integrated water resources management; (ii) provision of safe drinking water and basic sanitation (improvement of sanitation facilities); (iii) support regarding water use for food production and other purposes (e.g. water for agricultural use); (iv) water pollution prevention (establishing effluent regulations) and ecosystem conservation (conservation of vegetation and sustainable forest management, etc.); and (v) mitigation of damage from water-related disasters (establishment of an early warning system and strengthening the disaster response capacities of individuals and local communities).
At the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) in 2008, Japan announced to provide support for (i) promoting the development of water and sanitation facilities to provide safe drinking water to 6.5 million people; (ii) capacity building of 5,000 people on water resources management; and (iii) dispatch of the Water Security Action Team (W-SAT).* As a result, (i) ODA loans and grant aid benefitting approximately 9.85 million people in the water and sanitation sector had been pledged by the end of March 2012; (ii) Japan conducted human resource development benefitting 13,064 individuals by the end of 2010; and (iii) 142 members of the W-SAT had been dispatched by the first half of 2012.
Furthermore, in December 2010, Japan led the adoption of the U.N. General Assembly Resolution on the follow-up of the International Year of Sanitation (2008), and is supporting global efforts to achieve "Sustainable Sanitation: Five-year Drive to 2015," towards 2015, which is the target date to achieve the MDGs.
- *Water Security Action Team (W-SAT)
- Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV), Senior Volunteers (SV), and other technical experts from Japan are dispatched to Africa to provide technical guidance to enable the stable use of safe water. The Team conducts a wide range of activities, including ensuring safe water, maintenance and management of water supply facilities, and improvement of sanitary conditions related to water use. The plan formulated at TICAD IV in 2008 called for the dispatch of approximately 200 Japanese experts over the five years leading up to 2013.
Note 7: Source: "Progress on Sanitation and Drinking-Water:2012 Update" (WHO/UNICEF)
Note 8: Source: "Progress for Children: A Report Card on Water and Sanitation" (UNICEF, 2006)
●Kenya
Water Supply and Hygiene Improvement Project in Host Communities of Dadaab Refugee Camps
Technical Cooperation Project (November 2010 - October 2012)
Located in Kenya's North Eastern Province near the border with Somalia, the Dadaab refugee camp currently holds 450,000 Somali refugees, despite being originally designed to accommodate 90,000. Due to the increase of refugees' inflow, the camp continues growing. This caused negative impacts on the local Kenyan host community located within the vicinity of the camp, such as deterioration of environment and public order. The disparity in living environment between the Kenyan host community and the camp’s Somali refugees has also become a problem. In a harsh, semi-arid area with less than 300 mm of annual rainfall, Kenyan residents have inadequate government services while the Somali refugees receive medical care, education, and other forms of assistance.
To solve this disparity, Japan decided to assist the Kenyan host community with their water supply, which is their most urgent. In this project, Japan has constructed deep well water supply facilities and reservoirs, supplied water trucks, and provided training aimed at improving the maintenance, management, and sanitation of water supply facilities. Japan hopes that its efforts to improve hygiene and supply enough water for the host community's approximately 28,400 residents will lead to improved relations between the host community and the swelling refugee camp.
●Cambodia
Assistance for Urban Water Supply System under the Water Supply and Sewerage Infrastructure Development Program
The civil war that continued in Cambodia by early 1990s has destroyed the country's water supply facilities and left unmaintained. In 1993, after the war ended, Japan initially supported the planning of the Water Supply and Sewage System Development in Phnom Penh, the country's capital. Then, following on this, Japan also provided grants for facility installation and human resource development projects in the water supply sector. Other supporting countries and organizations also intensively implemented this program based on the plan Japan had formulated. As a result, the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority has improved its water supply diffusion rate, provided 24-hour water supply, and achieved profitability to become one of Asia's best water supply utilities.
Under a policy of expanding its successes in Phnom Penh to the water utilities of regional towns and cities, Japan provided grant aid for the installation of a water purification plant in Siem Reap. It also launched a technical cooperation project in eight major cities that provided comprehensive support for facility installation and the technical training of workers. This cooperation has enabled Cambodia to operate its water supply facilities both stably and efficiently.
Additionally, many years of accumulated cooperation has laid the foundation for trust in Japan in this field and has helped establish a human network between the two countries. In 2011, a memorandum signed between the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan and the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy of Cambodia for the collaborative promotion of safe water supplies. Japan, through collaborating public and private sector, will continue to contribute to the improvement of the sanitation of Cambodia, and also to implement collaboration for promoting business of the Japanese waterworks industry overseas.