3 Efforts to Ensure Appropriate Development Cooperation
Japan’s development cooperation centered on ODA has not only contributed greatly to the development and growth of developing countries, but also to establishing firm bonds of friendship and trusting relations between Japan and developing countries. It has also made a large contribution toward enhancing Japan’s standing in the international community and ensuring the peace and prosperity of Japan. On the other hand, there have been cases of fraud committed in ODA projects, failures in delivering expected outcomes, and delays due to unforeseen circumstances.
The Government of Japan has made various efforts to take lessons from these experiences for the future, such as improving evaluation systems, enhancing transparency, improving project management processes, and holding dialogues with a wide range of stakeholders, including recipient countries and civil society. The Government of Japan will continue to make tireless efforts to implement more effective and appropriate development cooperation.
In order to implement projects with due consideration for environmental and social aspects, JICA has established the Guidelines for Environmental and Social Consideration as a part of its efforts to ensure the appropriateness of its development cooperation. In 2022, JICA revised the Guidelines based on the response of the international community to the threats of climate change and efforts to improve the quality of environmental and social considerations.
(1) Prevention of Fraudulent Practices
Fraudulent practices related to ODA projects not only hinder their appropriate and effective implementation, but also undermine trust in ODA that is funded by the taxes paid by the people of Japan. Therefore, fraudulent practices are absolutely unacceptable.
Based on lessons learned from past fraudulent practices, MOFA and JICA have strengthened efforts to prevent those practices. These include enhancing monitoring systems (such as “strengthening the function of the consultation desk for information related to fraud and corruption” and “expanding third-party checks”), reinforcing penalties (such as “increasing the maximum period for suspension measures,” “raising the amount of penalty charges for breaching contracts” and “introducing a point-deduction system on corporations that repeatedly commit serious fraudulent practices”), and expanding the scope for suspension measures (such as “including the groups of the corporations on which the measures have been imposed, as well as entities who have received business transfers from the corporations for which the measures have not yet been lifted, in the scope”).
Japan remains firmly committed to the prevention of fraudulent practices in ODA with the strong determination that fraudulent practices related to ODA projects are absolutely unacceptable.