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Japan's New Assistance Program for Africa in line with the TICAD II Agenda for action

1. Priority in Social Development

(1) Promotion of assistance, particularly in the field of primary education, health and medical services, and water resources

Japan aims to extend approximately 90 billion yen of grant aid over the next five years, thus will provide new educational facilities for more than 2 million children and will improve living conditions for more than 15 million people.

(2) Establishment of centers for parasitic disease control

The centers for parasitic disease control will be established in Asia and Africa (Ghana and Kenya) with a global network in close collaboration with the WHO. They will provide training courses and operational research for parasitic disease control and contribute to regional cooperation, especially south-south cooperation among African and Asian countries, through their activities.

(3) Effort to eradicate polio

Japan and the United States have played a key role in the success of efforts to eradicate polio worldwide, providing vaccine and equipment within the framework of the Japan-U.S. Common Agenda. Japan and the United States will reaffirm and strengthen the commitment to end the scourge of this disease from the African continent through expanding cooperative eradication efforts at the grass-roots level by the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers and U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers.

2. Economic Development

(1) Establishment of "Asia-Africa Investment Information Service Center"

In order to promote investment in Africa by Asian enterprises, Japan will collaborate with UNIDO and UNCTAD to establish an Asia-Africa Investment Information Service Center within SIBEXLINK of Malaysia--a semi-governmental organization for information services--to provide investment information through the Internet.

(2) Asia-Africa Business Forum

Japan, in collaboration with UNDP, will support the launching of "Asia-Africa Business Forum" where business people of the two regions get together in a capital in Asia in late 1999 for trade and investment promotion between Asia and Africa. This will be followed by a second forum to be organized in Africa in 2000.

(3) The year of Small and Medium sized Enterprises

Japan welcomes the idea that the year 2000 be declared as "SMEs year" to focus the attention of the Asian and African countries as well as the international community on fostering SMEs, which are a key to development in the private sector.

(4) Promotion of rice cultivation through Asia-Africa cooperation

  1. Japan plans to test and demonstrate in Cote d'Ivoire appropriate technology of rice cultivation and to extend it in the West African region.
  2. Japan assists the joint research between the West African Rice Development Association (WARDA) in Cote d'Ivoire and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines to boost upland rice production by hybridization between African and Asian rice species.
  3. Japan will also collaborate with IRRI to help farmers in Southeast African countries, where the climate is similar to that in Southeast Asia, to grow more rice by dispatching Asian experts.

(5) Tourism promotion in the Southern African region

As the first step of capacity-building measures to tourism authorities in the Southern African region, the JICA plans to host a "Tourism Promotion Seminar" to share Japan's experience and knowledge of in-bound tourism promotion, as well as marketing strategy to attract Japanese and other Asian tourists. Japan will also look into the possibility of dispatching experts to the region, with a view to further strengthening the capacity of African tourism authorities and promoting tourism development in the region.

(6) Debt management capacity building

Japan will help African countries with heavy debts in their efforts to improve their debt management capacity by providing bilateral technical assistance and in collaboration with UNDP and the African Development Bank.

(7) Grant for debt relief

Japan has so far extended about 30 billion yen in grant aid for debt relief for African countries within the framework of international arrangements, and is currently considering enlarging the scope of the relief in view of the worsening debt situation in certain countries.

3. Basic Foundations for Development

(1) Africa Governance Forum

UNDP organizes "Africa Governance Forum" every year (next several years from 1997). In this forum African countries which are active in structural reforms of their governments and capacity building of their human resources and civil societies discuss their own country programs with donor countries, international organizations, representatives of civil society, and so on. Japan intends to support some of the specific projects to be identified in the country programs, making use of part of Japan's contribution to the UNDP Human Resources Development Fund.

(2) Support for the OAU Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution

OAU, the regional organization to which all African countries (except Morocco) belong, established "Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, and Resolution" in 1993 for a structure to work comprehensively on conflicts in Africa. Japan has since fiscal year 1996 been contributing to the OAU Peace Fund, which was founded together with the Mechanism as its financial resource. This contribution has been utilized to support for various OAU initiatives such as establishing early warning system and holding conferences for conflict resolution.

(3) Support for the UNHCR's activities to promote the reintegration of refugees

The project is supervised by UNHCR in cooperation with implementing agencies (NGOs) with the budget of around 1.5 million US dollars which will be funded from Japanese voluntary contribution. The project is designed to promote the reintegration of returnees of African refugees through implementation of micro-finance as an seed money for starting small enterprises.

(4) Support for anti-personnel mines clearance

Japan announced, at the Ottawa Treaty Signing Conference in December 1997, a "Zero Victims Program" and that it will provide approximately 10 billion yen (or approx. $80 million) in the next five years for landmine clearance and victims support. Japan will provide assistance to Mozambique and other countries in Africa in their efforts for mine clearance and rehabilitation of victims.

4. South-South Cooperation

(1) Training of 2000 Africans over the next 5 years in Japan-sponsored training programs to be held in Asia and in North African countries

  1. JICA plans to invite 1000 African trainees in the next five years to the third country training programs to be held in Asian and North African countries.
  2. Japan will financially assist Indonesian Center for South-South Technical Cooperation (CSSTC), constructed in February 1998 by the government of Indonesia with the financial assistance of Brunei Darussalam, to accept another 1000 trainees for the coming five years.

(2) Asia-Africa Forum (AAF)

The Japanese Government, together with the co-organizers of the TICAD II, will assure a policy dialogue framework in order to promote Asia-Africa cooperation. Followed by the previous AAF in Indonesia in 1994 and Thailand in 1997, the third AAF will be held next year. Regional workshops in Africa will also be organized to discuss concrete action.

(3) Trilateral Cooperation between Japan, France and Malaysia

"Trilateral cooperation among Japan, Malaysia and France" -- an initiative launched by the heads of the three governments in 1997 for cooperation in Africa -- will start early next year with skill training programs for Africans, utilizing Japan-assisted facilities in Malaysia and with inputs from France.

5. Strengthening Coordination

(1) Bases for African Human Capacity Building (BAHCB)

Japan intends to set up bases for human capacity building in Africa. As a model case, it plans to cooperate with the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Kenya, one of the most successful project sites in nearly 20 years' of Japanese cooperation. The JKUAT will serve as a model case of practical, interdisciplinary research on development aiming to extend the results to other African countries.

(2) Networking among development research and training institutes

Japan plans to initiate a network among development research and training institutes concerned to encourage joint research and capacity building for African development.

(3) Japan-Africa Exchange Program

In this program, lectures and symposiums will be held across Japan with the participation of African people engaged in development activities. The project aims to increase grassroots support for Japan's assistance to Africa.

6. Follow-up Activities

TICAD II facility

The TICAD II facility, a part of the UNDP's Asia-Africa Cooperation Fund, will be utilized to realize the effective monitoring of the Agenda for action by convening regional seminars for each of four different regions within Africa and the formulation and implementation of concrete projects of Asia-Africa cooperation.

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