[TICAD at 30] Cooperation to meet the changing needs of the times while respecting Africa’s ownership: Interview with Mr. Yanase Naoki, Director-General of JICA Africa Department

“TICAD at 30” is a series of articles that looks back on JICA's initiatives and looks forward to the future with Africa on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development). Through discussion at TICAD, JICA’s cooperation has been based on the following three pillars; i) people focused cooperation, ii) Africa’s ownership and co-creation, and iii) the utilizing of Japanese experience, to meet the challenges and needs Africa faces. In this issue, Mr. Yanase Naoki, Director-General of JICA Africa Department, explains the progress and future of JICA’s cooperation under the keywords of "peace and stability," "private sector collaboration and human resource development," and "regional integration and cooperation in Africa” with sharing his own experiences in Africa.

――One of the main themes of TICAD is "peace and stability." How has JICA been working toward peace and stability in African countries?

YANASE NAOKI: We are facing compounded challenges that disturb peace and stability and cause serious threats to people's lives in Africa such as; infectious disease outbreaks, large-scale natural disasters, environmental deterioration and conflicts caused by global warming. They are becoming increasingly complex and transcend national borders. Therefore, it would be necessary that countries and international institutions work together to overcome these challenges, because nothing can be solved by a single country alone. Based on this situation, the concept of "human security" is proposed to protect the life and dignity of every human being.

Ms. OGATA Sadako is the one of those who propounded this idea. When she became President of JICA in 2003, she newly created the Africa Department, as she considered Africa had the greatest number of people facing various difficulties so that JICA should promote human security in Africa. In the early 2000s, the importance of human security was recognized, and the concept continues to be shared among TICAD partners to this day.

――Please tell us about JICA's efforts to make concrete progress in realizing human security in Africa.

YANASE: Simply explained, the initiative of human security is to take on both the top-down approach and bottom-up approach. The top-down approach is to improve government capacity to protect people's rights and freedoms, focusing on individuals and communities, especially the poor and vulnerable. On the other hand, the bottom-up approach is to empower people and communities themselves to engage in development.

One of these efforts is reconstruction and development cooperation in Sierra Leone in West Africa. To "bridge the gap (between emergency humanitarian assistance and reconstruction and development cooperation)", which was suggested by Ms. Ogata, JICA has been engaged in its projects since the UN peacekeeping force was still on deployment. In order to build a society in which conflict does not recur, JICA worked for the capacity building of local government officials who can be trusted by the local population while at the same time strengthening the self-governing organization of the local population. Local population discussed, among themselves, their administrative services needs to be proposed to the local government, the process of which was supported by JICA. While stationed in JICA Ghana Office, I was in charge of this initiative in Sierra Leone and caught a glimpse of the realization of human security in this project which create communities where the local government and population collaborate each other.

JICA is currently working with international organizations in the Sahel region, where many people suffer from poverty and conflict, to build a stable society where conflict does not occur or recur. With this approach, which has been developed in Sierra Leone and other countries, JICA is contributing to restoring the trust of the local population with the government and building a resilient society. We will continue to provide cooperation that is truly necessary, drawing on the knowledge and experience we have accumulated so far.

――The main theme of TICAD has now shifted from poverty reduction to increased investment in Africa and private sector partnerships. How has JICA's cooperation in Africa in the industrial and business sector changed over time?

YANASE: In the 2000s, Africa began to continue economic growth, and many African countries set “poverty reduction through economic growth” as a development goal. In 2008, JICA newly opened Private Sector Partnership Office to support Japanese companies’ business development in Africa and other developing regions. At that time, I was stationed in the JICA Ghana Office and supported SONY and Ajinomoto in their activities in Africa. Yet, I thought their activities were still more like corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities than business development.

In 2016, TICAD 6 was held in Kenya, for the first time in Africa, with nearly 3,000 Japanese business people participating, and there were expectations of increased investment in Africa by Japanese companies as full-fledged business development. However, after peaking around this time, the stock of FDI (foreign direct investment) in Africa by Japanese companies has begun to decline. Now, it is our challenge what role JICA can play as a catalyst for the expansion of private investment.

――What initiatives does JICA have in mind for expanding private investment in Africa in the future?

YANASE: First of all, we need to develop human resources to link business in Africa and Japan. Especially, through the ABE Initiative (African Business Education Initiative for Youth) launched at TICAD 5, JICA is promoting industrial human resources development to support Japanese companies' business expansion in Africa.
JICA has accepted more than 1,600 African youths so far and provided them not only with opportunities to study at Japanese graduate schools, but also with opportunities to work at Japanese companies to learn business skills through internships. Many of our graduates, some of them employed by Japanese companies, are active to bridge businesses between Japan and Africa.

We have also established a social networking group that includes ABE Initiative alumni and private business persons, and currently has more than 1,000 participants. We want to encourage Japanese companies to expand into Africa by matching ABE Initiative alumni with Japanese businesses.

Another initiative is to support for startups in Africa, where JICA has been developing a program called Project NINJA (Next Innovation with Japan) since 2020 to nurture young African entrepreneurs and startups. Among them, a Ghanaian startup that won a special award in a business contest targeting 19 African countries is now collaborating with the Rakuten Group of Japan.

――TICAD is promoting cooperation with the African Union and related organizations to boost African-led development. What kind of cooperation has JICA promoted in this process?

YANASE: When I assumed the position of Director-General of the Africa Department in October 2022 and took a view of Africa as a whole, I reaffirmed the need to strengthen relations with the African Union and other regional partners in Africa, which I had not really been aware of when I had been stationed in the country offices in Ghana and Mozambique. The African continent is large and diverse, with more than 50 countries. As the population continues to grow rapidly, it is important that none of the countries are left behind, so that African society as a whole can develop equally and become stable.

In 2013, the African Union formulated Agenda 2063 as a long-term vision for inclusive growth in Africa. To support the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063, JICA is promoting trade facilitation and cross-border infrastructure development. Since there are many landlocked countries in Africa, it is important to strengthen connectivity among countries for Africa to entirely develop in the coming decades.

Currently, JICA is dispatching an advisor to the CEO and several Japanese experts in areas such as regional integration and Kaizen to the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), which is the implementing agency for Agenda 2063, to support the achievement of development goals.

JICA's approach to cooperation in Africa is to co-create with Africa, respecting Africa's own ideas and ownership. JICA provides advice from the passenger seat to support Africans in the driver’s seat to promote their efforts to become self-reliant and sometimes works with them to find ways to achieve this.

――Please tell us about JICA's challenge to further strengthen relations with Africa, as "a partner growing together with Africa," and to prepare for TICAD 9 to be held in Yokohama in 2025.

YANASE: It is far from possible for Japan alone to solve Africa's problems. Under the goal of "Energize Africa," AUDA-NEPAD is focusing on education and employment, especially for the young generation, to achieve Agenda 2063. It is also necessary to collaborate with private companies with excellent digital technology to provide effective support through DX (Digital Transformation).

In addition, the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) requires $130-170 billion in annual funding, however, nearly half of this amount has yet to be raised. We think it is our challenge to fill this financing gap by involving the private sector through the TICAD process.

In May 2023, I visited three African countries. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I participated in the 40th anniversary celebration of a bridge built through JICA’s cooperation. It was unbelievable for me to see that the bridge was so well maintained although 40 years had passed through civil war. The engineers who had been engaged in the construction of the bridge at that time handed over their skills to the younger generation of Congo, and their knowledge was passed down from generation to generation. JICA's support for human resource development was truly alive and well.

Whenever I visit Africa, I always feel invigorated. I am reminded of the happiness that cannot be measured by economic wealth alone, the strength of human bonds, and the compassion for others, all of which are important things that we Japanese have forgotten. Africa is full of young people and full of vitality. I would like to continue to work hard so that the future of Africa's young people will be bright and Africa and Japan can be energized as “partners growing together”.