News from the Field

Lively discussions took place among the symposium's panelists

During a recent symposium on the eradication of poverty and Japan's role in that effort featuring 2006 Nobel laureate and Bangladeshi Grameen Bank managing director Muhammad Yunus, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) President Sadako Ogata called empowerment the key to a better livelihood for people in developing countries and said that micro financing serves as an effective means for achieving this end. The symposium, which was sponsored by Nikkei Inc., took place on July 9, 2007. Below is a summary of the discussion that occurred there.

Winning the Fight Against Poverty

Mrs. Ogata, who served as a panelist for the symposium, stressed that charity and welfare alone will not give people the means to support themselves, and that without this capability, improvements in their standard of living driven by their own efforts could not be expected and a basic solution to the poverty problem would not be found.

Mrs. Ogata added that empowerment also constitutes a key to human security, which is why micro financing is an element in so many of the projects implemented by the Japan-initiated and supported UN Human Security Fund.

Access to microfinance is presently limited mainly to Asia, and it is necessary to make small loans and other financial services for the poor more widely available in Africa, where poverty is a particularly serious issue. JICA has stepped up its efforts to fight poverty through the "one village, one product" campaign and other programs. Because even greater results can be obtained by extending a helping hand to enterprising villagers, micro credit also provides an effective means of contributing to economic expansion.

Yunus expressed his hope that the recipients of official development assistance (ODA) come to include private sector and nongovernmental social businesses rather than just governments and government programs. Mrs. Ogata replied that while Yunus’s proposal is worthy of consideration, ODA comes from tax money and is implemented by government institutions, and certain restrictions cannot be waived.

Nevertheless, social businesses are able to seize new opportunities and have the flexibility to venture into new territory and thus differ from government institutions that provide social services, where innovation and failure are not tolerated. JICA must consider how it can support these social businesses as it prepares to undergo reorganization in 2008.