News from the Field

President Sadako Ogata

Japan's assistance to developing nations should reflect its position as the world's second largest economy and the Japanese people should be encouraged to support increased help, JICA President Mrs. Sadako Ogata said.

Mrs. Ogata also told a news conference Oct. 18 that humanitarian aid should continue to the very needy people of Myanmar despite the recent civil unrest there and that the world should not ignore ongoing problems in Afghanistan, particularly the need to educate girls in that country.

Mrs. Ogata was recently reappointed to a second four-year term as President of JICA and she used the news conference to highlight progress in the last four years and to discuss the challenges ahead, including the merger between JICA and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) which will be completed in October, 2008, with the formation of 'New JICA'.

One of the most formidable challenges will be to maintain and even increase Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA), she said, and to make more effective use of resources by both strengthening JICA and working more closely with various partners including the World Bank, international donors and Japanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Mrs. Ogata noted that Japan's ODA had fallen by 40 % in the last ten years and the country now ranks behind the United States and Britain, and shortly will also lag behind Germany and France.

She has consistently advocated a strong ODA program and said the amounts should reflect Japan's standing as the world's second largest economy. To reverse this downward spiral, she said, Japan's taxpayers should be encouraged to take a greater interest in development aid and the long-term benefits to Japan as well as the poor countries by such a course of action.

Aid to Myanmar

On assistance to Myanmar, Mrs. Ogata responded to a question by saying that many of that country's population desperately needed help to avoid them falling into even deeper poverty and that humanitarian aid should be continued despite the recent government crackdown against monks and dissidents.

Though the world now pays less attention to Afghanistan than in the past, she urged donors not to forget that country, particularly the ongoing needs to help educate the country's girls.

In her first term as JICA president, substantial progress had been made, she said, in such areas as making the organization much more responsive to field needs, emphasizing human security and an increased role for individual communities in projects and overall, greater 'effectiveness, efficiency and speed.'

She said that already JICA had achieved a 10 percent increase in project efficiency including a reduction in equipment procurement expenses and headquarters administration costs.

The forthcoming merger with JBIC for the first time will allow 'New JICA' to offer a 'one stop service' for development assistance when the organization begins providing technical assistance, loan assistance and grant aid 'all under one roof.'

The World Bank and the UN, she said, was paying close attention to this merger and closer collaboration with those and other organizations "will become increasingly important" in international aid.

She outlined several areas in the world where this more integrated approach was already working. These included the troubled Philippine province of Mindanao where JICA is engaged in both so-called quick impact projects and also developing a comprehensive regional plan.

African assistance

In Africa, a One-Stop Border Post scheme has already resulted in a huge reduction in economic costs by allowing governments and organizations to move their goods and equipment more quickly and efficiently through new frontier posts which are more integrated and efficient than old-style border procedures.

Mrs. Ogata said a fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) will be held in Japan in May 2008 which will emphasize accelerating growth, human security, the environment and climate change.

That meeting, and a subsequent G8 Summit in Japan will help underline the world's expectations for Japan's help to developing nations.

Next year will also be the halfway point toward the ambitious targets of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which Japan has pledged to honor in such fields as reducing poverty and improving education, health and maternity care for the world 's poorest populations.