Annual Reports

This report covers program results and the status of activities for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in fiscal 2007.

Feature: Looking Back on JICA’s Cooperation, and Aiming for the Future

In October 2008, JICA will be transformed into the agency that conducts the technical cooperation, loan assistance, and grant aid aspects of Japan’s ODA in an integrated fashion. This year’s feature will look back over the projects that JICA has worked on up until now, interweaving these with examples of current initiatives to give a fresh outlook on financial cooperation and the integrated operation of the future.

1 Developing Human Resources: News from the Field

Japan’s government-based technical cooperation began in 1954. The first cooperation that JICA worked on was technology transfers mediated by Japanese specialists and technicians or administrative officials from the partner countries. Project-type technical cooperation that combined this technology transfer with the provision of equipment has come to be regarded as an important approach to developing personnel.

From the latter half of the 1970s to the 1980s, in response to changes in the international situation there was increased recognition of the importance of carrying out comprehensive, cross-sectoral cooperation by country. At the same time, project cycle management was introduced as a means of ensuring the theoretical basis of assistance results and their transparency, and these results were used in strengthening the collaboration with international aid agencies and other organizations. There has also been continual improvement and innovation.

2 Continuing to Take on Challenges

• Addressing Climate Change
  Reflecting the policy of the Japanese government, JICA proactively implements projects that advance climate change countermeasures. The feature gives specific examples of cooperation projects relating to mitigation measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions or absorbing greenhouse gases over the long term and adaptation measures for coping with the unavoidable effects of climate change on global weather systems, while at the same time putting forward JICA’s thinking.
• Efforts toward Peacebuilding Projects
  The feature looks at Sudan and Afghanistan as countries that are rising from conflict. It introduces initiatives in Sudan that stress a sense of speed based on JICA’s experience accumulated in Asia, and examples from Afghanistan that tackle various possibilities for development assistance for nation-building centered on human security.

3 The Start of “New JICA”

“New JICA” will be one of the world’s largest bilateral aid agencies, and will therefore have to carry out an even greater role and bear an even greater responsibility than JICA has done to date. Under the banner of the Three Ss – Speed up, Scale up, and Spread out – JICA will combine technical cooperation, grant aid cooperation, and yen loan cooperation, and will work to be able to bring the synergy of these three methods of assistance into play.

The feature focuses on the example of Viet Nam to consider a specific case for the directionality of “New JICA”

Part I ODA and JICA Programs

A comprehensive report on ODA and JICA program results in fiscal 2007 (calendar year 2007 for ODA) is provided. More detailed JICA results can be found in Part IV of this report or on the attached Statistical Appendix CD-ROM.

Part II JICA’s Regional Activities

Part II divides the countries of the world into 10 regions and describes JICA’s cooperation activities for each region. It reports on the basic principles of JICA’s assistance to each region, gives overviews of the regions, and summarizes the priority issues and measures in JICA programs. It also introduces representative projects in each region, allowing the reader to overview specific activities.

Chapter 1 Asia

1. Southeast Asia

As regional economies grow in ASEAN, where regional integration is advancing, correction of disparities between the six original members and the four new members of ASEAN are important tasks. Through various projects, JICA’s technical cooperation will continue to focus on the development of individual countries as well as the whole region.

2. East Asia

Based on China’s five-year plan announced in March 2006, JICA implements cooperation with a focus on three priorities: (1) cooperation towards resolving environmental and other global issues; (2) assistance for open and reform policy; and (3) promotion of mutual understanding.

Cooperation for Mongolia is provided in four pillars: (1) support for institution-building and human resources development necessary for promoting a market economy; (2) support for rural development; (3) support for environmental protection; and (4) support for the development of infrastructure.

3. Central Asia and the Caucasus

It has been over 15 years since respective countries in the region achieved independence, and the speed and direction of their development vary. Accordingly, in line with the development levels of each country, JICA is providing support for transition to a market economy and democratization, human resources development, infrastructure development, and rebuilding social sectors. JICA is also carrying out activities to promote industrial development and regional cooperation, which are pillars of the “Central Asia plus Japan” dialogue, a cooperation framework.

4. Southwest Asia

JICA’s cooperation focuses on poverty reduction and economic development as pillars of aid for Southwest Asia, where approximately 500 million people live in poverty. JICA also continues to provide support for peacebuilding, mainly in Nepal and Sri Lanka where the effects of conflict linger, as well as disaster reconstruction assistance and disaster prevention assistance in countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Chapter 2 Middle East

JICA places the utmost priority on peacebuilding and reconstruction assistance for Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine as the key to regional stability in the Middle East. At the same time, in the fields of water resource management, industrial promotion, human resources development, and environment protection, all of which are issues common to the region, JICA implements cooperation including volunteer programs in line with the needs in each country.

Chapter 3 Africa

JICA is providing assistance for healthcare, primary education, and securing drinking water on the basis of the Yokohama Action Plan, set forth during TICAD IV, which was held in Yokohama in 2008. At the same time, in order to accelerate the favorable economic growth of Africa, JICA is also providing assistance focused on improving the industrial base, promoting trade and investment, improving agricultural productivity, and promoting collaboration with the private sector.

Chapter 4 Latin America

1. Central America and the Caribbean

Given that the region consists of adjoining small countries with common characteristics, through various methods such as regionwide cooperation targeting a set of countries, South-South cooperation in the region, and coordination and collaboration with organizations related to regional integration, international organizations, and other donor countries, JICA prioritizes cooperation in the following areas: (1) education; (2) health; (3) agricultural and rural development; (4) industrial development and development of socioeconomic infrastructures; (5) environmental conservation; (6) disaster prevention; and (7) human security.

2. South America

In South America, which sees increasingly prominent movements toward regional cooperation and economic integration, the number of those living in poverty is increasing in spite of steady economic growth, contributing to political and economic instability, deterioration of public security, and environmental issues. Therefore, JICA implements cooperation with focus on the following priority issues: (1) efforts toward global issues; (2) poverty reduction and disparity correction; (3) public-private partnership; (4) promotion of partnership and South-South cooperation; and (5) collaboration with Nikkei (Japanese descendant) communities.

Chapter 5 Oceania

While providing cooperation with an emphasis on economic self-reliance and sustainable development in Oceania, which consists of small island countries, JICA works to formulate projects that have a large impact throughout the region and promote collaboration with other aid agencies. In this regard, promoting tourism and agriculture and fisheries, expanding basic social services including education and health, and cooperation for sustainable conservation are implemented.

Chapter 6 Europe

JICA’s aid will terminate in two years in the countries that graduated from ODA recipient country status when the DAC list was revised in January 2006. At the same time, JICA is also supporting these countries in their ambitions to become donors in the future. On the other hand, based on the discussion at the Ministerial Conference on Peace Consolidation and Economic Development of the Western Balkans in 2004, JICA is providing cooperation that sets the consolidation of peace and the development of the private sector as priority fields.

Part III JICA Programs by Development Issue

Part III introduces JICA programs, mainly approaches to each development issue.

Chapter 1 Approach to Development Issues

JICA’s approaches to social development, human development, the global environment, rural development, and economic development as well as MDGs are introduced.

Chapter 2 Cooperation Modality

JICA’s representative cooperation programs are introduced.

Chapter 3 Project Evaluation

Evaluation and Follow-up, which are critical to efficient and effective project implementation, are described.

Part IV Fiscal 2007 Results

Part IV provides more details on JICA’s fiscal 2007 programs, which were introduced in Part I, by region, sector, and country. Even more detailed results can be seen on the Statistical Appendix CD-ROM.

Reference Section: Organization and Budget of JICA

JICA’s history, organization, budgets, financial statements, and domestic and overseas offices are provided.

Reading the Annual Report of the Japan International Cooperation Agency

• 1. This annual report summarizes the activities of JICA in fiscal 2007 (April 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008)
• 2. The figures contained in the report are those for the fiscal year mentioned above in the case of JICA and for the calendar year 2007 (January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007) in the case of ODA. Please note that some figures are provisional values and figures may vary according to the timing and method of calculation.
• 3. All sums indicated with a dollar sign ($) refer to US dollars and are calculated at an exchange rate of $1.00 = ¥117.8 (the official Development Assistance Committee [DAC] rate in 2007).
• 4. All maps contained in the report are approximate. National borders that are under dispute or unclear have been entered merely for convenience.