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access: 10min. walk from Ichigaya Station, JR Chuo/Sobu Line 10min. walk from Ichigaya Station Exit A1, Tokyo Toei Shinjuku Line 8 min. walk from Ichigaya Station Exit 6, Tokyo Metro Yurakucho/Nanboku Line
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JICA-RI Hosts a Plenary Session at the Annual GDN Conference in the Philippines

2013.06.27

DayJune 19, 2013(Wed) - June 21, 2013(Fri)
Place Manilla, Philippines

From June 19 to 21, Global Development Network (GDN) held its 14th Annual Global Development Conference at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Headquarters in Manila, the Philippines. JICA-RI, as the hub institution for GDN-Japan, organized a plenary session on resilience, and also participated in the parallel session where the finalists of the 2012 Japanese Award for Most Innovative Development Project (MIDP)* gave their presentations.

In addition to the GDN’s regional network partners, about 450 participants from the World Bank, ADB, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the UN organizations, NGOs’ and private sector’s think-tanks around the world assembled for the Conference. From JICA-RI, Director Hiroshi Kato, Research Program Division Chief Hironobu Murakami, and Research Officer Akiko Aikawa attended.

The conference this year focused on the overall nexus between “Inequality, Social Protection and Inclusive Growth.” At the Opening Plenary, panelists gave presentations from views of each region—Africa, Latin America, and Asia. During the opening ceremony that followed, GDN President Pierre Jacquet, ADB President Takehiko Nakao, and President of the Republic of the Philippines H.E. Benigno Aquino III gave speeches.

Director Kato

The parallel session on the first day, in which Director Kato chaired, featured presentations by the three finalists from India, Uganda, and Bangladesh for the 2012 Japanese Award MIDP. The winners were announced at the award ceremony on the final day, where Kato presented the award certificates to each of them.

Kato also chaired the plenary session, which JICA-RI hosted on the final day, entitled “Toward a More Resilient Society: Perspectives of Asian Young Researchers on Post-2015.” During the session, four young researchers from Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand presented paper proposals with themes on: the resilience of household to natural disasters; the role of the community in the event of disasters; the local knowledge and community capacity; and the resilience at an individual level. GDN President Pierre Jacquet and Dr. Arjan de Haan of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) also joined the discussion with other researchers. The four researchers from Asia exchanged opinions about how to define the concept of resilience, and why resilience is important within their cross-country themed research projects. Professor Jacquet valued the plenary session that was held at the proposal stage of the research on resilience, an interdisciplinary concept, was an experimental initiative for GDN. At the same time he pointed out the need to analyze the concept of resilience and to recapture its significance.

At the Donor Meeting on 20th, Director Kato introduced JICA-RI’s research project, “Case Studies in East Asia and Southeast Asia,” and other relevant efforts for research capacity and network building in developing countries.

JICA-RI, playing an active role in organizing two sessions, enhanced its network building with prominent researchers and members of the research divisions of donor organizations, in parallel with utilizing this opportunity to demonstrate the Institute’s initiatives among the participating researchers.

*Japanese Award for Most Innovative Development Project
The Global Development Awards and Medals Competition were first proposed by then-Minister of Finance Kiichi Miyazawa in 1999. Intended to identify and provide financial support for research in the field of development and innovative development programs, it consists of the Japanese Global Development Awards (the Japanese Award for Most Innovative Development Project (“Projects category”) and the Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development (“Research category”)), which are funded by the Japanese government, and the Medals for Research on Development (“Medals category”), which are funded by other governments and organizations to recognize outstanding research in five thematic areas. The presentations by finalists, final selection committee, and prize-giving ceremony take place during the Annual GDN Conference.