Towards Good Governance and Effective Institutions: JICA-RI Director Hiroshi Kato Delivers Speech at International Conference in South Korea

Kato first pointed out that good governance has been argued by various stakeholders with different focus in economic, political and administrative aspects. However, in order to have constructive debate, each of the actors needs to be reflective and articulate about definitions and approaches based on solid evidence and not on ideology. Secondly he highlighted the importance on the role of the government in economic governance, which has been gaining momentum, as criticism of the Washington consensus mounted. The significance of the subject will increase, he stated, especially for the emerging economies and African countries.
Thirdly he contended that the good governance issues must not be limited to the realm of policy-making, but also policy implementation. As a case of Japan which shows the importance of governance of policy implementation, he introduced one of JICA projects in Niger, West Africa, “School for All.” The project established “school management committees” for each and every primary school in the country, with participation of teachers, parents, and community members. The project encouraged the establishment of school committees that plan and implement activities to help improve the management of their primary school, which, as a whole, improved the education system in Niger considerably. The case highlights an example of improved governance in primary education covering both policy making and implementation. Finally, Kato introduced a project for legal and judicial system reform in Vietnam, where Japan has been supporting the country for almost 20 years. The project is a comprehensive support to all the legal and judicial actors and entities, and has brought robust and wide-ranging achievements. As lessons learnt from this project, Kato concluded, is that long-term, gradual, holistic and comprehensive approaches are the keys for successful assistance in good governance.