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JICA USA Newsletter May/June 2013

The JICA USA Newsletter is a bi-monthly publication which seeks to provide information on

JICA’s activities in Washington, DC and around the world. If you are interested in receiving this

electronic newsletter, please contact jicaus-newsletter@jica.go.jp to be added to our mailing list.

In this issue:

TICAD V draws to a successful close

Helping Pakistan tackle its top two challenges: energy and terrorism

JICA USA hosts training course on partnerships in international

development

Learning from the past and looking to the future, JICA assists post-

revolution Egypt

JICA expert shares lessons on working in fragile states at SID-Washington

Annual Conference

Chief Representative Nakazawa discusses efforts to engage emerging Asian

aid providers

TICAD V draws to a successful close By Eiji Wakamatsu, Assistant Director, Planning and TICAD Process Division, JICA Africa

Department

The Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) was held in

Yokohama, Japan, on June 1-3, 2013. The conference adopted the "Yokohama Declaration

2013" and the "Yokohama Action Plan 2013-2017," which focus mainly on building "robust and

sustainable economies," fostering "inclusive and resilient societies," and promoting "peace and

stability." Participants of TICAD V, including African nations and other partners, agreed to

pursue these goals through joint and coordinated actions.

At the conference, Japan pledged a total of 3.2 trillion yen ($32 billion) in public and private

support to the African continent over the next five years. JICA will contribute to the TICAD V

package by providing $6.5 billion in development assistance to accelerate infrastructure

development, strengthen human resources, improve education, and increase agricultural

productivity. More specifically, JICA intends to train 30,000 African people for industrial

development, improve the learning environment for 20 million African children through

mathematics and science education and primary school management, increase agricultural

production, especially for rice cultivation, and promote a "farming as business" approach for

50,000 small farmers.

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High Level Panel on “Inclusive and Dynamic

Development in Africa,” including JICA

President Tanaka and the leaders of Cote

d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, and Senegal.

During TICAD V, JICA hosted and co-hosted 19

seminars as official events. High level participants

including 8 heads of states participated in the

seminars, which covered a wide range of issues

including how to achieve economic transformation

in Africa, how to encourage investment through

public-private cooperation, how to improve higher

education, and how to promote base of the pyramid

(BOP) businesses.

Other events focused on South-South and Triangular

Cooperation, universal health coverage (UHC),

peace-building and local government, climate

change and resilience, inclusive development for persons with disabilities, corridor development,

challenges for African development leading up to 2050, women’s empowerment, and sustainable

forest management. More information on the seminars can be found at the following link:

http://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/press/2013/130603_02.html

In total, JICA held 76 bilateral meetings during the conference. JICA President Tanaka and other

senior officials met with representatives from 44 African countries, including 27 of 39 African

heads of states. During the meetings, JICA discussed the current status of Japan's cooperation

and the future direction of its support in each country. Furthermore, JICA’s leadership met with

9 African regional institutions and 10 international organizations to explore opportunities for

further partnership in Africa. More information on the bilateral meetings can be found by visiting

the following links:

http://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/press/2013/130603_01.html

http://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/press/2013/130604_01.html

As one of the major implementing entities of the "Yokohama Declaration 2013" and the

"Yokohama Action Plan 2013-2017," JICA will continue to play an active role to support

African development by strengthening partnership with African governments and the African

Union, international organizations including the United Nations and the World Bank, the private

sector, and civil society. As it is written in the Yokohama Declaration, JICA pledges to “enhance

its efforts to promote transformative, resilient and inclusive growth across Africa.”

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Helping Pakistan tackle its top two challenges: energy and terrorism By Ken Kato, Muhammad Zubair, Imran Ahmad, and Arshad Mahmood Abbasi, JICA Pakistan

Office

On May 11, 2013, Pakistan experienced its biggest electoral turnout ever, with participation from

60% of the electorate despite terrorist threats and hot weather. As the post-election results in

Pakistan have moved from hazy to clear, the Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif (PML-N)

has taken the reigns of the new government. They come to power amidst a wide range of

challenges, including an ailing economy, frequent power outages, terrorist attacks, poor basic

education & health services, and many more to count. In Parliament, besides these daunting

national issues, the new government will have to weigh the demands of the opposition parties,

particularly Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

While there are a number of problems to address, the biggest priorities of the Pakistani people

are resolving the energy crises and ending terrorism. Energy and terrorism were the most talked-

about issues of this election cycle, and every

political party vowed to end the menace if given a

chance to govern the country.

The new government is expected to take immediate

action as well as to develop a mid-term strategy to

tackle these challenges and to revive Pakistan’s

economy. For its part, JICA is ready to support the

new government by helping to strengthen the

power sector and invest in human capital in

terrorism-torched parts of the country.

Investments in the power sector

The current energy situation in Pakistan is severe,

resulting in 6-12 hours of power outages in urban areas and 12-18 hours in rural areas daily. The

lack of power generation is seriously affecting the domestic and commercial sectors, badly

hurting industries, discouraging foreign investment, and crippling the overall economy.

According to one estimate, power shortages are costing Pakistan between 2.5-3.0% of GDP

growth per year.

Due to poor governance and reluctance to increase power tariffs, the overall annual losses of the

power sector have reached approximately Rs. 400 billion ($4 billion) and are unsustainable.

Other problems include: increasing power generation costs due to an excessive reliance on fossil

fuels; high transmission and distribution losses due to substantial electricity theft; difficulties in

the collection of electricity bills; and the public sector’s inability to implement and complete

hydropower and coal-based projects.

Over the past three decades, JICA has been helping Pakistan to resolve its power sector problems

by increasing its power generation capacity. JICA helped to finance power generation units at

Bin Qasim, Karachi and Jamshoro, Hyderabad; it also supported the Ghazi Barotha Hydropower

A group photo of young Pakistani officials

departing for Japan

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A practical demonstration on the use of

heavy machinery for Malakand trainees

Project. At 2,110 Mega Watts (MW), these three facilities make up 10 percent of Pakistan’s total

installed power generation capacity.

JICA has also assisted Pakistan to reduce power

transmission losses. It has been providing financial

resources amounting to 59.19 billion yen ($590

million), as well as technical expertise, to the

National Transmission & Dispatch Company

(NTDC) to expand its grid system by building new

grid stations (3 grids of 500 KV and 9 grids of 220

KV) and transmission lines (274 kilometers for a

500 KV grid station and 1,213 kilometers for a 220

KV grid station).

In addition, the Load Dispatch System Upgrade

Project supported by JICA aims to upgrade the

National Power Control System from analogue to

digital. The project will help to increase the reliability and efficiency of the transmission system

and improve governance in the sector.

As Pakistan moves forward with its energy sector reforms, JICA will be one of the major

supporters of its efforts.

Restoration of livelihoods to end terrorism

Stabilization, job creation, and livelihood restoration in the terrorism-affected Pakistan-

Afghanistan border areas have also been priorities for JICA. In 2009, Pakistan experienced the

worst displacement crisis of its history when up to 2.7 million individuals were forced to leave

their homes in Malakand Division and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATAs) as a result

of insecurity and hostilities in the region. Furthermore devastating floods in 2010 caused

significant human suffering in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and badly affected the livelihoods of

the local population.

In response, JICA has been focusing on strengthening

human resources in these volatile areas in

vocational/technical education and agriculture. From

August 2010 to January 2011, JICA, in collaboration with

the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA),

sponsored a project in Malakand Division to train 105

young, unemployed students in Heavy Machinery

Operator, Plumber and Steel Fixer courses. The training

provided an opportunity for the youth to learn skills to

participate in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of their

communities.

Within this year, JICA will also launch new capacity

Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project

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development projects at a Government Technical Teachers Training Center (GTTTC) in

Peshawar, as well as three Government Technical and Vocational Centers in Peshawar, Haripur

and Swat. The objective is to strengthen vocational training in machinist and electrician fields. In

addition, 300 agriculture extension staff will be trained on modern techniques to improve the

agricultural productivity and livelihoods of small-scale farmers in KP. This approach will

facilitate the peace-building process by helping trainees develop skills to support themselves and

to contribute to their region’s development.

Besides these measures, JICA’s activities in Pakistan also encompass health, education, water

supply and sanitation, irrigation and agriculture, transportation, industrial development, and

disaster risk management. Since 1954, Japan has received more than 5,200 government

employees from Pakistan for training in Japan, dispatched over 1400 experts to the country,

extended grant assistance of over 266 billion yen ($2.6 billion), and provided loan assistance of

over 794 billion yen ($7.94 billion) to Pakistan.

JICA intends to continue using all its different aid modalities to support the country’s

development agenda and to strengthen the friendly relations between Japan and Pakistan.

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The course participants held meetings with

other donors, including USAID, the IDB, and

the World Bank.

JICA USA hosts training course on partnerships in international development By Alexandre Takahashi, JICA Brazil

Carolina Wyttenbach, JICA Paraguay

Human resources development and partnership with other development organizations have

always been at the core of JICA’s activities. In pursuit of this goal, the JICA USA Office

organized a training course on ‘Partnerships and Trends in International Development’ in

Washington, DC from June 5-7, 2013. The novelty of this training course was to invite national

staff from JICA’s offices in Latin America to meet other DC-based donors such as the World

Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and USAID; listen to policy-level discussions on

international development trends at the Society for International Development-Washington’s

Annual Conference; and exchange donor collaboration experiences among JICA country offices

in the region.

The meetings with other donors provided an

opportunity to learn about their regional strategies

and different approaches to carry out partnerships.

At USAID, we had the chance to exchange

information about experiences with Public-Private

Partnerships, involvement with civil society, and

Triangular Cooperation schemes. At the World

Bank and IDB, we learned about their

methodologies to develop Country Assistance

Strategies based on analytical work, permanent

political dialogue with partner governments, and

consultations with civil society. These discussions

gave us many insights to improve JICA’s own

strategic planning processes.

At the SID-Washington Annual Conference, we were exposed to the ongoing political debate on

the Post-2015 Development Agenda, lessons learned from the MDGs’ uneven progress, and the

focus on linking economic growth with social inclusion. The interesting presentations and

current discussions about the Post-2015 Development Agenda provided us with a broad

perspective of the current trends in international development, and they will inform our thinking

as we consider how JICA can contribute to the global development agenda in the years ahead.

When looking at development at large, it is also necessary to think about scaling up successful

programs and projects in order to multiply impacts and benefit a larger number of people. The

JICA Research Institute and the Brookings Institution have done some joint research on this

topic. During the training course, we received a briefing from Brookings scholars on the

challenging process of scaling up aid from small-scale/short-duration/fragmented projects to

“sustainable solutions that can have a transformational impact on the lives of millions.” Their

research findings suggest that innovative business models, partnerships, and policies are needed

to scale up successful development interventions.

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National staff from Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica,

Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua,

Panama, Paraguay and Peru participated in the

course.

For us, the highlight of the training course was

the exchange of experiences among national

staff from 12 participating offices. During

participants’ presentations and after-office

meetings, we could begin to consider the

possibility of closer collaboration among

JICA offices and with other donors to improve

the quality of service delivered at the local

level. In particular, the experiences of donor

collaboration from the Honduras and El

Salvador Offices with the IDB and USAID on

community policing projects in Central

America, the coordination of the Paraguay

Office with the World Bank and IDB on

financial inclusion in rural areas, and the Peru

Office’s leadership within the water sector

table (Grupo Agua) to promote a water culture

in the country stood out as examples of best practices.

The training course gave us a sense of empowerment. Beyond our roles as national staff in

charge of operational activities, we are international cooperation professionals with important

field experience and the capacity to contribute to the political and strategic discussions in our

offices, our institution, and the larger community of development practitioners. Future initiatives

and further discussion on how to promote greater participation of national staff in the agency’s

planning and decision-making would be of great value and very motivating.

We speak in the name of all participants in thanking JICA USA for this opportunity and to stress

our commitment to work to forge successful partnerships, scale up transformational impact, and

deliver assistance ever more efficiently to our people.

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Learning from the past and looking to the future, JICA assists post-revolution

Egypt By Marvin Fernández, Program Officer

As revolutionary changes sweeping across Egypt

continue to transform the country’s political, economic

and social fabric, it is imperative for donors to consult

widely with Egyptian society and to promote inclusive

policymaking to support the ongoing transition process.

This was one of the main points that Mr. Hideki

Matsunaga, JICA’s Chief Representative in Egypt,

delivered to a diverse audience of development

practitioners, scholars and policymakers at the Center

for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in mid-

May. In his remarks, Mr. Matsunaga outlined some of

the lessons JICA has learned from its post-revolutionary

assistance to Egypt.

JICA, which prides itself on being one of Egypt’s

strongest international partners, has worked to aid Egypt

in a number of ways since the toppling of the Mubarak

regime. One of its major efforts has been to support the

National Income Doubling Plan, a strategic document to guide Egypt’s development efforts from

2012-2022.

Under the Mubarak regime, five year master plans were mainly drafted by Ministry of Planning

officials within a very limited circle and with little external consultation. In contrast, with JICA’s

support, the 2012-2022 plan was formulated with the participation of a wider number of experts.

However, there is still room for improvement. Mr. Matsunaga suggested that future plans should

obtain more input from the private sector and civil society, and they require stronger execution

mechanisms.

In addition to promoting inclusive policymaking, JICA has also facilitated Egyptian

policymakers’ efforts to learn from the experiences of other countries that have gone through

similar transitional processes. The goal is to help Egyptian policymakers and the people of Egypt

to emulate what works while avoiding costly mistakes.

To share these lessons, JICA organized a seminar in Cairo at the beginning of this year to enable

Egyptian officials to hear about the experiences of other countries in attracting foreign direct

investment (Turkey) and promoting the decentralization of administrative powers (Indonesia).

Mr. Matsunaga suggested that the experiences of Indonesia in particular, “can give Egypt many

useful insights on the transformational period.”

Lastly, Mr. Matsunaga suggested that donors could assist emerging leaders to analyze their own

actions in a critical manner and use effective feedback in the decision-making process. He stated,

In post-revolution countries, Mr.

Matsunaga stated that donors should

promote inclusiveness, share other

countries’ experiences, and help the

government to make informed decisions.

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“Constantly reassessing the situation and revising actions accordingly is essential for any

government.”

Despite these efforts, Mr. Matsunaga admitted that no agency has all the answers. He noted,

“Just like the Egyptian government is in search of its own way, donors are also in search of new

approaches.”

For more information, please read Mr. Matsunaga’s editorial for Asharq Al-Awsat on ‘Post-

Revolutionary Lessons for Egypt’: http://www.aawsat.net/2013/04/article55298271

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Japan pledged $5 billion to Afghanistan

from 2009-2014.

JICA expert shares lessons on working in fragile states at SID-Washington

Annual Conference By Stace Nicholson, Senior Program Officer

At this year’s Society for International Development-

Washington (SID-W) Annual Conference, which was

held in Washington, DC in early June, Mr. Haruyuki

Shimada of JICA’s South Asia Department took part

in a panel discussion on how to address the complex

needs of fragile states. Mr. Shimada remarked on the

particular case of Afghanistan, where he served as a

JICA representative from June 2006 to July 2008. In

2009, Japan pledged to provide $5 billion to

Afghanistan over five years to improve the country's

infrastructure, education, health and rural development.

In his presentation, Mr. Shimada emphasized that

state- or nation-building is costly, time-consuming, and inefficient, and external development

organizations must realize this fact from the outset of their work. Indeed, he acknowledged that

development assistance to Afghanistan over the past decade has not been used optimally due to

weak governance and rampant corruption in the country. A large amount of resources has also

been diverted for necessary security expenditures to protect aid workers and through multi-

layered contracts which employ a large number of sub-contractors.

Although he also conceded that the development prospects for Afghanistan and other fragile

states can seem bleak at times, Mr. Shimada stressed the importance of long-term involvement to

promote these countries’ progress toward stability and recovery. Given that fragile states harbor

potential threats to international peace and security-- Afghanistan stands out among them in this

regard-- patience is not so much a virtue as it is a strategic imperative.

Fellow panelists similarly underscored the need for donors to think more systematically about

their long-term engagement with fragile states. Mr. Joseph Hewitt, technical team leader of

USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation, said donors need to increase their own

capacity to assess the short-term progress of development interventions against their long-term

goals in fragile-country settings.

Mr. J. Randall Tift, senior policy advisor for World Vision, urged donors and other relevant

stakeholders not to write off fragile states as helpless or passive and to recognize that micro-

interventions can have a significant cumulative impact. He suggested that development can

sometimes work better from the bottom-up than from the top-down.

Finally, Mr. William Garvelink, former U.S. ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo

and senior advisor for global strategy at International Medical Corps, pointed out that rapid

urbanization is exacerbating already-difficult situations in many fragile states. In these settings,

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he urged donors to work to improve public services and foster an enabling environment for

businesses to create much-needed jobs.

While there is still a lot to learn regarding assistance in fragile states, JICA will continue its

efforts to strengthen government institutions and human resources, repair infrastructure, and

meet basic human needs. As former JICA President Sadako Ogata noted at last year’s Tokyo

Conference on Afghanistan, "Winners get everything [and] losers lose everything" oftentimes in

fragile states. Instead she suggested, "The first step is that everybody gets something." Mrs.

Ogata encouraged donors and host governments to apply this concept to their decision-making

and activities in conflict-affected environments.

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Mr. Nakazawa explained how

JICA’s relationship is evolving

with emerging Asian countries.

JICA USA Chief Representative discusses efforts to engage emerging Asian

aid providers By Vanessa Arness, Program Officer

In recent years, Asian countries have become increasingly

important players in the development assistance arena. On April

23, the Asia Foundation, USAID, and UNDP convened a high-

level event to discuss Asian approaches to development

cooperation and the likely impact of these new actors on future

development policy and practice.

JICA USA Chief Representative Keiichiro Nakazawa

participated in the event as a panelist, and he discussed Japan’s

changing role as other Asian countries emerge as donors. Rather

than the traditional donor-recipient relationship, Mr. Nakazawa

explained how JICA is finding new ways to engage with these

actors.

One arena for dialogue is the Asian Development Forum. JICA

has helped to co-organize these forums for the past four years,

which have served as useful venues to discuss development

assistance methods and remaining development challenges

among Asian countries. The last two forums focused on how to use ODA to promote green

growth in Asia and Asian perspectives on the Post-2015 Global Development Agenda.

Mr. Nakazawa also noted that JICA has a long tradition of supporting South-South Cooperation

and Triangular Cooperation. To reduce the transaction costs, fragmentation, and limited impacts

associated with these modalities, JICA introduced Partnership Program frameworks in the late

1990s. Under these Partnership Programs, JICA and the emerging aid provider hold regular

consultations to plan third country training programs (TCTP), dispatch third country specialists,

and develop joint cooperation projects. In Asia, JICA has Partnership Programs with Indonesia,

Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines.

With active participation from South Korean, Indian, Indonesian, and Chinese representatives,

the event made clear that there are several lessons to draw from Asian development cooperation.

First, Asian development cooperation is grounded in Asia’s own development experience, and it

is shaped by the concept of “mutual benefit.” Second, Asian models of development cooperation

are transforming global development landscape by encouraging all aid providers to pay more

attention to trade and investment. Lastly, the event demonstrated that it is difficult to predict the

global aid architecture going forward, because there is no longer a single approach to

development assistance.

But one thing is for certain. Asian countries will be taking on an increasingly visible and active

role in the global development community.

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As Mr. Nakazawa concluded in his remarks, “There are a lot of things that Asia can teach the

world about their experiences with rapid growth accompanied by poverty reduction. In a world

where ending extreme poverty has become the goal, Asian countries can contribute not only by

eradicating poverty in their own countries, but also by extending development cooperation to

others.”

For more information, the archived video of the event can be viewed here on the Asia

Foundation’s website: http://asiafoundation.org/media/collection/123/1/asian-perspectives-asian-

approaches-to