JICA USA Newsletter September/October 2012

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 [email protected] to be added to our mailing list.

In this issue: • JICA brings perspectives from the field to the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Tokyo • Brookings, AFD, and JICA discuss inclusive growth after the Arab Spring • Japan pitches its ideas for the Post-2015 Development Agenda • JICA promotes strategic partnerships to address global hunger and malnutrition • Latest JICA’s World focuses on assistance to India and Myanmar • Message from Chief Representative Nakazawa: The U.S. presidential election and development aid

JICA brings perspectives from the field to the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings in Tokyo By Mariko Schmitz, Program Officer

When the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings opened on October 9 in Tokyo, the main objective was to advise global leaders on financial vulnerability. The top concern was the ability of the European Union to address its sovereign debt crisis, which remains a large threat to global economic stability.

As anticipated, the outcome documents revisited the major international development events of the last 18 months, namely democracy and employment in the Middle East, infrastructure development and food security in Africa, and disaster risk management. Rather than developing new solutions, these meetings provided a platform for world financial leaders to show progress on decreasing sovereign risk, encouraging equitable growth, creating jobs, and improving global health. JICA President Tanaka participated in several seminars at the IMF-WB Japan, as host of the meetings, and JICA, as its major ODA Annual Meetings. implementing agency, contributed practical, intellectual, and organizational resources to the planning, discussion, and success of the events. Over the course of the conference, JICA President Akihiko Tanaka discussed development strategies with top leaders of developing countries and donor organizations and spoke on several panels to address issues such as investments in health and African infrastructure.

1 While much has been accomplished in fighting infectious diseases and improving maternal and child health globally, it is clear that more work needs to be done. In the plenary session which was dedicated to securing financial resources for global health, Dr. Tanaka argued that more funds are needed to achieve the three health-related Millennium Development Goals. However, he asked that these investments be managed with greater efficiency.

By strengthening health systems, investing in pharmaceutical research, and developing sustainable financing mechanisms, Dr. Tanaka suggested that the international community could amplify the impacts of their investments and expand access to basic health services for underserved populations. He stated that these were the necessary steps to make further progress on the global health agenda.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, a major challenge to economic growth is the low level of power- generating infrastructure. In 10 years, the cost of new investments and maintenance will double to approximately 93 billion USD. To highlight Africa’s major near-term needs, JICA and the World Bank co-organized an official seminar on "Energy Infrastructure Development in Africa" at the Annual Meetings. After opening remarks by Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, Yokohama Mayor Ayako Hayashi, and World Bank Vice President for Africa Makhtar Diop, the floor opened to a discussion between panelists who represented regional commissions, development partner institutions, and the private sector.

World Bank Africa Vice President Makhtar Diop said that a comprehensive approach with multiple stakeholders is needed to close Africa’s energy infrastructure gap. As part of the panel, Dr. Tanaka commented that JICA can, in addition to exporting technology and capital funding, help catalyze private sector investment. He said that this topic will be high on the agenda at next year’s Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) in Yokohama, Japan.

Throughout the Annual Meetings, JICA cosponsored various events. In addition to the program seminars described above, JICA representatives also shared their views on a range of topics, including the post-MDGs framework, the Arab Spring, green growth, food security in the ASEAN region, and cooperation with Islamic finance. On the sidelines of the conference, JICA also signed new yen loan agreements with the Philippines, Iraq, Peru, Zambia, and Botswana.

2 Brookings, AFD, and JICA discuss inclusive growth after the Arab Spring By Kei Sakamoto, Deputy Assistant Director, Middle East Division 1, Middle East and Europe Department, JICA

JICA and the Brookings Institution are currently undertaking a three-year joint research project on how to achieve inclusive growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) after the Arab Spring. Last year’s popular uprisings and political upheavals in the MENA region demonstrated that a new approach for development is required. In particular, the “quality” of macro-economic growth, not only the “quantity,” deserves more attention. In this context, JICA and Brookings’s research project sets out to examine the background and causes of the Arab Spring and to provide policy recommendations to international donors and policymakers to encourage balanced development in the region.

For the first year, three important themes – voice and good governance, education, and economic opportunities for youth – have been the main focus of the project. In total, JICA and Brookings will produce five papers on these topics, and they will be published in early 2013.

I was dispatched to the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development Program as a Visiting Fellow for three months to support the research project and to strengthen cooperation between the two organizations. At JICA, my portfolio covers operations in Egypt, Yemen, and Libya. As part of the project, I am contributing a working paper on efforts to introduce transparency and participation into economic planning and policymaking in Egypt.

Preliminary results of the joint research were shared at a In Egypt, JICA is supporting the seminar on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank Annual construction of the ‘Grand Egyptian Meetings in Tokyo on October 15. The event was co- Museum’ next to the Giza Pyramids. It is also assisting the government with organized by JICA, the Brookings Institution, and the electoral administration and Agence Francaise de Developpment (AFD), and it was development policy planning. attended by over 150 participants from diplomatic delegations, academia, private companies and civil society.

The seminar included two roundtables. The first focused on outcomes of the Arab Spring and the second focused on how bilateral donors could adapt and implement strategies to encourage job creation and social justice in the Middle East. JICA President Akihiko Tanaka, AFD CEO Dov Zerah, and Brookings Senior Fellow Homi Kharas all spoke at the event.

In Dr. Tanaka’s remarks, he stated, “Our assistance to the region’s new democracies should be concentrated in areas that have not been supported enough, such as public sector reform and improvement of the investment environment.”

3 For JICA specifically, Dr. Tanaka said, “Regionally, we plan to support employment creation and balanced development by building the capacity of local governments. And in the long run, we also intend to support the promotion of tourism and the development of small and medium sized businesses.”

The seminar provided an opportunity for participants to exchange views and recommendations on how to support the democratic and economic transition in the MENA region. As Dr. Tanaka noted in his remarks, “We need more skillful approaches to encourage inclusive development in this part of the world.”

Related Links: Preliminary results of the joint JICA-Brookings research project JICA’s activities in the Middle East

4 Japan pitches its ideas for the Post-2015 Development Agenda By Vanessa Arness, Program Officer

2015 is the deadline for achieving the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). But the question remains, what will come after the MDGs?

Back in July, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed 26 members to a High-Level Panel to develop recommendations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. In addition to academics, civil society, and private sector representatives, the illustrious group is comprised of current and former heads of state, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom, as well as former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and former German President Horst Kohler.

The High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda held their first meeting on the sidelines of the recent UN General Assembly week in New York. Prior to the panel’s first meeting, the Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN organized an “Open Dialogue” in order to encourage discussion among panel members and other players, including NGOs, research institutes, private foundations, and youth groups. The goal of the meeting was to include a diverse set of actors and to provide a range of views to inform the panel’s deliberations.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba chaired the “Open Dialogue” discussion, and he recommended three principles to guide the panel’s work. First, he suggested that the post-2015 framework should be established through an inclusive process that includes not only traditional donors and international organizations, but also stakeholders from emerging countries, local governments, civil society, and the private sector. Second, he stated that the post-MDGs should build on the strengths of the current MDGs, and they should include a set of goals, targets, and indicators that are simple, clear, and easy to understand. And third, he recommended that the post-MDGs should address emerging challenges. In particular, he encouraged more focus on jobs; inclusive growth; disaster reduction; and environmental sustainability.

On October 13, at its Annual Meetings in Tokyo, the World Bank also hosted a seminar on the effectiveness of the current Millennium Goals and possible targets for the post-2015 period. The panel included several high-profile figures, such as Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, and UNDP Administrator Helen Clark.

JICA President Tanaka also participated as a panelist in the At the IMF-WB meetings in Tokyo, event, and he was able to add his perspective on the post- President Tanaka participated in a panel MDGs framework. After 2015, Dr. Tanaka suggested that on the post-MDGs along with the the development community should continue support for Liberian President, World Bank the current goals that have not been achieved, and it should President, and UNDP Administrator. broaden the agenda to incorporate quality employment, sustainable natural resource management, and resilience to external shocks. He noted that the current MDGs have seen successful at establishing simple and

5 measurable targets, galvanizing international support, and mobilizing financial resources. He said that the MDGs 2.0 must do the same.

The MDG process helped the international community to focus on the eradication of extreme poverty and raised unprecedented resources for global development. However, it is clear that there are a number of issues that the MDGs did not fully address, including equitable growth, jobs, climate resilience, governance, and situations of conflict and youth. The High-Level Panel will have a difficult task to incorporate all these issues into a set of straightforward and measurable goals.

As Foreign Minister Gemba stated in his remarks at the Open Dialogue, “How can we translate these wide-ranging issues into a set of goals which are simple and clear? How can we galvanize global efforts to achieve such goals? These are the tasks before us.”

6 JICA promotes strategic partnerships to address global hunger and malnutrition By Marvin Fernández, Program Officer

Following decades of neglect and feeble ODA funding levels, the fight against global food insecurity and malnutrition has finally re-claimed center stage in international development efforts. Yet while the timing could not have been better, the magnitude of the challenges to end global hunger is daunting. According to FAO’s State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012, almost 870 million people, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, were chronically undernourished in 2010–12.

Determined to find viable and sustainable solutions to these challenges, JICA is both actively pursuing new policies and strategic partnerships to advance the fight against global hunger and malnutrition. In particular, it has given new emphasis to alliances that seek to utilize ODA resources as a catalyst for private sector investment in agriculture.

In Southeast Asia, for instance, JICA, already the largest bilateral donor to the region, has started the process of considering a set of high-impact assistance strategies to help ASEAN countries achieve long-term food security. Additionally, to advance the fight against hunger and malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa, JICA has discussed opportunities for collaboration with USAID to strengthen drought resilience in the Horn of Africa. Last year, JICA and USAID also signed an MOU to work together to maximize the impact of their agricultural development and food security assistance to Africa.

In May of this year, JICA, USAID, and Ajinomoto Co., Inc. (Ajinomoto) signed a memorandum for collaboration in Accra, Ghana, confirming coordinated efforts to improve nutrition for weaning children. The agreement marks a major milestone; it is the first time that the Japanese and American governments have come together with the Japanese private sector to address early childhood nutrition.

Japan is also an active member of the G-8’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, an effort to increase responsible domestic and foreign private investments in African agriculture. On September 26, representatives from New Alliance and G-8 countries, as well as the private sector, announced the expansion of New Alliance to include three new countries – Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and Mozambique; these three countries joined Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania, the initial New Alliance countries announced in May. The New Alliance seeks to align host country, donor, and private sector Country Cooperation Frameworks have been created for activities to develop Africa’s agricultural all of the New Alliance countries, which include sector. commitments by host country governments, donors and the private sector to make targeted investments in agriculture. JICA, along with USAID, led the consultation process to develop the Country Cooperation Framework for Mozambique. In

7 Mozambique, the government and its partners will work to increase stability and transparency in trade policy; improve the transparency and efficiency of land policy and land administration; and develop innovative methods for increasing the availability and access to credit by smallholders.

In what has now become a new chapter in the fight against global hunger and malnutrition, JICA will continue to pursue strategic alliances with other public and private sector partners. It remains convinced that this approach will have the greatest possible impact on sustainable agricultural development and food security in Africa and beyond.

8 Latest JICA’s World focuses on assistance to India and Myanmar

The October edition of JICA’s World focuses on our agency’s efforts to help India modernize and to support Myanmar’s reform efforts.

While India’s economic growth has been remarkable over the past two decades, infrastructure has not kept apace. Increasing people’s access to transportation, electricity, clean water and economic opportunities remains a top priority to accelerate development.

In recent years, India has consistently been one of JICA’s largest development partners. Much of our assistance has gone towards urban transit systems, highway construction, power generation, water and sanitation, as well as forestry and agriculture.

In Myanmar, JICA has welcomed the recent steps taken by the government to liberalize the country’s political and economic system. In order to support the country’s democratic and economic transition, JICA is planning to focus its assistance on improving livelihoods (especially in ethnic-controlled areas), training human resources, and rehabilitating the country’s crumbling infrastructure.

To learn more about our activities in India and Myanmar, please see our latest JICA’s World: http://www.jica.go.jp/english/publications/j-world/1210_vol18.html

Related Links: http://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/focus_on/india2012/index.html http://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/focus_on/myanmar2012/index.html

9 Message from Chief Representative Nakazawa: The U.S. presidential election and development aid

The American president shares a mission with Mickey Mouse. It is to make people believe that dreams can come true and that justice will prevail. But while Mickey continues to wave his magic wand to vanquish evil and win hearts as he always has, the American president faces an uphill battle and has no magic wand.

The State of the American Dream and Justice

According to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau in mid- September, the poverty rate in the U.S. grew from 11.3 percent (31.6 million people) in 2000 to 15.0 percent (46.2 million) in 2011. On Mr. Keiichiro Nakazawa, the other end of the spectrum, the income of the wealthy has soared JICA USA's Chief Representative in recent years, creating a concentration of wealth not seen since the late 1920s and the Great Depression.

Regardless of whether it is a reflection of rising income inequality, according to a report released in January by the Pew Research Center, the majority of Americans feel that wealth is the greatest divider of American society, beating out generation, race and immigration status, and this sentiment has grown since previous surveys. Worthy of particular note is the rise in the number of middle-class, Caucasian Americans who are conscious of this class conflict.

Moreover, the more strongly Americans perceive the rich-poor conflict, the more likely they are to believe that the gap in wealth arises not from personal effort and education, but from birth and personal connections. Americans have begun to believe that the American dream, where hard work is rewarded with a life of comfort, is no longer something they can achieve.

The Presidential Election and Reviving the American Dream Only a few days remain until the U.S. presidential election on November 6. President Barack Obama, who is seeking re-election, and Republican candidate and former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, who seeks to unseat Obama, share the sense that the American dream is at risk of being lost. However, they differ greatly when it comes to analyzing the causes behind the current situation and in their prescriptions for fixing the problem.

President Obama suggests that the burden of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan left from the previous Bush administration and the global recession since 2008 are responsible for placing the American dream out of reach of the average American. Seeking a second term, Obama defends the policies enacted under his administration, such as the economic stimulus measures, relief for banks and automobile manufacturers, the health care reform known as “Obamacare,” and anti- terrorism measures. He explains that if every American gets a fair shot, does their fair share, and plays by the same rules, then economic activity will accelerate, reviving the American dream.

10 On the other hand, Governor Romney criticizes the economic handling of the Obama administration over the past four years. He says that their policies have failed to deliver the results expected by the American public. Instead, he enthusiastically proclaims that if made president, he will revive the American economy and employment with his intimate knowledge of the market and experiences in the private sector.

Romney concludes that the policies of the Obama administration have amounted to excessive intervention in the market and private lives, hampering the ability of Americans to develop their full potential, making Americans dependent on the government, and resulting in the American dream becoming a distant goal. The way back to the American dream, he explains, is to take the government out of the driver’s seat, give the American people opportunities to demonstrate their natural entrepreneurial spirit, innate talent and self-reliance, and allow market forces to produce an economic recovery.

The Next Four Years and Development Aid

Above everything else, the focus of this year’s U.S. presidential election is on rebuilding the domestic economy. Debate on foreign policy has been limited. However, the difference between the two presidential candidates in their approaches to government and the market is clear as well in their approach to development assistance.

In his Global Development Policy announced in September 2010, Obama placed development along with defense and diplomacy as a pillar of America's National Security Strategy. He also announced long-term measures to rebuild the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as the primary development agency of the U.S. government.

The Obama administration has argued that development assistance is essential to support fragile states and to create future export markets. One centerpiece of the Obama administration's USAID reform has been to increase the number of development professionals to handle increasingly diverse and complex development issues. This policy provides a new start in accumulating technical expertise that flowed away from USAID after its budget was slashed and its workforce was reduced following the end of the Cold War.

The policy platform of the Republican Party, which endorses Romney, acknowledges that development assistance is a far less costly means of keeping the peace, in terms of both dollars and human lives, than military intervention. However, it criticizes government-to-governmental development assistance as an outdated statist model that becomes a breeding ground for corruption and mismanagement. Instead, the policy platform suggests that taxes on Americans should be lowered, allowing the more efficient private and charitable sectors to increase their giving. Additionally, it says that assistance from the U.S. government should be modeled after the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) established by former President Bush.

The MCC, put forth by the Republican Party, provides grant aid only to developing countries that meet certain criteria. In order to be eligible for funds, developing countries are evaluated on their performance in areas which the U.S. deems important, such as the rule of law, economic freedom, and democratic governance.

11 As can be surmised from the inclusion of “corporation” in the organization’s name and the fact that the MCC is headed by a CEO, the principles of competition and business administration also apply to its model of assistance. After an aid recipient country is selected, development projects are executed under the leadership of the recipient country government, so the MCC requires fewer employees relative to the scale of aid provided.

Since the 1990s, JICA has been advancing aid coordination with the U.S., particularly on the health front. More recently, it has been promoting Japan-U.S. partnership on African food security, as discussed at the G-8, and on mobilizing private resources and expertise for development.

The trends of foreign aid policies and aid agencies of the U.S. government affect not only developing countries, but also Japan’s ODA policies and JICA’s work. Therefore the

JICA President Tanaka met with USAID JICA USA Office will closely monitor the course of the Administrator Shah in Washington, DC presidential election and the development policies of the in July to discuss opportunities to deepen collaboration. next administration.

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