JICA USA Newsletter September/October 2011

Transcription

1 JICA USA Newsletter September/October 2011 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 jicausnewsletter@jica.go.jp to be added to our mailing list. In this issue: Madame Ogata speaks at World Bank Annual Meeting side event on disaster resilience After the Arab Spring, JICA supports Egypt s efforts to transition to a viable democracy JICA sends emergency relief supplies to El Salvador and Honduras following heavy rains JICA Research Institute and the World Bank co-host a seminar on conflict prevention JICA shares the results of its education project in the Philippines JICA and the IMF convene a conference on sustainable economic growth in low-income Asia Message from Chief Representative Nakazawa: We cannot turn our backs on our developing partners Madame Ogata speaks at World Bank Annual Meeting side event on disaster resilience By Mariko Schmitz, Program Officer At a side event during the World Bank s Annual Meetings, the leaders of seven major humanitarian and development organizations came together to identify challenges and provide recommendations to ensure better coordination in disaster risk reduction and disaster management. Mrs. Ogata urged development agencies to be quick but also to be sensitive when responding to natural and man-made disasters. After a gracious introduction by World Bank President Robert Zoellick, JICA President Madame Sadako Ogata gave the keynote address. Her remarks provided ample food for thought for the ensuing panel discussion. The panel included several of the aid community s most prominent actors, including Dr. Rajiv Shah of USAID, Andrew Mitchell of DfID, Kristalina Georgieva of the EU, Helen Clark of the UNDP, and Valerie Amos of OCHA. 1

2 In her speech, Madame Ogata pointed out the so-called gap between humanitarian response and development aid. Humanitarian actors plunge into immediate action with short-term goals in mind, whereas development agencies work with government counterparts in order to support reconstruction in a (hopefully) sustainable manner. Efforts to help untold numbers of disaster and conflict victims across the world continue to be hampered by the gap. In response, Madame Ogata stressed the need for a seamless or immediate transition from the support offered by humanitarian agencies during and immediately after a crisis to the longer-term reconstruction and rehabilitation assistance provided by development agencies, such as JICA and the World Bank. She stated that the development community can address the gap by adopting a humanitarian understanding, and she emphasized the importance of timely support that reaches the people. Madame Ogata said, Be quick. Don't just drag your foot all the time. Get action done quickly. [But] at the same time, be sensitive. At the meeting, the speakers and panelists pledged to work together more closely on the planning and financing of disaster risk reduction and resilience strategies. The seven key global partners identified a series of specific actions to pursue collectively, according to the World Bank. These include: prioritizing global disaster and climate risk hotspots; coordinating international financing; integrating social, physical, environment and economic resilience to tackle extreme events; prioritizing investments; and coordinating action in post-disaster situations. Next year s World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings will be held in Tokyo, where in addition to the focus on jobs, events related to disaster resilience are also being planned. 2

3 After the Arab Spring, JICA supports Egypt s efforts to transition to a viable democracy By Hideharu Tachibana, Senior Representative, and Mitsutaka Hoshi, Deputy Director of Middle East Division 1 After the euphoria of the Arab Spring earlier this year, JICA is helping Egypt to establish a functioning democratic system. JICA has sent advisors to meet with government officials to discuss issues related to future elections, and it recently held a wide-ranging seminar in Cairo to explore topics such as party systems and political funding. The People s Assembly (lower house) elections are expected to be held in November, and the Shoura Council (upper house) and Presidential People headed for a demonstration in Egypt. elections will be held next year. Egypt s High Election Commission (HEC), the government body responsible for organizing the elections, requested Japan s assistance to provide advice on electoral management. In response, JICA has dispatched experts to support the HEC s election planning efforts. In July, JICA held a seminar for Egypt government officials who are involved in election administration. Japan is particularly well placed to assist with this process, according to Dr. Rei Shiratori, JICA expert and President of the Institute for Political Studies in Japan. Dr. Shiratori noted that Japan has rich experience from building its own democratic system after World War II. With U.S. support, Japan managed to keep its own traditions while incorporating democratic concepts such as fundamental human rights and sovereignty of the people. As a result of the seminar, Egyptian officials learned about the variety of electoral systems and party systems, which will inform their own democratization process. There are many things to learn from Japan, stated Abd El Moez Ahmed Ibrahim, the head of the HEC and chief of the Cairo Court of Appeals, after attending the seminar. We would like to draw on Japan s own experience in helping to overcome issues that Egypt is facing. JICA is also planning to hold a seminar for the Egyptian media to highlight the importance of neutrality and fairness in election reporting. In additional to its electoral assistance, JICA experts have been playing an active role to support the next five-year National Development Plan ( ) of the Egyptian Government. JICA has been sharing knowledge about Japan s experience with industrial policy and national development planning. 3

4 JICA sends emergency relief supplies to El Salvador and Honduras following heavy rains JICA is sending emergency supplies to El Salvador and Honduras, where heavy rains since early October have caused landslides and flooding, killing dozens and affecting tens of thousands of others. Following government requests for international assistance on October 14 and 18 respectively, JICA agreed to supply sleeping pads, blankets, generators, and cord reels to El Salvador and sleeping pads, blankets, plastic water tanks and water purifiers to Honduras. JICA sent sleeping pads and blankets to El Salvador, where landslides and flooding have affected some 20,000 people. The emergency supplies are being airlifted from JICA s warehouse in Miami and delivered to the capital of San Salvador in El Salvador and the northern city of San Pedro Sula in Honduras. JICA has recently sent emergency supplies to many parts of the world in the wake of natural disasters occurring almost simultaneously. Earlier this month it dispatched supplies to Thailand and Cambodia, which are suffering from heavy rains and flooding. Other emergency supplies were earmarked for the Pacific island of Tuvalu, which is facing the opposite phenomenon and experiencing acute drought conditions. 4

5 JICA Research Institute and the World Bank co-host a seminar on conflict prevention By JICA Research Institute The JICA Research Institute and the World Bank held a joint seminar on conflict prevention on September 27 in Tokyo. The seminar served as an opportunity to introduce the Bank s World Development Report (WDR) 2011 on conflict, security and development and to disseminate the provisional results of JICA RI s research project, Prevention of Violent Conflicts in Africa. The Bank s annual WDR focuses on one of the most pressing challenges of our time how to foster development in fragile states. To break the cycle of poverty and violence in conflict-affected countries, the report emphasizes the importance of citizen security, justice, and jobs, as well as the strengthening of government institutions. JICA RI played an active role in contributing to the report by providing background papers on Japan s own postwar recovery experience and Japan s state building activities in fragile states such as Cambodia and Afghanistan. The World Bank and JICA RI disseminated the results of their research on state fragility. No less than 200 interested attendants, including diplomats, officials from international aid organizations, researchers, aid practitioners and students, participated in the event. Audience members also had an opportunity to learn more about JICA RI s vast research spectrum in the fields of conflict resolution, state building and development assistance in fragile states. In particular, the Research Institute has focused on conflict prevention in Africa and development best practices in post-conflict nations. In its study on conflict prevention in Africa, JICA RI concentrated on what factors lead to conflict, such as structural aspects, political processes and people s perceptions, and they investigated how these elements are connected to social instability. For the project, JICA researchers collaborated with foreign researchers to create questionnaires and hired local consultants to conduct perception surveys in seven countries Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. The surveys examined issues like perceptions of inequalities among different identity groups, as well as their views toward other ethnic groups. An interesting finding was that it was not the poorer ethnic groups, but rather the groups with some affluence that had the most hostility toward others. This finding suggests that people start to become defensive 5

6 and try to protect their position once they reach a certain economic status. Currently the Research Institute is compiling the final results of the study, and it plans to publish a book in English next year. Another study by the Research Institute on fragile states was published earlier this year as part of the book, Catalyzing Development: A New Vision for Aid, which JICA coedited alongside the Brookings Institution, the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. JICA researchers Shinichi Takeuchi, Ryotaro Murotani, and Keiichi Tsunekawa co-authored a chapter on Development Assistance and State Building in Fragile Situations. The chapter takes a thorough and comparative look at cases in four countries Afghanistan, Cambodia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The authors argue that donors must consider two important aspects state capacity and state legitimacy. They advocate for institution-building to improve service delivery and to build support for the state in countries with limited capacity. They recommend social protection programs and legal assistance in countries with questionable legitimacy. Under the leadership of Madame Sadako Ogata, JICA has devoted itself to provide seamless assistance as post-conflict countries transition from emergency relief to reconstruction, and it has stepped up its assistance to countries such as Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Sierra Leone and Iraq. Based on the WDR findings and the work of the JICA Research Institute, JICA will continue to support peacebuilding and state building processes in fragile states with the aim of strengthening state capacity, improving service delivery, and supporting grassroots rehabilitation and development initiatives. 6

7 JICA shares the results of its education project in the Philippines By Vanessa Arness, Program Officer Over the past year and a half, JICA has funded a study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to evaluate the impact of a JICA and World Bank-funded education project in the Philippines. The project has now reached its final stages, and the impact evaluation has yielded some surprising outcomes. In 1998, the Government of the Philippines teamed up with JICA (this arm of JICA, which provides loans at concessionary rates, was part of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation at the time) and the World Bank to launch the Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP). Over the course of eight and a half years (January 1998 to June 2006), JICA supplied US$91 million, the World Bank supplied US$83 million, and the Government of the Philippines (GOP) provided US$47 million to overhaul the elementary education system in 23 economically disadvantaged provinces in the Philippines. With a combination of school construction and rehabilitation, textbooks and school supplies, principal and teacher training, information management instruction, and school governance reform, the GOP, JICA and the World Bank set out to increase access to quality elementary education, improve learning environments and achievements, strengthen the institutional capacity of the Department of Education, and support the decentralization process. In March of 2010, the JICA USA Office signed a contract with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to do an Impact Evaluation of the Third Elementary Education Project. The Impact Evaluation is unique in several aspects. It is the first Tinoc Central Elementary School in Ifugao Province is one of the TEEPrenovated school buildings. Impact Evaluation to use hard data and quantitative analysis to assess the effects of TEEP, and it evaluates both the short-term and long-term effects of the education policy intervention. In addition, it measures the impact of both the hard inputs (such as school construction, school rehabilitation, textbooks and supplies) and soft inputs (including teacher and principal training) on learning achievements. The results of the TEEP Impact Evaluation are now in. The TEEP Impact Evaluation was led by IFPRI researcher Dr. Futoshi Yamauchi, with the support of fellow researchers at IFPRI, local consultants, and field staff. From their rigorous economic analysis of student test scores and Department of Education data, IFPRI researchers determined that test scores of TEEP students increased on average by 4 to 5 score points (out of 100) from grades 4 to 6. This finding demonstrates that TEEP had a significant positive impact on students learning achievements. If students were 7

8 exposed to TEEP over a six-year period (from grades 1-6), it would likely lead to an increase of points on their national achievement test scores. IFPRI researchers also measured the effects of individual components of TEEP (by tracking when they were introduced), and they discovered that school building construction and renovations, instructional training of teachers, and additional textbook provision had the greatest impact on student test scores. They also noted that investments in textbooks for earlier grades strengthened student performance at higher grades. Therefore the TEEP Impact Evaluation demonstrated that both physical and soft components of the project improved learning outcomes in the short-term, and early stage investment had a particularly positive effect on future performance. The local community welcomed the TEEP tracking team in Negros Oriental Province. In the second phase of the Impact Evaluation, IFPRI researchers examined the long-term impacts of TEEP on subsequent schooling investments and labor market outcomes by using unique data from a tracking survey in the Philippines. From July 2010 to April 2011, Dr. Yamauchi and his team of local consultants and enumerators traveled to eight provinces in the Philippines to collect data at the individual, household, school and community levels. The surveys allowed for comparisons between students in four provinces that underwent the TEEP reforms and four provinces (with similar socioeconomic levels) that did not. The results show a striking difference in impacts on subsequent schooling investments, migration and labor market earnings between those who experienced TEEP and those who did not. One particularly interesting outcome of the impact evaluation is the discovery that the TEEP intervention widened the gender gap on school performance, and it increased years of schooling completed for females relative to males. In addition, the program significantly increased the migration rate and labor market earnings among females. Though the impact is biased in favor of females, the study revealed that TEEP was a costeffective intervention with a high rate of return. The TEEP Impact Evaluation proved that investing in education can potentially generate large and cumulative impacts on the income of current and future generations. The results of the TEEP Impact Evaluation will inform JICA s future decisionmaking process. 8

9 JICA will take these lessons of the TEEP Impact Evaluation to heart as it plans future education projects by focusing on the components that have the greatest impact on learning outcomes. Through the TEEP Impact Evaluation, it has also recognized the importance of including evaluation components at the initial phase of project design. JICA is committed to strengthening its evaluation expertise and sharing the results of its assessments. Ultimately, collecting and providing hard evidence of a project s success is essential in today s budget-constrained environment to inform policy-making, to spend future resources efficiently, and to garner public support for development assistance. 9

10 JICA and the IMF convene a conference on sustainable economic growth in low-income Asia By Stace Nicholson, Program Officer Even as Asia s so-called growth miracle continues to inspire awe, a subset of lowincome countries (LICs) in the region does not fully take part in its growing prosperity. Recognizing this, JICA and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) convened regional policymakers, academics, the donor community, private sector representatives, and other stakeholders in Tokyo from October for a high-level conference to discuss the policy options available for Asia s LICs to achieve growth and overcome poverty through infrastructure investment and financial sector development. In her opening remarks at the conference, JICA President Madame Sadako Ogata emphasized that infrastructure investment and financial sector development improve social welfare. She also noted the importance of collaboration between JICA and the IMF as the two institutions work agendas have converged somewhat, with JICA paying more attention to the macroeconomic policies of its partner countries and the IMF becoming increasingly involved in LICs inclusive growth. Mr. Min Zhu, Special Advisor to the IMF Managing Director, also noted during his speech that Asian LICs are well placed to join the next wave of emerging economies, due in part to their substantial progress in boosting growth and reducing poverty over the past decade. According to Mr. Zhu, these countries should be able to exploit low communication costs to export services rather than having to rely exclusively on merchandise exports like their predecessors. Yet he cautioned that governments of Asian LICs must still pursue structural economic reforms in order to enhance their countries competitiveness and facilitate robust regional integration. Research has demonstrated that investments in the electricity sector contribute to GDP growth and higher government revenues. During a session focused on policy considerations for infrastructure development, Mr. Yasuo Fujita, senior research fellow at the JICA Research Institute, stated that while the growing number of infrastructure public private partnerships (PPP) in Asian LICs is encouraging, governments should continue to strengthen the investment climate and prepare bankable projects in which the roles of the public and private sectors are clearly defined. Similarly, Mr. Jiangyan Yu, senior economist in the IMF s Asia and Pacific Department, pointed to research showing that investments in the electricity sector are particularly successful in accelerating GDP growth and enhancing government revenue without impairing other macroeconomic fundamentals like the fiscal or current account balances. 10

11 Development assistance has its limitations. It can never match the resources of the private sector. Therefore it is increasingly apparent that achieving sustainable economic growth will require LICs, like those in Asia, to vigorously pursue policies that boost trade and investment. Yet as this conference illustrates, JICA recognizes that it is also incumbent upon donors to engage policymakers from developing countries and provide them with the best information available to inform their decision-making on critical economic issues. 11

12 Message from Chief Representative Nakazawa: We cannot turn our backs on our developing partners Mr. Keiichiro Nakazawa, JICA USA s Chief Representative A commitment to support inclusive growth was one of the main messages delivered at the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings in Washington, DC last month. That statement was given as turbulence in global financial markets and widespread fiscal strains put the sustainability of the global economic recovery at risk and placed the poor in developing countries in an even more precarious position. After the Asian Financial Crisis in the 1990s, the IMF recognized that aggregate macro-economic indicators were not the only factors to consider when designing programs for developing countries. As a result, the IMF began to focus more on the importance of social cohesion and social safety nets. Now, because of the current economic climate, the Arab Spring, and their years of accumulated experience, it will be interesting to see how the IMF incorporates more social indicators into its analysis and programming. For its part, JICA has also devoted its efforts to pursue inclusive and dynamic development, and it has supported our developing partners efforts to ensure their vulnerable populations benefit from and participate in their countries economic growth. However, we have also learned that it is never easy. For example, if we consider support for education, which is broadly recognized as one of the most important sectors to achieve inclusive development, we have learned that the knowledge and techniques learned by the young in school and university might not equip them to find jobs in the labor market due to structural reasons, government red tape, and/or nepotism. And the Middle East is not the only area where unemployment, among the youth in particular, is a hot-button issue. According to Professor Michael Spence in a recent edition of Foreign Affairs, employment in the U.S. tradable sectors (the sectors of the economy that produce goods and services that can be consumed anywhere, such as manufacturing products and consulting services) barely grew between 1990 and So, even before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, only the non-tradable sectors (the sectors of the economy that produce goods and services that must be consumed domestically) had increased employment over the past two decades. The non-tradable sectors could add jobs largely because of the housing boom and expanding government programs. However, now the housing bubble has burst and government spending has to be cut due to large budget deficits and growing debt, as well as the rise of fiscal conservatism. In such an environment, the USG has no easy solution to quickly increase jobs. And the U.S. is no exception. In fact, as far as the fiscal situation is concerned, the EU and Japan are worse off. So currently, the governments of developed countries are not in a position to increase their Official Development Assistance (ODA). Instead, many of them believe a decrease is inevitable. I have to ask, however, whether a decrease is the right decision. 12

13 Suppose there is only one country in the world. It is not such a strange proposition, given our current global and borderless economy where developed countries employment opportunities in the tradable sectors have moved to developing countries and where bottom of the pyramid businesses have provided opportunities to entrepreneurs in developed countries. The country, say the Republic of the United World (RUK), integrates all former developed and developing countries. The former developed countries constitute the rich whereas the former developing countries constitute the poor in the RUK. During a recession, as we are currently experiencing, a government program to help the poor is essential (such a program would have been considered ODA before). Without such a program, there would be a high degree of social unrest that could trigger civil conflict or even a revolution, which would be detrimental to all members of society. Alternatively, if the RUK was a democratic country with a one person, one vote system, neglect of the poor could cause voters to call for a change in leadership to elect a government that supports pro-poor policies. So, again, a program for the poor is a must. Coming back to reality, social unrest and economic retrenchment in a developing country is unlikely to cause regime change in developed countries. Even in this globalized world, the amount of ODA has been and will be determined solely by developed countries. Developing countries have to wait and see. However, as the debate on ODA budgets rages on, we should all keep in mind the words of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, who fifty years ago supported the launch of USAID and recognized the risks of neglecting our developing partners. In a letter to Congress, President Kennedy made the following assertion: The economic collapse of those free but less-developed nations which now stand poised between sustained growth and economic chaos would be disastrous to our national security, harmful to our comparative prosperity and offensive to our conscience. Those words are no less true today than they were fifty years ago. 13