Other success stories

• BOOSTING ECONOMIC GROWTH

Trade and Investment

Asia-Africa Trade and Investment Conference (AATIC)

A major follow-up to TICAD III was held in November 2004 in Tokyo and promoted the idea of “Poverty Reduction through Economic Growth” as well as “Asia-Africa Cooperation”.

Two products from AATIC are:

a) Sub-Sahara Africa-Asia Business Directory. A key output of the conference is the creation of this electronic directory of business leaders in various sectors in Asia and Africa. Produced by the World Bank, Africa Private Sector Development Unit, this directory provides information customized by country and sector with the goal of promoting trade and investment between Africa and Asia.

b) Patterns of Africa-Asia Trade and Investment -Potential for Ownership and Partnership. The main objective of this World Bank report, which was widely disseminated during AATIC, is to build a basic understanding of the potential of Africa-Asia trade and investment relations, a priority area recognized in the TICAD process.

Africa-Asia Business Forum (AABF)

Held in February 2007 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, AABF IV witnessed for the first time in the history of the series the participation of companies from Japan and North Africa.About 212 business people representing 160 companies, including 130 African and 30 Asian companies, participated in the forum, which was held back-to-back with a symposium on financing SMEs titled “Windows of Opportunity: A Symposium on SME Financing in Africa” organized by the Africa-Asia SME Network, a South-South cooperation project of UNDP. Sixteen per cent of the participating companies were headed by women and about 22 per cent of all participants were women. AABF IV led to business prospects worth US$156 million - more than the US$152.9 million in declared value of the three previous combined fora.

Africa-Asia SME Network (TECHNONET Africa)

Established in June 2004 in South Africa, TECHNONET Africa is a network of SME supporting organizations which aim at promoting Africa-Asia and intra-Africa exchange of knowledge on policy and information, trade and investment in SME development. The Governments of Japan and South Africa provide financial assistance to the programme through UNDP. Ten organizations from the public and private sectors in seven countries, namely Cameroon, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, are members of TECHNONET Africa.

TICAD Exchange Network

Developed and managed by UNDP with technical support from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) through the UNIDO Exchange Programme, the TICAD Exchange is a Web-based portal aimed at providing a readily usable information on trade and investment, facilitating the identification of new business opportunities, and providing an on-line facility for information exchange among users.

Africa IT Initiative

A TICAD initiative to support information and communications technologies policy development and connectivity in Cameroon, Benin, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia over the past few years led to the development of an IT policy framework and training conducted through the Cisco Networking Academy. A US$1.5 million contribution from Japan, channeled through UNDP, and in collaboration with UN Volunteers (UNV), was used to fund this initiative.

• ENSURING HUMAN SECURITY

Japan positions the “Human Security” concept as one of the key perspectives of its diplomacy and basic policy on Official Development Assistance (ODA) in order to respond effectively to the diverse and inter-connected threats, including poverty, environmental degradation, and infectious diseases. Japan has contributed US$33.5 billion to the United Nations Human Security Trust Fund (UNHSTF) established in 1999 and supported approximately 180 projects implemented by UN agencies, including more than 50 projects in Africa.

Community Development

Millennium Villages Project

The Millennium Villages project, financed partly by the UNHSTF, offers a bold, innovative model for helping rural African communities lift themselves out of extreme poverty. Simple solutions like providing high-yield seeds, fertilizers, medicines, drinking wells and materials to build school rooms and clinics are effectively nourishing communities into a new age of health and opportunity. Improved science and technology such as agroforestry, insecticide-treated bed nets, antiretroviral drugs, the Internet, remote sensing and geographic information systems enrich this progress.

African Village Initiative (AVI)

The Japanese Government developed an “African Village Initiative” based on the “Human Security” concept to support self-sustained community livelihood. AVI aims at supporting rural community development so that communities can stand on their own by such means as infrastructure development, capacity building of local people, and ensuring food security by introducing agricultural methods suitable to local conditions. Project models range from building schools in rural areas to building wells or water facilities on school campuses and distributing free school meals.

Achieving the MDGs

“TICAD IV is a vital forum for promoting African development within the framework of African – Asian cooperation and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The TICAD process promotes economic growth, human security, and environmental sustainability. Through the MDG Africa Steering Group, the United Nations and key partners are spurring progress towards achieving these very goals. I am happy that both the UN and TICAD share this vision of hope and opportunity for Africa.”

Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General

Education

Japan plays an active role in Africa’s efforts to achieve access to primary education. Japan has implemented a project on “Improving schoolmanagement through community participation” in Niger in order to improve and expand primary education.This project aims atmaking community members the central actors in school management by giving them responsibility in planning, provision of text books, and raising awareness. Based on the successful outcome of this pilot project, the Ministry of Education of Niger now plans to scale it up throughout the country with financial support by theWorld Bank.

Health

Programmes focusing on mitigating the spread of malaria,measles and HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to child have proven very effective for the past few years in many African countries. A recent announcement in the significant decrease in child deaths was hailed as a monumental step towards achieving the MDGs and improving public health in countries plagued by extreme poverty. Scaling-up interventions that have proven successful poses a great challenge. In this context, Japan has provided anti-malaria bednets in rural communities and millions of long-lasting insecticidal-treated nets in response to “Quick Win Actions” featured in the Millennium Project Report. Support has also gone especially to maternal and child health programmes; family planning; information, education and communications as well as the empowerment of women and the fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria, and other infectious diseases.

• ADDRESSING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The TICAD Ministerial Conference on Energy and Environment for Sustainable Development held in March 2007 in Nairobi, aimed at exploring ways and means to enhance cooperation among African countries, donor countries, and other international institutions by analyzing best practices in access to energy and environmental protection and looking for the best policy-mix measures for the future. Efforts toward African energy and environment development were divided into three categories:

(a) establishing ownership, represented by local and central government initiatives;

(b) promotion of regional cooperation; and

(c) deepening of partnership, including public-private cooperation, by making the best use of the private sector's advanced technology.

Concrete examples by the Government of Japan in supporting African development in energy and environment include the following:

Assistance for Building Ownership

A study on desertification prevention measures in Segou, Mali; Technical cooperation in intensification of farm forestry activities in semi-arid areas in Kenya; Grant aid in water supply in coastal regions in Guinea; and Construction of a wind power plan project in Zafarana on the Red Sea coast in Egypt.

Support for Promoting Regional Cooperation

Groundwater development and water supply training project in Ethiopia; Technical cooperation program at the African Institute for Capacity Development, a joint venture between Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with the participation of 15 schools; and Energy for poverty reduction in Africa, a multi-functional diesel-based power plant system in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, and Senegal.

Support for Deepening Partnerships

A study on rural electrification in Zambia; Project for Biogas development and environmental sanitation in Ethiopia; Support for the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership Fund to the UN Environment Programme; and Projects in the field of environment, climate change and energy through the UNDP-Japan Partnership Fund.

Japan is the world’s largest bilateral donor to Africa in the field of the environment and energy. More specifically, the Government contributed approximately US$592 million in environment and US$411 million in energy in Official Development Assistance (ODA) during the five years from the year 2001. The amount of ODA contributed by Japan to the world in 2005 in the field of environment reached about US$3 billion, which accounts for 29.4 per cent of the country’s entire ODA. Japan's ODA Chapter stipulates that development should be compatible with environmental protection.

Japan’s Cool Earth initiatives

Climate change has become a serious challenge, which can have a significant impact on our day-to-day lives and economic activities. To address this pressing issue, an effective international framework is needed following the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012. Japan therefore proposed the “Cool Earth 50” initiative in 2007, calling for halving of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with three principles for a post-Kyoto framework:

 

Last modified:  Sat 11 Apr 09 21:47:19