Japanese and UK development aid: Why diversity amongst donors is beneficial

Japan and the UK are perceived as donors who have differing approaches to development. The UK is typically perceived as a donor that is engaged with high-level, 'big picture' issues such as aid architecture, an approach which could be described as a 'framework approach'. Japan, on the other hand, places more emphasis on local interventions and issues, so is perceived as favouring what could be described as a 'bottom-up' approach. Rather than being incompatible however, could these two approaches work in tandem for the benefit of aid recipients?

A new book to be published shortly by the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, and to be launched at this event, proposes a new development paradigm that takes advantage of diversity amongst both donors and developing countries, with the aim of building complementarity rather than encouraging donors to converge around similar development strategies and aid instruments.

At this ODI event, different donor approaches will be discussed and their potential for complementarity debated. In addition, the question of whether lessons from the Asian growth experience can be applied to sub-Saharan Africa will be examined. The discussants will draw on various donor and developing country case studies in an attempt to draw out key lessons for the international development agenda in 2008 and beyond, and in particular for TICAD IV and the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit.