This page was prepared for the 4th Tokyo International Conference on International Development (TICAD IV), 28-30 May 2008, and the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit, 7-9 July 2008.
The Pacifico Conference Center in Yokohama, Japan - the venue for TICAD IV.
Source: Flickr/maynard
Japanese leadership in 2008 is essential to keep African development high on the international agenda. A spate of natural disasters, the food price crisis, the oil shock and continuing turbulence in the financial markets are piling on the pressure for the international humanitarian and development communities. There are also a number of opportunities in 2008 to make real progress towards sustainable African development.
More than 50 leaders from Africa and Asia will gather in Yokohama, Japan, this week for the 4th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV, 28-30 May). This event is an essential space for African participation in high-level international discussions. Japan also hosts the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit (7-9 July), an opportunity to raise critical African issues: aid, a renewed commitment to the MDGs and climate change mitigation. But it cannot end there. The TICAD process should also inform the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana, and the UN-supported MDG Summit in New York, USA, both in September.
Recognising this important year for Japan, ODI has worked to bring together policy-makers, researchers and civil society to help inform this process. The resulting resources and events can be seen below.
Video blogs on the G8 in Japan
Additional resources on the G8
show details hide detailsArticle in New Statesman - G8 is Gr8?
(online)Discusses the results of the recent G8 Summit, some of which may actually prove beneficial.
- July 2008
Simon Maxwell
show details hide detailsebpdn Project Briefing Number 1 - Reforming aid in 2008: An agenda for Japanese leadership(online)
In this project briefing, seven ebpdn partners look to Japan for leadership on setting the aid agenda in 2008. Based on country-level research they recommend that: More official development assistance in the form of multi-year grants is needed to allow flexibility in investment, especially within the social sectors; Japan has made progress in untying its aid, and other donors should follow suit. However, untying should be accompanied by increased technical assistance and capacity building for local companies; Donors should work toestablish sustained participation from civil society through institutionalising consultation and funding mechanisms and through greater organisational transparency.
Partner Publication - ebpdn Project Briefing
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June 2008
show details hide detailsArticle in the Guardian: Africa and the G8
(online)
Beyond the overarching global challenges, as host of the G8 Summit Japan has the strategic opportunity to influence other G8 members on their approach to development assistance – an influence that could bring immediate benefits to developing nations in Africa and beyond.
ODI in the media
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2 July 2007
Fletcher Tembo
show details hide detailsRising food prices: Cause for concern(PDF, 126kb)
The current spike in food prices needs prompt reaction through various forms of social
protection to avert poverty and hunger. Prices are likely to fall in the near future, but not
to their previous levels. Higher prices mean problems for three groups: poor households
struggling to cope with higher costs of food; governments of low income food-importing
countries facing higher import bills and higher energy prices; and agencies such as the World
Food Programme (WFP) that use food aid to combat food emergencies.
ODI Natural Resource Perspective
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July 2008
Steve Wiggins and Stephanie Levy
show details hide detailsRome exceeded expectations; will the G8 do the same?
(blog)The Food Summit in Rome turned out better than expected. It was not derailed by Robert Mugabe. It survived the unedifying wrangling over a final communiqué. It gave the topic a good hearing. It confirmed some practical actions. And it passed the torch successfully to the G8 in Japan in July.
ODI Blog
- 6 June 2008
Simon Maxwell
show details hide detailsThe Japan G8 in 2008: a New Year’s Resolution for delivery on the big questions?
(blog)
The 2008 G8 Summit in Toyako, Japan will be particularly significant because there are big issues on the international development agenda that require firm G8 commitments to be made in 2008; and yet the risk of not delivering on these agendas has never been higher.
ODI Blog
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December 2007
Fletcher Tembo
show details hide detailsJapan and Africa in 2008: Opportunities and challenges for development
(MP3, 2.88mb)
This podcast, based on an event series held at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), explains the importance of 2008 for Japan and Africa. Professors Kenichi and Izumi Ohno of GRIPS, Dr Fletcher Tembo of ODI, Jean Denis Ngokolo Elumba also of GRIPS and Professor Myles Wickstead look to TICAD IV and the Hokkaido G8, give several examples of practical actions that the Japanese government can take forward, and take stock of some of the challenges that Japan faces in promoting the African agenda this year.
ODI Podcast
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March 2008
Fletcher Tembo (ODI), Kenichi Ohno (GRIPS), Izumi Ohno (GRIPS), Jean Denis Ngokolo Elumba (GRIPS) and Myles Wickstead
show details hide detailsDonor support to private sector development in sub-Saharan Africa
(PDF, 720kb)
Private sector development is crucial for growth, development and employment creation in Africa. Recognition of this is evident in donor support programmes which are increasingly targeting the private sector. This study examines how one type of Japanese support, the one-village one-product (OVOP) approach, fits with other donor approaches and how it relates to the development of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). It also presents some preliminary findings from Malawi’s experience of OVOP.
ODI Working Paper 290
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May 2008
Kiyoto Kurokawa, Fletcher Tembo and Dirk Willem te Veld
Resources on TICAD IV
show details hide detailsWhere next for TICAD: Building lasting partnerships
(PDF, 193kb)
This background note emphasises the important role that TICAD plays in allowing greater African ownership in the development process and mobilising strategic partnerships with Africa from the international community. It then discusses how these core values could provide the driving force behind the policy positions that TICAD IV will develop along its key pillars of ‘Boosting Economic Growth’, ‘Ensuring Human Security’ and ‘Addressing Environmental Issues/Climate change’. The note ends with suggestions on how the TICAD process could evolve into a more robust mechanism for continuous partnership.
ODI Background Note
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2008
Fletcher Tembo
show details hide detailsODI launches resource portal to support the development agenda in Japan
(media release)
On the day that Japan announced it was to double its aid budget to Africa, the Overseas Development Institute launched its ‘Japan 2008’ resource portal. This year Japan will have the unique opportunity of hosting both TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) and the G8, and the unusual prospect of ensuring that African development benefits from both meetings.
ODI Media Release
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28 May 2008
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?
In 2008 Japan will host both the G8 Summit and TICAD for the first time, and it is widely expected that many of the issues raised in TICAD will be incorporated into discussions at the G8. This event brings together key representatives from Japan, Africa and the UK to discuss Japan’s participatory approach to African development. Some questions for consideration include:
How has Japan helped put Africa in
the driver’s seat with regards to African development?
How effective has the
TICAD process been in bringing African voices into the G8 Summit dialogue?
How
does the TICAD process compare to other partnership models, especially those
promoted by China and India?
