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NGOs marginalised at Japan meet
Ramesh Jaura, Inter Press Service
May 29, 2008

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=42581

Yokohama - If the fourth round of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV) concluding Friday is seriously flawed, it is because non-governmental organisations have at best been allowed to influence the policy dialogue between Japan and the African governments only from the margins.

For the first time in TICAD's 15-year history, a 'civil society forum' was held during the three-day conference. But the group of 55 African, Japanese and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) expressed disappointment at the "exclusion" of large segments of the civil society from the conference.

They were allowed to attend as "observers", but did not have the right to address key TICAD sessions to discuss specific development and environmental issues.

According to Asahi Shimbun newspaper, the Foreign Ministry initially told the NGOs that it would allow only three representatives from groups based both in Japan and Africa to attend the general meetings as observers on Thursday and Friday.

The NGOs had demanded that at least nine from among 85 members be allowed to enter. The ministry later promised that six could be permitted to enter, citing space limits.

The NGOs say their limited participation reflects "Tokyo's entrenched view of NGOs as inexpensive subcontracting workers."

"This casts huge doubts on the legitimacy and accountability of the conference," Gustave Assah of the Civic Commission for Africa, a member of the TICAD NGO Network told IPS.

But the NGOs' criticism goes beyond their exclusion from the conference, and spans issues critical to African development.

The Japanese government has announced several measures to promote rapid growth in Africa, including 4 billion dollars in loans for transport infrastructure, trade insurance, and 2.5 billion dollars worth of financing support for Japanese companies seeking investment opportunities in Africa in the next five years.

"While there is no doubt that Africa needs growth," the TICAD NGO Network argues, "this is precisely the time to prioritize direct investment in the area of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), both because many African societies suffer from social and economic divides and in order to ensure that the poor people can take part in economic activities."

The MDGs are eight goals to be achieved by 2015 that respond to the world's main development challenges. These are drawn from the actions and targets contained in the Millennium Declaration that was adopted by 189 nations-and signed by 147 heads of state and governments during the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000.

The NGO Network is also concerned about the implication of the large amount of loans on the poor communities in Africa.

The NGO Network argues in a position paper circulated to the media Thursday that Africa's current debt crisis had started with plummeting primary commodity prices. "It is not clear whether the current growth is sustainable, and it is questionable whether Africa will have the capacity to repay the (fresh) loans announced (Wednesday)," the authors of the paper say.

Announcing the aid package, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda reiterated the importance of achieving the MDGs, and committed Japan to support reproductive health, and to train 100,000 health workers in the coming five years (TICAD is held every five years).

"Although welcome in itself, the plan does not go far enough to help Africa reach the health MDGs," the NGOs say.

Africa's public health sectors suffer from a huge lack of money to recruit and pay for human resources, with the result that trained and qualified people have little choice but to migrate to rich countries, they say.

"If Japan is serious about overcoming the health worker crisis, then it needs to be prepared to pay for these expenditures," says the position paper.

"No amount (of money) is too much to invest in human development," says the paper, adding: "Africa is currently losing over eight million lives a year to health related reasons, and this is unacceptable."

Investment in the MDGs should be seen as "a kind of Marshall Plan for Africa" that would provide "increased and sustained development support" over the period necessary for the infrastructure for sustainable development to be in place, the paper says.

The NGOs point out that though Africa has experienced some positive developments in democratisation over the past decade, there are several signs causing concern.

The recent events in South Africa involving violent attacks on immigrants, for example, indicate that even in a highly developed country with a relatively strong economy and institutionalised democratic structures, huge income gaps, high unemployment and continuing poverty for the majority of the people can threaten such strong foundations of democracy.

"The challenge (in Africa) therefore is to ensure that democratic consolidation is embarked upon alongside redistributive development," says the paper.

It adds: "There can be no long-term peace in Africa without redistributive development. TICAD IV has to put back the issue of democratisation on its agenda and link it with peace and development. African countries and their partners have to evolve development agendas complimented by forms of governance that promote democratic, responsible, participation."

As part of the Cool Earth Partnership, Japan has announced a plan to provide 10 billion dollars for developing countries trying to reconcile economic growth and climate mitigation objectives.

The NGO Network regrets that the money is mainly intended for large developing countries emitting greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. It is not clear how much will be spent on Africa that is faced with the challenge of climate change adaptation rather than mitigation.

The Network also stresses the need for a climate fund that they want to be separate from and in addition to the 0.7 percent Gross National Income (GNI) commitment on official development assistance (ODA).

The NGOs want this fund to be made available to the UN Adaptation Fund which ensures that the majority of the developing countries have a say in how it is spent.

According to the Network, "Africa will continue to suffer as long as and as much as Japan continues to cause global warming." It urges Japan to set and achieve an ambitious mid-term greenhouse gas emissions reduction target and provide adaptation financing to African countries.

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