Europe-Japan Dialogue Public Lecture 'International Aid for a Water Project'

Director for Development Planning at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Mr Okaniwa was responsible for Japan's "Water and
Sanitation Broad Partnership Initiative" announced in March 2006.Consequently, he was posted at The Embassy of Japan in Jakarta in charge
of Japan's aid programme from 2006 till 2008. Dr Dorea was also engaged
in activities in Indonesia through a humanitarian water aid programme
(with Oxfam GB) when the country was hit by tsunami in 2004 and more
recently through his research activities (Bali, 2009).

The good thing about this joint teaming was the potential for conflict of interests from the government to government ( via corporate and IMF filters) resourcing and the experience of NGO operatives on the ground liaising with the target communities.But the whole thing did not really manifest.

Firstly , Japanese Government aid is only 14% in grants , 86% is in the form of loans ( which by their very nature are to be paid back with due interest.).This fascinating article on the two major factors which makes Japan the largest donor of water "aid" in the region of Africa reveals the two prongs of the prime motivations 1) it allows Japanese corporations to enter Africa in areas of development other than military hardware which is denied to Japanese Industry and 2)It is a vehicle for projection of Japanese government "soft" power for Japanese Financial and Banking Houses , ( you will notice that Japanese "aid" has been given over to the private sector).

The conflict of interest is that it is in the interest of the Japanese program is to encourage either large macro-projects which provide its corporations with big contracts or to promote expensive systems of clean water generation which may not be the best cost efficient option for the unique requirements of the recipient communities.The other major disadvantage is the option for the aid receiver to shop around for the most cost-effective generic products on the market can be over-ruled in favour of products made by the corporations which have a major say in the wording ; terms and conditions and ultimate renewal of the aid package.