the same time, the establishment of transport, communications and electric power infrastructure will be assisted with the objective of improving access to hospitals and schools. Support will also be provided for training and development of educational materials in order to improve the quality of services. In addition, assistance that will contribute to women and children's health and reproductive health will be provided, addressing infectious diseases and women's capacity building.

## (ii) Strengthening livelihoods

To enable the poor to break out from poverty, it is important to strengthen capacity to sustain their livelihoods and to enable them to earn income through their own productive activities. Japan will provide assistance for the development of small-scale infrastructure that will benefit the poor, such as rural markets, fishing ports, rural roads and irrigation, as well as microfinance and unemployment programs targeted at the poor. In tandem with these measures, action will be taken to develop the capabilities of the poor, such as through skills training.

## (iii) Protection from sudden threats

As the poor tend to be highly vulnerable to threats such as economic crises, social problems, such as drugs and crime, and natural disasters, it is important to protect the poor against such threats and strengthen their ability to withstand such threats. For this purpose, Japan will assist in establishing "safety nets" for the poor, such as relief measures for the unemployed, nutritional improvement programs and delivery of social services. With respect to the disaster caused by the major earthquake off the coast of Sumatra and the tsunami in the Indian Ocean that occurred in December 2004, Japan will promote cooperation in the area of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis in a comprehensive and coherent manner based on the Initiative for Disaster Reduction through ODA. Japan provides assistance for policy proposals, institution building, human resources development and steady implementation of plans that are necessary for making disaster prevention an integral part of national policy, city planning and rural planning. In addition, Japan will also make efforts to rapidly deliver assistance to the disaster victims in the aftermath of disaster and to reduce the vulnerability to disasters of the poor by ending the vicious circle of disaster and poverty in the reconstruction phase.

(c) Assistance to reduce poverty through economic growth To reduce poverty, it is important to promote the economic growth of a country or a region as a whole, including poverty-concentrated areas, along with direct assistance to the poor. In particular, consideration should be given to generating growth that benefits the poor.

## (i) Employment creation

Raising incomes through employment is an important means of raising the living standard of the poor. A particular focus will therefore be on the development of labor-intensive medium, small and micro enterprises. Assistance will also be provided for the development of economic infrastructure fundamental to business activity, reform of institutions, and improvement of labor conditions to promote the participation of micro enterprises and expand domestic and foreign investment. Promoting tourism by making use of cultural attractions will also contribute to employment creation.

## (ii) Balanced development

Countries that are achieving economic growth also face the problem of regional disparities. These disparities occur in many cases between poor rural areas and comparatively affluent urban areas. For the development of rural areas, raising agricultural productivity is important. Japan will support the formulation of agriculture related policy, improvement of infrastructure such as irrigation and farm roads, dissemination and research/development of production technologies such as NERICA (New Rice for Africa), and strengthening of community organizations. Assistance will be provided to foster economic activities in rural areas, such as processing of agricultural products, development of market distribution and sale of foodstuffs.

In addition, basic infrastructure such as transport, energy and communications will be provided to link urban and rural areas where regional disparities exist. In providing such assistance, attention will be paid to ensure that infrastructure helps the poor to participate in economic and social activities by, for example, connecting feeder roads to national roads.

Pockets of extreme poverty exist also in urban