reviews of aid schemes, sharing mid-term priority areas and aid policies with local governments, and providing advice on candidate assistance projects.

In addition, coordination in implementing assistance is gaining momentum on the local level in accordance with the drafting and revising of Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Since FY 2006, Japan has posted “coordinators for economic cooperation” at overseas diplomatic missions to provide a system for collecting information and implementing studies relating to aid coordination, as well as for providing a place for disseminating information overseas concerning Japan’s aid policies and making relevant recommendations.

## (6) Cooperation with Aid-Related Entities within and outside of Japan

Japan is implementing international cooperation in collaboration with various groups including private sector enterprises, NGOs, universities, local governments, international organizations, and other donor countries.

## (a) Collaboration with NGOs

In recent years, NGOs are carrying out an important role within the international community through such efforts as advocating policies in major diplomatic areas such as the environment, human rights, trade, and disarmament. Japanese NGOs implement high-quality aid activities in various fields of development cooperation, including education, health and medical care, water supply, refugee assistance, and mine clearance. In addition, Japan's NGOs work to provide prompt humanitarian assistance in areas where there have been large-scale natural disasters and conflict. NGOs possess knowledge of the needs of local residents and are capable of conducting activities in areas that the government cannot reach. NGOs also produce visibility of Japanese aid. The necessity of promoting cooperation with NGOs has been detailed in the ODA Charter as well as in Medium-Term Policy, and Japan is engaged in a variety of activities for promoting collaborations with NGOs, including financial cooperation for NGO aid activities, assistance for capacity development, and promoting dialogue.

## (i) Cooperation with NGO Activities

Japan is engaged in various forms of cooperation for enabling NGOs to carry out aid activities smoothly. In 2008, for instance, 45 organizations implemented 72 projects, including for the construction of schools, operations of health and medical facilities, occupational training, and construction of wells, using Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO Projects to the grassroots level socioeconomic development projects of NGOs. In addition, as of December 2009, the Japan Platform (JPF)—an emergency humanitarian assistance organization established in 2000 through partnerships with NGOs, governments, and the business

On December 23, 2009, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Chinami Nishimura toured an occupational training center for women operated by the Japanese NGO IV-Japan during a visit to Vientiane in Laos. IV-Japan was established in 1988, and it engages in international cultural exchanges and projects to support agricultural development and occupational training in Thailand and Laos. At the occupational training center for women in Vientiane, it carries out occupational training in areas such as cooking, sewing, and hairdressing and contributes to the entrepreneurial efforts and promotion of independence of young women in Laos as a JICA grassroots partner project. In the photograph above, women students studying in a beginning-level sewing course are doing drawings of Laotian-style blouses. They will make the blouses out of cloth based on the drawings that they create. Once they progress to the advanced course, they will be able to actually sell the items they made. These women are working hard each day to learn the skills for their profession and built their own future. They will surely become a driving force supporting future development in Laos.

community—had received participation from 32 different NGOs that are conducting such activities as promptly distributing everyday goods and providing medical assistance in the event of major natural disasters by utilizing ODA funds disbursed beforehand as well as donations from corporations and residents. In 2008, a total of approximately