participation of Japanese people in assistance activities, deepening Japanese people's understanding of such activities.

The Japanese government has been making efforts to promote communication and collaboration with and support for NGOs. For example, the Japanese government holds meetings with NGOs. Moreover, in developing countries where a relatively large number of Japanese NGOs engage in assistance activities, so-called "NGO-Embassy Meetings" $ ^{33} $ started from fiscal year 2002. It is a council consisting of the Japanese Embassy, local offices of JICA and JBIC, and NGOs in the developing country concerned. So far, "NGO-Embassy Meetings" have been held in 12 countries including Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Kenya. The program of Grant Aid for Japanese NGOs expanded its coverage and started giving grants for a part of the expenses of their headquarters. In order to ensure appropriate use of grants, the government obliges NGOs to undergo an external audit of every project to which grants have been given. Furthermore, NGOs are required to be more strictly accountable for the use of grants. From the budget of Grant Aid for Japanese NGOs, the government provided Japan Platform (see Part I, Chapter 2, Section 3, footnote 1) with a grant of 700 million yen in May 2003.

2. Increasing Public Participation

(1) Broad Participation by Japanese Citizens from All Walks of Life

In order to continue ODA programs, the government needs to make efforts to promote Japanese people's understanding and support for ODA through publicity activities and enhanced development education, given the fact that ODA programs are financed partly by tax money paid by Japanese citizens. The government should also endeavor to further promote direct participation of Japanese people in ODA programs so as to make people from different sectors of the Japanese society engage in ODA activities and familiarize them with ODA programs.

More participation of Japanese citizens is sought in the process of establishing assistance policies such as Country Assistance Programs. In principle, the government publicizes through the ODA Website of MOfA all the Country Assistance Programs currently in preparation and solicits opinions from the general public on the programs. In this way, Japanese people are given opportunities to express their opinions and influence the formulation of ODA policies.

The Senior Overseas Volunteer Project is another example

Chart II-39 NGOs-MOFA Regular Meetings in FY 2003

Year	Date	Name of meeting	Agenda (discussed matters)
FY 2003	July 4, 2003	The 1st subcommittee on ODA policy in FY 2003	1. Desirable support for the reconstruction of Iraq and cooperation for the world peace2. Monitoring after debt waiver3. Review of the ODA Charter and the role of the Board on Comprehensive ODA Strategy
July 25, 2003	The 1st subcommittee on NGO-MOFA collaboration in FY 2003	1. Frequency of meetings of the subcommittee on NGO-MOFA collaboration2. Research, analyses, and recommendations for improvement of measures taken by MOFA to support NGOs3. Grant Aid for Japanese NGOs
October 31, 2003	The 2nd subcommittee on ODA policy in FY 2003	1. Desirable support for the reconstruction of Iraq and cooperation for world peace2. The process of revising the ODA Charter and the implementation policy for the future3. Provision of ODA in consideration of the environment and the society
November 21, 2003	The 2nd subcommittee on NGO-MOFA collaboration in FY 2003	1. The "11 suggestions about Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO Projects"2. Projects for capacity building of Japanese NGOs
February 20, 2004	The 3rd subcommittee on ODA policy in FY 2003	1. Policy to support the reconstruction of Iraq2. The process of reviewing the ODA policy formulation and the Board on Comprehensive ODA Strategy
March 12, 2004	The 3rd subcommittee on NGO-MOFA collaboration in FY 2003	1. The progress of the study on the "eleven proposals concerning Grant Aid for NGOs"2. MOFA's vision to support NGOs

Note: NGOs-MOFA Regular Meetings consist of a general meeting and meetings of two sub-committees (subcommittee on ODA policy and subcommittee on NGO-MOFA collaboration). A general meeting is held once a year, while a meeting of the subcommittee is held three times a year. At a general meeting, the agenda of each subcommittee's meeting is finalized. At a subcommittee on ODA policy, attendants discuss the ODA policy formulated by MOFA. At a subcommittee on NGO-MOFA collaboration, attendants discuss new and existing measures to support NGOs.