Chapter 2 reports the ODA disbursement $ ^{2} $ during fiscal year 2003 in accordance with the composition of the revised ODA Charter. In addition, each section below explains the status of the implementation of the ODA Charter while reporting the ODA disbursement during fiscal year 2003, in line with the statement in the revised ODA Charter that the status of the implementation of the charter would be reported in the White Paper on Official Development Assistance.

## Section 1 Changing Japan's ODA

This section explains some characteristic points of the status of the implementation of the ODA Charter. Specifically, this section explains strengthening of a country-specific approach, evaluation and revision of the Medium-Term Policy on ODA, revision of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Guidelines for Environmental and Social Considerations, formulation of a Guideline of Project Assessment for Japan's Grant Aid, structural reform of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and JICA's organizational restructuring.

## ☑ Strengthening of a Country-Specific Approach

The framework of Japan's ODA policy is composed of the following three kinds of documents: (1) the ODA Charter, which is a basic document clarifying the philosophies, principles, etc. of development assistance, as the top policy; (2) the Medium-Term Policy on Official Development Assistance (hereinafter "Medium-Term Policy on ODA"), which shows guidelines for desirable assistance with a shorter assistance period in mind; and (3) Country Assistance Programs, which serve as guidelines for selecting specific projects as Japan's assistance programs for each country.

The revised ODA Charter of August 2003 stipulates that in order to ensure that the government in its entirety implements ODA efficiently and effectively in a unified and coherent manner, Country Assistance Programs will be drawn up for major recipient countries based on Japan's aid policy and reflecting the recipient countries' true assistance needs.

Country Assistance Programs have been drawn up for 16 countries since 2000 up to June 2004. $ ^{3} $ In particular, the revision of the Country Assistance Program for Vietnam and the formulation of the Country Assistance Program for Sri Lanka were formally decided under the revised ODA Charter by the Council of Overseas Economic Cooperation-Related Ministers in April 2004 after going through discussions at the Board on Comprehensive ODA Strategy. As of July 2004, the formulation of a new Country Assistance Program is in progress for four countries, Mongolia, Indonesia, India, and Pakistan. Within the next one to two years, Japan also plans to formulate new Country Assistance Programs for Laos, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia, and to revise Country Assistance Programs for Bangladesh, Ghana, Thailand, Egypt and the Philippines.

Country Assistance Programs are formulated with the active involvement of Country-based ODA Task Forces and based on the opinions of various aid-related persons, which are obtained through discussions initiated by a program formulation task force for each country that is comprised of intellectuals, consultations with related government ministries and agencies, exchange of opinions with NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), the business world and aid implementing agencies, and hearing of opinions from the government, the business world, NGOs and other relevant parties in recipient countries. Before formulating a Country Assistance Program, country program evaluation is conducted in advance wherever possible, and the results and recommendation thereof are used as references for formulating the Country Assistance Program.

The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the Japan Foundation and other government-affiliated organizations are requested to participate in Country-based ODA Task Forces, which play an important role in formulating Country Assistance Programs, where necessary, and the Task Forces operate with staff at the overseas offices of JICA and the JBIC (Japan Bank for International Cooperation) as well as embassy staff engaged in economic cooperation as major constituent members. Major activities are (1) understanding and analyzing trends in the development of recipient countries; (2) implementing policy consultation with recipient