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An instructor teaches an industrial robotics class at the Senegal-Japan Vocational Training Center in Dakar, Senegal. (Photo: Shinichi Kuno/JICA)

By providing an opportunity for high-level policy dialogue, the Japan-led TICAD has become a major global platform through which African countries, as well as international stakeholders, can collaborate to promote Africa’s development.

The Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) will be held on August 27 and 28, 2016, in Nairobi, Kenya. All the heads of state and government of Africa and their developed partners will meet for the first time in the world’s second-largest continent to discuss the progress of a series of Japan-led aid initiatives to speed up the growth and development of Africa.
Since its launch in 1993 by the Japanese government, in conjunction with the United Nations and the Global Coalition for Africa (GCA), TICAD has evolved into a major global and open forum for mobilizing and sustaining international support for Africa’s development under the principles of African “ownership” and international “partnership,” enabling Africa to determine its own goals and approaches.
One area of focus at TICAD VI will be how to empower young people and women, who are vital to sustainable and resilient growth in Africa. The Japanese government has invested heavily in human resource development in the continent, while working together with local counterparts to build infrastructure, ensure health, and promote human security.

ABE Initiative Internship Program

African students studying in Japan with ABE Initiative talk actively with Japanese company representatives. (Photo: Tomohito Ishigou/JICA)

As an example, the African Business Education (ABE) Initiative for Youth, which the Japanese government proposed at the last TICAD in 2013, is providing opportunities for 1,000 young African men and women to study master’s courses at Japanese universities and to gain work experience through internships at Japanese companies. Under the five-year ABE program, Japan is inviting young African adults aged 22–39 years to Japan to help them acquire skills and knowledge that they can use for the benefit of their own countries after returning home. The program has enjoyed a good reputation among participants. Godfrey Mwema, who came from Tanzania to study policy science at a university in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, did a summer internship at a used car exporting company located west of Tokyo. Mwema told the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), a main facilitator of the ABE initiative, that he not only learned business workflow but also gained ideas about why the Japanese work ethic and etiquette, such as being punctual, working as a team, and maintaining product quality, are so important for business success.
Kenyan participant Antony Ndirangu, who worked at the same company as an intern, said that he was impressed with the Japanese spirit of hospitality and careful attention to detail and procedure. Ethiopian participant Yasuf Mohammed, who did an internship at a yuzu (citrus fruit) farming company located on the smallest of Japan’s four main islands, said that he was fascinated by the company’s efforts to involve all generations of islanders in revitalizing the local community by making a wide range of products by hand from organic yuzu fruit. After attending the program, Mohammed said that he was thinking of establishing his own company back home and working toward connecting and networking Ethiopia and Japan.

Senegal-Japan Vocational Training Center

At the last TICAD, Japan also committed to train 30,000 Africans in the continent between 2013 and 2017 to help them get jobs. For that purpose, the Japanese government pledged to set up TICAD human resource development centers for business and industry in 10 locations and dispatch job training experts to 10 African countries. Japan has designatedthe Senegal-Japan Vocational Training Center , which it established in 1984 with the government of the Republic of Senegal, as a role model. It is one of the leading vocational and training centers in West Africa; it not only accepts students from countries across the continent but also trainers from French-speaking African countries. Japanese experts at first designed training courses for the center, and then African trainers modified and tailored them to local needs. So the center can be said to have truly fulfilled the TICAD vision of building African ownership and international partnership. More than 2,500 intermediate and advanced engineers have trained at the center so far.

Education for Capacity Building

A Japanese expert helps teachers in South Sudan to improve their classroom skills. (Photo: Shinichi Kuno/JICA)

To promote innovation and competitiveness in Africa, the Japanese government has provided assistance to higher education, with a focus on science and engineering. Many joint research projects between African and Japanese research institutes and universities are underway. The Applied Center for Climate and Earth System Science (ACCESS) in South Africa, for example, is developing an early-warning system for infectious diseases in Southern Africa by incorporating climate predictions, with Japanese partner institutions.
Enhancing primary and secondary education in Africa has also been one of Japan’s interests. The Japanese government pledged at the last TICAD that it would further provide quality education for 20 million children by expanding its “school for all” project, which seeks to support educational development through community participation, and its SMASE (“strengthening of Mathematics and Science in Education”) project, which aims to train teachers and thereby improve the academic performance of students. After training 20,000 secondary school mathematics and science teachers in Kenya, where Japan started the SMASE project in 1998, the classroom environment has changed remarkably, and students have become much more interested in these subjects. The SMASE project soon gained a significant attention at the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in South Africa in 2002. The project focusing on mathematics and science has since been recognized even higher because computers, mobile communications, and medical technologies are the modern engines of commerce, prosperity, and public health. Believing that these subjects are the keys to unlocking Africa’s potential, Japan has plans to invite 800 government-sponsored educators from Africa between 2013 and 2017 and provide them with vocational training, such as enhancing their mathematics and science teaching skills.

Coalition for African Rice Development

A JICA expert promoting NERICA (New Rice for Africa) rice cultivation in Uganda helps a local farmer. (Photo: Koji Sato/JICA)

Agriculture, nevertheless, is still indispensable to form the foundation of stable society, as it is by far the largest generator of employment and source of livelihood, accounting for 65%–70% of the labor force in most African countries. In the early 1990s, Japan successfully contributed to developing a variety of new types of nutritious rice that are suited to the natural conditions of each region in Africa, by working closely with African farmers and fully respecting their ownership. As a next step, Japan and its international partners established the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) at the fourth TICAD in 2008 to help double sub-Saharan Africa’s rice production levels to 28 million tons from 2008 to 2018. With the CARD’s coordinated efforts to promote rice-related policies, rice-cropping techniques, value chains, research, and human resource development, sub-Saharan Africa achieved annual rice production of 25.16 million tons in 2014, an achievement of approximately 74% of the target.

Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment Project

In the field of agriculture, Japan has also supported the smallholder horticulture empowerment project (SHEP), which promotes market-based agriculture for smallholders and the participation of women. A set of training programs and events have been offered in the framework of SHEP for farmers in 20 countries, including Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. These farmers are encouraged to collect information on local markets and analyze trends by themselves, enabling them to strategize their market-oriented production plans and change their values from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture. A Kenyan farmer who had learned the SHEP approach said he managed to find regular customers and double his income by developing a network with traders as advised.

Capacity Building in Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

Bearing in mind that social stability is prerequisite for economic development in Africa, Japan has been taking various measures to prevent and manage conflict, keep and make peace, and achieve post conflict reconstruction in Africa. At the last TICAD, Japan announced a plan to provide capacity-building assistance to more than 3,000 people who were to engage in peace support activities in Africa. From January 2013 through March 2016, Japan supported 12 peacekeeping operations (PKO) training centers in Africa by providing assistance amounting to $16.28 million through the United Nations Development Program. During the same period, Japan also dispatched experts on 15 different occasions to five PKO training centers in Africa. As of December 2015, more than 3,000 people in total have already received the training. Through JICA and international organizations, Japan has delivered support to conflict-affected and post-conflict countries. Such activities include community development in Burundi to reduce poverty; vocational training in Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Somalia to encourage youth employment; and maternal and child healthcare in Burundi and Sudan to empower women.

More than 6,000 participants from Africa, Japan, and various international organizations are expected to attend TICAD VI to discuss sustainable and stable economic development in Africa. The Japanese government, which has hosted the past five TICADs, will make every possible effort to ensure the success of the first TICAD to be held on African soil.

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