This Action Plan, under the "Yokohama Declaration," is designed to provide a road map for the support of African growth and development under the TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) process.
With robust economic growth of more than 5% per year and enhanced political stability, Africa is on the path toward the broad-based growth and development that will help it become a "continent of hope and opportunity."
The TICAD process seeks to support this objective by mobilizing knowledge and resources to assist African countries accomplish clear development goals and achieve tangible outcomes. Since its inception, TICAD has been based on principles of ownership by African countries, partnership, and the expansion of South-South cooperation.
This Action Plan lays out goals to be achieved and specific measures to be implemented through the TICAD process during the next five years to further the three TICAD priorities of Boosting Economic Growth, Ensuring Human Security (including the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Consolidation of Peace and Good Governance), and Addressing Environmental Issues/Climate Change under the Broadening Partnership. Progress will be monitored through the TICAD follow-up mechanism.
The Government of Japan at the center of the TICAD process, has taken the initiative to show its strong commitment by announcing doubling ODA to Africa by 2012. This will contribute to the effective implementation of assistance so that the goals along the above-mentioned priorities can be achieved. The Government of Japan will also strive to actively mobilize all the policy tools it has to double direct investment from the Japanese private sector to Africa from 2008 to 2012.
The TICAD process will promote a "Vibrant Africa" and its accelerated economic growth and diversification through support for infrastructure development, trade, investment and tourism, and agriculture. It will seek to advance self-sustainable economic growth that is effectively linked to poverty reduction and achievement of the MDGs, and encourage all stakeholders, including the private sector, to act together in support of the efforts African countries are making to broaden and accelerate growth through, inter alia, development of their human resources.
Infrastructure
It is essential to develop an infrastructure network to promote and support the expansion of industry, trade and investment as well as agriculture. The Commission for Africa report to G8 Gleneagles Summit indicated that additional assistance of 10 billion dollars per year would be required to meet Africa's infrastructure needs by 2010. African experts are now drafting a mid-long term strategic plan, which will necessitate both an expanded regional infrastructure and capacity building for maintenance and management.
Actions to be taken in the next 5 years under the TICAD Process
The TICAD process will focus on:
Regional transport infrastructure, including roads and ports
Regional power infrastructure
Water-related infrastructure
Enhanced involvement of regional institutions
Promotion of public-private partnership (PPP) in infrastructure
1. Regional transport infrastructure
Provide financial and technical assistance for the planning, construction and improvement of regional transport corridors and international ports.
Support capacity building for the management and maintenance of regional infrastructure.
Promote facilitation of cross-border procedures such as One Stop Border Post (OSBP).
Support technical cooperation for comprehensive community development along with infrastructure development.
2. Regional power infrastructure
Strengthen cooperation to provide a stable power supply for the whole region, and to build capacity to manage and maintain regional power networks.
3. Water related infrastructure
Support agricultural water-development initiatives to rapidly expand the share of land under irrigation, and other improved water control and management infrastructure.
4. Enhanced involvement of regional institutions
Support capacity building of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and regional development banks to better plan, finance and execute infrastructure programs, and provide technical assistance for regional infrastructure investment planning.
5. Promotion of public-private partnership (PPP) in infrastructure
Promote, support and strengthen PPP in infrastructure such as ports, railway and electric power plants to increase opportunities for the private sector by utilizing other official flows (OOF).
Trade, Investment and Tourism
African Governments, recognizing the importance of trade and investment to sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction, are making efforts to promote trade and attract foreign investment, drawing on the experiences of the Asian economies. African Union (AU)/New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and RECs are also formulating common regional trade policies including improvements in the legal and regulatory framework and regional infrastructure, in order to promote intra-African trade and facilitate Africa's integration into the world economy. In this context, the TICAD process aims to achieve a significant increase of trade with and investment to African countries in collaboration with the private sector.
Actions to be taken in the next 5 years under the TICAD process
The TICAD process will strengthen efforts to:
Promote and expand trade
Encourage foreign investment
Assist private sector development
Promote tourism
1. Promote and expand trade
Provide duty-free and quota-free market access for essentially all products originating from all African least developing countries.
Scale up "Aid for Trade" to increase the global competitiveness of African countries by accelerating assistance including Japan's "Development Initiative for Trade" and support the early, fair and balanced conclusion of the WTO Doha development Agenda negotiations.
Assist product development and export promotion in Africa, by further promoting One Village One Product (OVOP) initiative.
Enhance infrastructure management capacity through projects such as the OSBP.
Provide assistance to improve trading practices, and to build capacity in trade policy making and coordination of African countries and RECs.
2. Encourage foreign investment
Provide assistance to improve investment climate including the legal and regulatory frameworks in African countries.
Support the establishment of an information and consultation platform on the business climate for private companies intending to enter into African markets.
Utilize more effectively official funding sources such as investment credit, trade and investment insurance to enhance PPP and leverage private capital flows to Africa.
Provide assistance for capacity building to improve economic and corporate governance.
3. Assist private sector development
Support African countries to plan and implement industrial development strategies and policies, drawing on Asian experiences as appropriate.
Provide technical support to improve productivity, competitiveness and business expertise in promising industries, taking into account the effectiveness of information and communication technology (ICT).
Expand assistance to support the development of small and medium enterprises and local industries.
Collaborate with international financial institutions and regional development banks to strengthen the financial sector, including through the development of local bond markets and local currency financing mechanisms.
Provide technical and financial assistance to promote self-reliant utilization of energy and mineral resources.
4. Promote tourism
Encourage and assist African countries' efforts to address security, hospitality management, infrastructure and environmental constraints to tourism development including through tourism training programs.
Support tourism operators to increase familiarization with African destinations and improve knowledge of the continent and what it has to offer.
Exploit the opportunity provided by the 2010 World Cup Soccer Tournament in South Africa to support long-term tourism promotion through events such as travel fairs.
Agriculture and Rural Development
Seventy percent of the poor in Sub-Sahara Africa or 230 million live in rural areas, and increase in food production and agricultural productivity are critical for food security, poverty reduction and economic growth in Africa. While the agricultural sector can be a driving force for the African economy, the continuing increase in food, fertilizer and fuel prices has become ever more threatening to food security.
African countries have recognized the importance of the agricultural sector for development and are implementing NEPAD's Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) that seeks to improve agricultural productivity to attain an average annual growth rate of 6 percent by 2015. As part of that agenda, African countries have committed, in accordance with the 2003 AU Maputo Declaration, to allocate at least 10% of national budgetary resources for agriculture and rural development within five years.
Support for agriculture under the TICAD process will include attention to the environmental impact of agricultural activities, as well as the empowerment of women, who play a critical role in agriculture, and the encouragement of South-South cooperation including triangular cooperation.
Actions to be taken in the next 5 years under the TICAD Process
The TICAD process will seek alignment with the CAADP agenda to:
Enhance capacity to increase food production and agricultural productivity
Improve access to markets and agricultural competitiveness
Support sustainable management of water resources and land use
1. Enhance capacity to increase food production and agricultural productivity
Provide assistance to expand agricultural research, extension and advisory services including for adaptation to climate change, development of new crop varieties and improvement of soil fertility and other farming technologies, and increase the number of agriculture professionals through support for agriculture-related education and training in a gender sensitive manner.
Assist smallholders and farmers' organizations to adopt new technologies, expand agricultural land and the use of inputs and introduce appropriate machinery and equipment to raise productivity.
Increase rice production through developing capacities to adopt systematic crop management, and new methodologies including wider use of New Rice for Africa (NERICA), aiming at doubling the rice production in African countries in ten years.
Strengthen regional networks for transboundary pest and animal disease control.
2. Improve access to markets and agricultural competitiveness
Increase investments in physical infrastructure, such as roads, ports and market facilities in order to reduce transport cost, improve the ratio of retail to farm gate prices, reduce the percentage of post-harvest losses, and increase the percentage of agricultural production that is sold.
Provide technical and financial assistance to farmers to move up the value-chain and meet agricultural product and export standards.
Expand provision of credit to smallholders, especially women, to facilitate their uptake of new technologies and inputs, and accelerate their integration into agri-business value-chains.
Support pilot activities to promote the participation of small scale farmers, associations and small traders in the tender processes.
3. Support sustainable management of water resources and land use
Support reforms in land titling, ownership and use to increase smallholder decision making power over the use and disposition of land.
Promote development, rehabilitation and maintenance of water resources management infrastructure to contribute to the joint efforts aiming at expanding the irrigated area by 20% in five years.
Enhance water resources management capacity through better tillage methods and water harvesting and storage, introduction of new technologies and capacity building of local governments and farmers' organizations.
Provide finance for small-scale community-managed irrigation and water management schemes for local markets, and individual smallholder schemes for high-value markets.
2008 is midway to the 2015 target for achieving the MDGs. Accelerated progress in Africa is crucial as statistics indicate that many Sub-Saharan African countries will fall short of attaining the goals, and that problems such as high maternal mortality rates and the prevalence of HIV/AIDS remain serious. While economic development is necessary in order to reduce poverty, it is also essential that the fruits of the economic growth reach all members of society, including the most disadvantaged, and are not restricted to a privileged few.
In order to promote the achievement of the MDGs in Africa, the TICAD process will focus on the notion of "human security," which aims at building societies in which people are protected from threats against their lives, livelihoods and dignity and are empowered to realize their full potential. In enhancing "human security," a special emphasis will be placed on bottom-up, comprehensive, multi-sectoral and participatory approaches that encourage collaboration among national and local governments, international organizations, civil society, and other actors. Paying due attention to the inter-relatedness of each of the MDGs, the TICAD process will proactively focus on the areas of health and education, where the delays in achieving the MDGs are most conspicuous, and will encourage community development, gender equality, and the active participation of civil society.
Community Development
Community development and empowerment are vital elements of enhanced human security, both in rural and urban areas. Gender perspective is indispensable as women play an important role in community development. Cultural consideration is also important to ensure sustainable community development. Furthermore, community based approach is indispensable for consolidation of peace during transitional phase.
In the Declaration on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa, members of AU have recognized the importance to address social development, poverty reduction and employment creation in a coherent and integrated manner, and committed themselves to empowering the poor and the vulnerable, particularly in the rural communities and the urban informal economy, the unemployed and the under-employed.
Actions to be taken in the next 5 years under the TICAD Process
The TICAD process will focus support on:
Comprehensive "Glocal" (global and local) community development
Community based approach building on functional hubs
1. Comprehensive "Glocal" (global and local) community development
Support a comprehensive community-driven development approach and build on experiences such as the African Village Initiative (AVI) and the African Millennium Village (AMV).
Provide technical assistance, marketing skills and micro-finance for decent job creation, especially for young people, and income generation by collaborating with co-operatives.
Expand the OVOP project.
2. Community based approach building on functional hubs
Provide a comprehensive package of services at schools and community learning centers, including water supply and sanitation, school meals, first aid and referral service, literacy, and life-skill education, in addition to basic education.
Encourage involvement of local people in the school management ("School for All") in order to enhance their access to education and learning outcomes, and to strengthen linkages with local economy including through home grown feeding programmes.
Support water resource management by local co-operatives to generate income for education, health and agriculture initiatives.
Improve health centers as the core of support and provide training for health/medical workers.
Improve human settlements by establishing community development committees to improve housing, sanitation, water supply and drainage facilities.
Education
To achieve Education for All (EFA) and the MDGs, African countries need to develop holistic education sector plans and allocate sufficient national budgetary resources to implement them and develop related capacities. The TICAD process will support not only these efforts but also promote education and human resource development that leads to growth and sustainable socio-economic development. In doing so, efforts to achieve gender parity in education and synergy with other sectors including health, water and sanitation, need to be pursued.
"The Second Decade of Education for Africa" (2006-2015), adopted by the AU in November 2007, has identified gender and culture, educational management information systems, teacher development, education and training, tertiary education, technical and vocational education and training, curriculum, and teaching and learning materials, and quality management as priority areas for the sector. In this framework, African countries aim to develop functional national Educational Management Information Systems (EMIS), achieve full gender equality in primary and secondary education, and bridge the gender gap in participation in mathematics, science and technology at the tertiary level.
Actions to be taken in the next 5 years under the TICAD Process
The TICAD process in respect of the commitments and actions made by African countries, will focus on the African efforts as follows:
Basic education - expansion of access and quality
Post basic education and higher education/research
Multi-sectoral approach
Education management
1. Basic education - expansion of access to and quality
Support construction and rehabilitation of school buildings and related infrastructure.
Provide assistance to train and ratain primary and secondary school teachers and support the establishment and expansion of teacher training systems and organizations.
Promote capacity development of local education administration and community-based school management through "School for All" programme.
Promote knowledge/experience sharing within Africa and between Asia and Africa on such themes as culture and gender sensitive curricula, learning materials and training manuals.
2. Post basic education and higher education/research
Promote human resource development in support of productive sectors by expanding institutions for technical and vocational education and training.
Strengthen partnership among universities, colleges and research institutes through joint researches and the exchange of researchers and students to expand research and knowledge accumulation in science and technology.
Promote high-level inter-governmental dialogues to strengthen science and technology cooperation.
3. Multi-sectoral approach
Establish child-friendly school environment through comprehensive packages of assistance including safe water and sanitation facilities with separate toilets for boys and girls, school feeding, or food for schooling (take-home ration) and first aid and referral services.
Enhance life-skill education, including on prevention of HIV/AIDS and improvement of hygiene behaviors.
4. Education management
Support the efforts to better manage education including the collection and analysis of education-related information/data to understand and meet educational needs.
Health
Africa, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa, faces serious challenges such as the prevalence of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria and polio, and the high infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio. In addition, the emerging threats of climate change and global food crisis will pose new challenges to achievement of a range of health goals, from control of infectious disease to alleviating the burden of malnutrition. These challenges constitute a serious constraint to social and economic development, and a comprehensive and multi-sectoral approach involving, inter alia, safe water and sanitation, nutrition, basic education, gender equality is required.
It is against this background that the Meeting of AU Ministers of Health in April 2007 adopted the "Africa Health Strategy," to promote the strengthening of overall health systems in Africa. AU has laid out regional strategies on major diseases and health issues including "Abuja Declaration and Framework for Action for the Fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and Other Related Infectious Diseases," in which African countries targeted to allocate 15% of public budget to the health sector, "African Regional Nutrition Strategy," as well as "Maputo Plan of Action for the Operationalisation of the Continental Policy Framework for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights," and "Strategic Framework for Reaching the Millennium Development Goal on Child Survival in Africa", and efforts are being made accordingly.
Actions to be taken in the next 5 years under the TICAD Process
The TICAD process, in respect of the commitments and actions made by African countries,will engage in:
Strengthening of health systems
Improvement of maternal, new-born and child health
Measures against infectious diseases
1. Strengthening health systems
Promote training and retention of health workers to contribute to the joint effort achieving the WHO goal of at least 2.3 health workers per 1,000 people in Africa.
Improve the provision of health services, including through expansion of health infrastructure and facilities.
Promote establishment of monitoring and evaluation of health systems to enable policy decisions based on precise health information.
Encourage and recognize medical research and exemplary medical service practices combating infectious diseases in Africa through the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize.
2. Improvement of maternal, new-born and child health
Support interventions focusing on reducing under-five mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio.
Promote continuum of care for women and children across the span of pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, child birth and childhood via high impact intervention such as provision of immunizations and micro-nutrients for children.
Support the international efforts to achieve universal access to reproductive health services.
Contribute to the international efforts to raise the proportion of birth attended by skilled birth attendant in Africa to 75% in five years, as targeted by WHO.
3. Measures against infectious diseases
Support the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM).
Strengthen central government institutions for HIV/AIDS and prioritize prevention of new infections.
Support efforts to achieve the target of reducing by 50 % TB prevalence and mortality rates by 2015 relative to 1990 levels, including through prevention, testing, and treatment activities under Direct Observation Treatment, Short-course (DOTS).
Promote effective implementation of anti-malaria activities by combining preventive measures including distribution of long lasting insecticide-treated bed nets, and awareness raising and provision of nursing care.
Support comprehensive efforts to eradicate polio from Africa, through surveillance and vaccination campaigns.
Make efforts to control or eliminate Neglected Tropical Diseases through awareness raising, treatment and access to safe water and sanitation.
Recently Africa has made great progress in ending conflicts and promoting rehabilitation, including efforts on building the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and promoting African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). This is an unparalleled opportunity for Africa to consolidate peace and strengthen good governance. Conflicts are indeed significant impediment to human security and development.
Consolidation of peace encompasses different phases and a variety of actions, including preventing conflicts, mediating between parties and negotiating peace agreements, restoring and maintaining security and public order, providing humanitarian assistance, supporting rehabilitation, promoting social and economic development, and improving democratic governance. These processes require seamless and continuous support to make them irreversible.
Conflicts easily spread in Africa where many countries share borders, and therefore, regional aspects should be taken into consideration in consolidating peace. Efforts in conflict prevention as well as risk management to minimize damages upon the outbreak of conflicts are also indispensable. Community-based and participatory approaches with an emphasis on enhancing capacities of local population help promote the ownership of African countries. The most vulnerable groups in society such as women, children, the elderly, and the persons with disabilities also need particular protection and support. At the same time, importance of strengthening coordination as well as sharing information and good practices among internal and external actors engaging in peacebuilding activities should be emphasized.
Actions to be taken in the next 5 years under the TICAD Process
The TICAD process will specifically focus on:
Conflict prevention
Humanitarian and reconstruction assistance
Restoration and maintenance of security
Promotion of good governance
1. Conflict prevention
Contribute to developing the effective operation of Africa's early warning systems including the planned Continental Early Warning System under the APSA.
2. Humanitarian and reconstruction assistance
Support early recovery and quick-impact interventions, including assistance to basic social infrastructure and services and to the return and reintegration of refugees and internally displaced persons.
Support livelihoods through vocational training, job creation, and start-up assistance to small business and agriculture.
Assist efforts to protect the most vulnerable groups in society, in particular, through improved access to education to reintegrate in society children and adolescents affected by armed conflict.
Support efforts on disarmament of armed groups, de-mining, destruction of unexploded ordnance, stockpile management and collection of small arms which will contribute to both the restoration of safety, security and good governance and humanitarian and reconstruction efforts.
Further promote mine action including mine risk education, victim assistance and de-mining projects in collaboration with NGOs and the private sector.
Encourage private sector contribution in peacebuilding efforts.
3. Restoration and maintenance of security
Enhance capacity of military, police, and civilians in African countries engaging in peacekeeping operations and peacebuilding.
Strengthen PKO centers in Africa and encourage exchange of experience between Asia and Africa.
Support the African Stand-by Force under the APSA.
Assist efforts in strengthening cross-border control and regional cooperation to regulate the flow of small arms, smuggling and human trafficking.
4. Promotion of good governance
Support the implementation of the Programs of Action of the APRM Country Review Report.
Provide assistance to build capacity in legal systems, financial control and the public service.
Strengthen economic governance through the NEPAD-OECD Africa Investment Initiative.
Addressing climate change is an urgent challenge for Africa, given its vulnerability to adverse impacts such as more frequent and intense droughts and floods. In order to realize a "global sustainable society", it is necessary for all countries, including those in Africa, to collaborate and develop an effective framework beyond 2012 on climate change, and take action toward the goal of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
The TICAD process will promote policy dialogue in the field of climate change, support developing of an effective framework, and strengthen assistance to African countries that make efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve economic growth in a compatible manner, in the areas of policy planning, mitigation, access to clean energy, and adaptation to climate change. With regard to adaptation, the TICAD process will promote effective management of water resources, as well as efforts in related areas such as health, agriculture and food security.
In this context, it is important to promote a participatory approach involving a wide range of stakeholders including central governments, international organizations, local governments and communities, private sector and civil society organizations. Furthermore, coordinated efforts are required under various initiatives including Japan's "Cool Earth Partnership" with Africa. In Africa, efforts are underway at the national level as well as within international and regional frameworks developed by the United Nations, AU/NEPAD and RECs.
Actions to be taken in the next 5 years under the TICAD Process
The TICAD process will strengthen efforts, in the following areas:
Mitigation
Adaptation
Water and Sanitation
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
1. Mitigation
(1) Promotion of mitigation measures
Support active participation by African countries in developing an effective framework beyond 2012 on climate change, in which all countries take actions and work together, based on the Bali Action Plan.
Promote the formulation of projects and awareness-raising campaigns for further implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and support the institutional and capacity development of Designated National Agencies in each country.
Support the development of and access to basic information on forest resources and land use to encourage sustainable forest management and promote conservation and reforestation projects in response to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD).
(2) Promotion of the use of clean energy and improvement of energy access
Support the formulation of policies and plans to expand usage of renewable energy, and assist renewable energy programmes including facilitating transfer of management and maintenance technology.
Support the development and management of electricity power grid to promote improved access to and efficient use of electricity, and promote better access of the poor to affordable and efficient energy through comprehensive rural development programmes.
2. Adaptation
Promote technical assistance such as establishing and updating the Global Map data for the entire Africa, describing the status of its environment in five years.
(1) Measures against natural disasters
Support the formulation of natural disaster prevention and emergency activity plans based on the assessment of risk and vulnerability of each region to disasters including droughts and floods.
Assist efforts to establish early warning systems and strengthen capacity at the community level to cope with natural disasters.
(2) Measures to combat desertification
Assist the development and dissemination of new and existing technologies for utilization of water resources, soil conservation and reforestation including utilization of drought-resistant plants.
Assist efforts to raise awareness to combat desertification at the community level and introduce appropriate measures to reduce overgrazing, over-cultivation and deforestation.
3. Water and Sanitation
(1) Effective water resources management
Assist formulation of water cycle management plans based on the assessment of potential water resources and specific local conditions and the improvement of administrative capacity to implement these plans.
Promote the transfer of technology and expertise on water resources management with due consideration to the specific situation of each region.
(2) Access to safe water and sanitation facilities
Promote the development of water and sanitation facilities with affordable technologies.
Support capacity building of managers and users of water and sanitation system and promote awareness raising campaigns to improve hygiene practices including hand washing.
4. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
Promote ESD through integration of ESD into policies and practices to realize a more sustainable society.
The TICAD process has consistently embraced the concept of "Ownership" and "Partnership" and the scope of the "Partnership" with Africa has expanded steadily.
Asia-Africa cooperation is one of the key elements of the TICAD process that progresses through mutual learning and sharing of best practices and technology between the two regions. African countries are in the process of integration, making strides towards the deepening of an intra-African partnership within the framework of the Abuja Treaty. They have also made significant achievements as embodied in the action plan of the NEPAD, while the AU has made its own strides in collaboration with RECs as major pillars of continental integration. Broad-based partnership and a participatory approach involving private companies, NGOs and academia is crucial, and African countries are making efforts to engage as many actors as possible in the process of development. Better coordination among these partners under the African ownership is also of vital importance for these efforts to lead to maximum outcome and impacts on the ground.
Actions to be taken in the next 5 years under the TICAD Process
The TICAD process will strengthen efforts to:
Promote South-South Cooperation, in particular Asia-Africa Cooperation
Deepen Regional Integration
Broaden Partnership
1. Promote South-South Cooperation, in particular Asia-Africa Cooperation
Transfer efficiently skill and technique, share knowledge and experience, and promote joint research within Africa and between Asia and Africa.
Promote the exchange of people, trade and investment and services to strengthen the ties between Asia and Africa.
Encourage the full use of existing institutions mandated in the field of South-South cooperation, such as the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) and National Productivity Organizations in both Asia and Africa.
2. Deepen Regional Integration
Encourage triangular cooperation, both in the context of intra-Africa and Asia-Africa cooperation, recognizing the important role of the AU/NEPAD and RECs.
3. Broaden Partnership
Promote PPP, in recognition of the important role of private sector in the African development.
Enhance coordination with the civil society and encourage cooperation with the academia.
