The Procedural Structure of Japan’s Development Administration

Abstract

A large number of organizations in Japan are related to planning and implementation of technical assistance and grant aid. It is impossible to cover all their different programs and procedural structures within this study. Thus the procedural analysis in this chapter will focus on projects combining grant aid (used for large scale equipment) and “project-type technical assistance” which comprises sending experts, receiving trainees, and supplying equipment on a small scale. The project-type technical assistance is the activity that is best comparable to the technical assistance of other international donors and represents the greatest proportion of the different forms of technical cooperation. While both grant aid and project-type technical assistance are administered by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),¹ there is an important difference. The budget for project-type technical assistance is completely entrusted to JICA, while grant aid is budgeted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). Therefore the management procedure for both forms of aid is different, and separate administrative structures are responsible for the planning of the two forms of aid.