Distinguished speakers with profound knowledge on African development and Post 2015 Development Framework will join us in our endeavor to put forward policy recommendations for possible solutions to these challenges.

◆ Date: 2:00 pm-3:30pm, Sat 13th October, 2012
◆ Venue: Pacifico Yokohama Annex Hall Meeting Room B (F201)
　　　　　 　　(1-1-1, Minato-mirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama City)
◆ Access:
　　3-minute walk from Minato Mirai Station (Minato Mirai Line)
　　12-minute walk from Sakuragicho Station (JR or Subway): 12-minute walk,
　　7 minutes by bus or 5 minutes by taxi
　　http://www.pacifico.co.jp/english/facility/accessmap.html

◆ KEYNOTE SPEECH: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia
◆ SPEAKERS:
　　1) Takehiro Kagawa, Ambassador, Director-General for Global Issues, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
　　2) Representative from AU Commission (tbc)
　　3) Pedro Conceicao, Chief Economist and Head of the Strategies and Advisory Unit, Regional Bureau for Africa, UNDP
　　4) Representative from the World Bank (tbc)
　　5) Desire Assogbavi, Head of Office, Oxfam Liaison Office with the African Union
　　6) Masaaki Ohashi, Chairperson, Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC)

◆ Reservation:
　　Fill in the form below by Wed, May 29th
　　https://www.janic.org/aform018.php

◆ ORGANIZED BY:
　　Ugoku/Ugokasu (GCAP Japan)
　　Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC)
　　Oxfam Japan
　　Save the Children Japan
◆ CONTACT:
　　Yumiko Horie, Advocacy Manager, Save the Children Japan
　　03-6859-6867　horie@savechildren.or.jp

◆Seminar Concept:
While there has been significant contributions of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and TICAD processes to the growth and development of Africa in the past decades, there is also a growing trend of increasing gaps within countries, with the most marginalized and the poorest excluded from economic development, and in some cases even fallbacks of MDG indicators.

Along its 3 pillars of "Robust and Sustainable Economy", "Inclusive and Resilient Society", and "Peace and Security", the major theme of attention for TICAD V appears to be on the rapid economic growth in Africa, with the focus of discussions being on private sector investment and creating business-friendly environment for promotion of economic growth. However, the question is whether Africa can avoid making the same mistakes in economic growth experienced by other developing countries in the past, and attain genuine development that benefits the people of Africa. In particular, how can the risks of increasing gaps and social instability be avoided, with the great number of people being excluded from the economic development process by institutional, political, and social discrimination, and having to bear its burden? How can policies, by which inclusive growth can be realized with protection of human rights, and the benefit of economic development shared with the most vulnerable and the poorest population, be put in place? Can TICAD V and its outcome documents, Yokohama Declaration and Yokohama Plan of Action, provide answers to these questions?

Currently, active discussions are taking place on the Post 2015 Development Framework, and the UN Secretary General's report which will inform the succeeding intergovernmental discussions will be announced at the MDGs special event of the UN General Assembly in September 2013. With inclusive growth and inequality being major themes of the Post 2015 agenda, how can TICAD V make a contribution to this global debate?

Distinguished speakers with profound knowledge on African development and Post 2015 Development Framework will join us in our endeavor to put forward policy recommendations for possible solutions to these challenges.

Date: 2:00 pm-3:30pm, Sat 13th October, 2012
Venue: Tokyo International Forum,
　　　　　Room TFB2 - 251　→　D1
Language: Japanese and English
　　　　　 　　(simultaneous interpretation provided)
Planning:
Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation (JANIC), Ugoku/Ugokasu (GCAP Japan)
Contact:
Ugoku/Ugokasu:
Phone: 03-3834-6902　Fax：03-3834-6903　E-mail: office@ugokuugokasu.jp
JANIC:
Phone: 03-5292-2911　Fax: 03-5292-2912　E-mail: advocacy@janic.org
Sponsor: World Conference of Religions for Peace Japan Committee

The purpose of this seminar is to share and learn from the experiences of civil society and local communities that provide us some lessons in relation to the reduction of poverty and hunger (MDG1), and to attempt to give some real-life definition to the concept of "inclusive growth and employment", which is one of the new "buzz words" dominating the development discourse and one that could shape the Post-2015 agenda.

The World Bank recently stated that the MDG1 has been achieved at the global level, but in low income countries enormous population are left behind in extreme poverty and hunger. Even in middle income countries, wider economic disparity and unemployment plague their prospects for broad-based growth and social cohesion. It therefore seems right that "inclusive growth and employment" are climbing up the agenda ladder, but the term seems to be endorsed by many actors without concrete definitions established and shared.

This seminar will showcase existing civil society and local community experiences North and South that seem to offer practical insights into and policy implications for "inclusive growth and employment". The examples presented will include "NREGA", the Indian public system designed to secure employment in rural contexts, efforts of cooperative unions in East Asia, and activities for gender equality.

AGENDA
Opening Remarks: Mr. Masa'aki Ohashi, President, JANIC (Chair of the session)
Presentation 1: Inclusive growth as an agenda of Post-2015 development goals (Mr. Masaki Inaba, Ugoku/Ugokasu)
Presentation 2: National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and inclusive economy (Dr. Vinood Raina, India)
Presentation 3: The Role of cooperatives for poverty eradication (Mr. Shinji Yamamoto, Pal-System Co-op)
Presentation 4: Gender equality and inclusive economy (Ms. Asako Osaki, Gender Action Platform, Japan)
Presentation 5: Rural development and empowerment of women (Dr. Lao Kin Chi, Hong Kong)
Interactive dialogue session (Questions and answers)
Summary from the chair and Stand Up Take Action

Panelists

3 June 2011

On June 2 and 3, the Japanese Government and JICA, together with relevant international organizations, held a "Millennium Development Goals Follow Up Meeting" in Tokyo. This conference aimed to follow up on the agreements at the United Nations MDGs Summit of September 2010, and to reach broad-based agreements on measures needed to achieve the MDGs. We, the Japanese civil society organizations, welcome and applaud the Government of Japan for organizing this event as promised last year, despite the enormous challenges it is facing since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Since the announcement of this meeting, we have offered the organizers maximum cooperation and collaboration to ensure meaningful participation of civil society.

Today the MDGs are under threat: the precious progress of the last decade are beginning to reverse as a result of the food and oil price spikes, and governments, especially of rich countries, seem to be suffering an MDGs amnesia as they find it increasingly difficult to keep their aid promises since the economic crisis. Current political instability of The Middle East and North Africa and its related crises are also diverting their political attention away from this "greatest collective anti-poverty project in human history", as one of the civil society participants put it at the conference. It was in this context that Prime Minister Naoto Kan stated in his opening remarks that Japan would honor its commitments for the MDGs. The nation of Japan should be proud of its leader's political will to commit to the achievement of the MDGs despite the devastation of the 3/11 disasters.

However, the actual meeting left much to wish for. Where it should have focused on how to fill the huge gaps between the goals and the actual progress and overcome the bottlenecks, the sessions spent most of the time on sharing micro-scale "good practices", unilateral initiatives of Japan and other institutions. As a result, the meeting failed to identify respective actors' responsibilities on existing, unfulfilled, multilateral promises and how they could make a difference. Also, the conference completely avoided the most crucial question of financial resources that are prerequisite to carrying out those initiatives at any meaningful scale.

Japanese NGOs welcomed the attention the conference paid to the questions of equity in achieving the MDGs in the contexts of vulnerability, reflecting the concept of human security, the foundational philosophy of Japan's aid policies. However, due to lack of both the participation by those communities struggling to fight poverty and overcome vulnerabilities, and of insight into the concrete realities they face, the discussion never went beyond abstract sophism and lacked the "human face" of the MDGs. We believe this is attributable to the lack of opportunities given to civil society, especially the directly affected communities to engage and participate in any meaningful way.

In his opening remark, PM Kan emphasized his commitment to realize, through the efforts to achieve the MDGs, a society that is caring for the disadvantaged, and resilient enough to enable each and every individual to realize their potentials. To promote such a caring and resilient society around the world, Japan must more proactively contribute to the global efforts to achieve the MDGs, including through financial means. This means not further cutting but increasing ODA in the 2nd and 3rd supplementary budget as well as the budget for FY2012. We the civil society organizations of Japan will do our own part, through collaboration and cooperation, in order to achieve the MDGs "with a human face" and realize human security.