Does Japan’s Foreign Aid in Africa Provide Diplomatic Benefits?

Matthew S. Winters, Kate Baldwin, J. Berkshire Miller

Politics, Asia

Japan needs to look at ways to better connect its programs to its national brand.

Earlier this fall, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made his third trip to Africa since assuming office in late 2012. Abe’s trip was centered around attendance at the sixth edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) – a longstanding Japan-led initiative aimed at promoting sustainable development in Africa through a mix of investment, loans and aid. TICAD has evolved over the years and now focuses on promoting the synergy of public-private partnerships and transitioning from aid to trade.

Indeed, Japan pours billions in overseas development assistance (ODA) into Africa aimed at providing sustainable development. Japan’s ODA to Africa has resulted in provision of critical infrastructure and essential services such as roads, water systems and schools.

But how does this assistance influence public perceptions of Japan within recipient countries in Africa?

During field work this past year, we surveyed 1,104 Ugandans living in eight different communities spread across seven different districts around the country. In each community, Japan had funded, within the last three years, the construction of a local infrastructure project under the auspices of its Grants for Grassroots Human Security Projects program (GGP) – an initiative run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Tokyo uses the GGP program around the world to provide grants in the range of US$100 thousand to local organizations to build schools, health clinics, water systems, and other forms of community-level infrastructure. Japan has implemented GGP grants in other African countries also – including Sudan, Liberia and Kenya. Local politicians that we interviewed in Uganda described these projects as highly relevant for development in their communities.

Each piece of infrastructure that is funded through GGP is labeled with a plaque that shows the Japanese flag and gives credit to Japan for having funded the project. The ambassador or another high-ranking Embassy of Japan official attends the commissioning ceremonies for the projects, during which the Japanese flag flies alongside the Ugandan flag. Both in Uganda and the other countries where the program works, these projects represent Japan’s public diplomacy at a very local level.