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School Management to Develop and Sustain Community-wide Collaboration for Educational Development
No full textJICA “School for All” project developed a package of interventions that strengthens the capacity of the School Management Committee (SMC) stepwise for educational development. SMC is the foundation for developing and sustaining community-wide collaboration, involving different local actors.
The package of interventions is an effective policy option for the governments of low- and lower-middle-income countries and their partners to address global issues in educational development, such as the learning crisis and out-of-school children.
The package of interventions should be extended to address various educational needs, such as preventing dropout of pupils, and the impact of the interventions should be verified for scaling-up.articl
SDG Localization A systematic review of key themes and research modalities
No full textThe Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), established by the United Nations in 2015, comprise 17 global objectives to address social, economic, and environmental challenges by 2030. SDG localization refers to the adaptation of these goals, targets, or indicators to local contexts. SDG localization is a growing area of study as countries adopt various approaches and levels of engagement. This literature review explores the underpinnings of SDG localization, focusing on research themes and modalities to guide future studies, identifying trends in SDG implementation efforts and research gaps, and suggesting areas for further exploration to assist policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders in developing effective SDG localization strategies. In this context, research modalities refer to the different methodological approaches - such as frameworks, tools, measurements, or indicators that are used by researchers to analyze SDG localization. In terms of research themes, we found that the integration of the SDGs into policy, planning and capacity building was the most commonly examined theme—in particular, its integration with national development policies. The second most prevalent theme was environmental and climate resilience, particularly its sub-theme of ecosystem services (ES). Regarding research modalities, we found that developing a framework for adapting SDGs attracted the strongest attention from researchers, but less attention was paid to measurements and indicators for the attainment of the SDGs. We recommend that policymakers integrate the SDGs into national policies, such as the environment—especially ES and climate change—to accelerate the process of adapting the SDGs to local contexts. We also suggest that the scientific community develop ways to measure SDG progress more effectively by focusing on developing robust indicators, which are the key to measuring the achievement of SDGs.articl
Human Security and Disaster in Rural Japan: Reflections from the 2020 Kyushu Floods
Full text linkThe paper reflects on the challenges faced by rural communities in Japan from the combined perspectives of demographic shift and the impact of disasters, and their implications for community survival and resilience amidst such compounded insecurities. By presenting the interplay of human security, disasters, and rural living, the paper highlights the unique vulnerabilities and insecurities experienced by rural communities. Drawing on the human security approach, the paper reflects on the implications of protecting and empowering rural populations in the face of compounded crises. The authors examine the collective challenges faced by rural villages and the urgent need to ensure the well-being of the disaster-affected residents of Kuma-mura based on a case study of the 2020 Kyushu floods. The paper confirms the universality of human security, the importance of developing strategies that consider rural areas' sociocultural and demographic context, and the need for a comprehensive approach to addressing complex and interconnected challenges those areas face.departmental bulletin pape
Development of an International Labor Migration Simulation Game: Toward Fostering an Inclusive Work Environment
No full textThis study developed and evaluated an educational board game simulating the pre-departure process of international labor migration, designed to foster inclusive team cultures in Japanese organizations. Through semi-structured interviews with 128 prospective Indonesian migrant workers and 30 stakeholders, we identified five major themes regarding challenges the pre-migration preparation phase, which subsequently informed the development of a simulation game that incorporates empirically documented risks and opportunities across the nine essential preparation steps. The game was trialed with 11 members of multicultural teams in Japanese organizations. The evaluation results demonstrated the game’s effectiveness in promoting enhanced recognition of multi-level risks, emotional responses that paralleled real-world risk events, and a deeper understanding of migration dynamics. However, learning outcomes varied based on the participants’ prior knowledge, suggesting the need for calibrated complexity levels. The study concludes that simulation-based learning can effectively facilitate the understanding of migration experiences and promote inclusive organizational environments while highlighting areas for future development, including structured debriefing protocols and long-term impact assessment.本研究は、日本の組織におけるインクルーシブなチーム文化の醸成を目的として、国際労働移民の出発前プロセスをシミュレーションする教育用ボードゲームの開発と評価を行った。インドネシア人の移民労働希望者128名とステークホルダー30名への半構造化インタビューを通じて、移民準備段階における5つの主要な課題テーマを特定した。これらの知見に基づき、9つの必須準備ステップにおける実証的に確認されたリスクと機会を組み込んだシミュレーションゲームを開発した。開発したゲームは日本の組織における多文化チームのメンバーを対象に試行された。評価結果によると、このゲームは参加者の多層的リスクの認識の向上、現実を反映した感情的反応の喚起、および移民ダイナミクスへの理解深化という3つの領域で効果を発揮したことが示された。しかし、学習成果は参加者の事前知識に基づいて異なり、複雑性レベルの調整の必要性が示唆された。本研究は、シミュレーションベースの学習が移民経験の理解促進とインクルーシブな組織環境の形成に効果的であると結論付けるとともに、構造化されたディブリーフィングプロトコルや長期的な影響評価を含む今後の発展領域を示した。departmental bulletin pape
The Impact of Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit on Road Congestion
Full text linkThe Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) is the first rail-based urban mass transit system in Bangladesh and was expected to reduce the severe traffic congestion in Dhaka. This study examines the impact of the introduction of Dhaka MRT Line 6 on road congestion. We employ a two-group event study evaluation design, comprising a multiple-period version of the difference-in-difference. Instead of using survey-based travel time data, we measure the speed of vehicles using super-frequent real-time travel data derived from Google Maps. The results from the quasi-experimental analyses show a substantially large impact of increasing vehicle speed along the treatment corridor that hosts the MRT Line 6 viaduct. Vehicle speeds responded immediately to the gradual expansions of the MRT operational hours and stations. However, our analysis also suggests that this additional traffic capacity may be gradually saturated by the induced travel demand along the corridor served by the MRT, providing an empirical case supporting the fundamental law of road congestion.Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit（MRT）６号線は、バングラデシュで初めての鉄道ベースの都市大量輸送システムであり、ダッカの深刻な交通渋滞を緩和することが期待されている。本稿は、ダッカMRTライン６の導入が交通渋滞を緩和する影響を、「差の差（Difference-in-difference）」の複数期間バージョンである「Two Group Event Studies Design」（Freedman et al., 2023）を使用して検証した。実地調査ベースでの移動時間データの代わりに、Googleマップから得られる超高頻度リアルタイムの二地点間移動データを使用して車両の速度に与える影響を推定した。準実験的分析の結果、MRT６号線が通る回廊やその周辺では、MRTの開通に伴い車両速度が有意に向上する影響が示された。車両速度は、MRTの運行時間および駅の段階的な拡張に即座に反応して増加している。一方で、時間の経過とともに速度上昇の効果は低減しており、MRTによって作り出された交通容量が新たに生み出された交通需要によって徐々に飽和している可能性を示唆している。これは「道路渋滞の基本法則」を裏付ける経験的なケースを提供している。departmental bulletin pape
Development and application of local SDG indicators: The case of local governments in Japan
No full textSince the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched in 2015, there has been growing attention on how countries and municipalities can localize the SDGs within their respective contexts. Accordingly, scholars have investigated theoretical frameworks to operationalize SDG localization. However, few studies have explored ways of developing and applying local SDG indicators within local government administrations. Therefore, this research aims to investigate how local governments can develop and apply a localized indicator framework by reviewing cases of local governments in Japan. Through a quantitative analysis of the indicators created by Japan’s local governments—as presented in the SDG Future City plans—as well as interviews with officers from local governments, the research identifies clear characteristics of local indicators. These include a tendency for local governments to disproportionately focus on specific SDG goals and targets, often using subjective measures and developing their own local indicators for specific goals and targets. The research suggests that these imbalances are due to the voluntary selection process by which local governments prioritize their own goals, targets, and indicators. In addition, a lack of appropriate indicators for some targets is another potential reason for the imbalance in the selected targets. Based on these findings, the research culminates in an agenda that central and local governments should consider when developing and applying local SDG indicators. This agenda is expected to serve as a reference for other countries.departmental bulletin pape
Legitimacy-driven organisations: How can we manage them for better results?
No full textSociological neo-institutionalism asserts that aid-recipient and development organisations need to demonstrate their legitimacy in their institutional environment to survive. Because this legitimacy-driven nature is hard to change, development cooperation practitioners would be wise to do their work based on this assertion.
Although aid recipients need to follow the guidelines and regulations of aid providers, complying with them may violate their own rules. Recipients may unavoidably adopt them merely ceremonially (or superficially) to balance them. In such cases, development cooperation practitioners should not uncritically blame their ceremonial (or superficial) actions.
Forms of practices are transferable. However, their meanings are not because they are influenced by the culture and norms of the recipient society. Development cooperation practitioners should accept the changing meanings of transferred practices.
Development cooperation practitioners should consider using a decoupling strategy to circumvent the adverse effects of their organisations’ legitimacy-driven behaviour. For example, they may decouple their activities from those prescribed in a logframe to produce better outcomes.
Foreign reginal offices of development cooperation agencies cover multiple host countries and are placed in conditions of ‘institutional multiplicity’. Development cooperation practitioners of these offices need to rely on qualified local representatives to demonstrate organisational legitimacy in these countries.articl
Studies on Japanese Aid for International Student Programs: A Review of the Literature and Implications for Future Research on the ABE Initiative and other JICA-Supported Scholarship Programs
Full text linkJICA’s international scholarship programs have invited future leaders from numerous low- and middle-income countries to come to Japan to acquire new knowledge and skills, empowering them to contribute more effectively to the development of their home countries. Among these programs, the ABE Initiative (the African Business Education Initiative for Youth) distinguishes itself by focusing on building and strengthening business networks between Japan and Africa and by providing internships at Japanese companies. As the first phase of a research project on the ABE Initiative, this literature review provides an overview of the academic literature on JICA scholarships and other human resource development programs with similar objectives, and presents four major research themes. The first is the ‘soft power’ of scholarships in promoting understanding and positive perceptions of Japanese society, finding that previous studies have had mixed evaluations of the soft power impacts of higher education in Japan. The second theme is ‘program quality’ in the Japanese higher education sector, which has a significant impact on the efficacy of JICA programs but has been discussed critically in the existing literature. On the other hand ‘network formation’ through international student programs has been discussed positively, particularly in relation to higher education institutions. Finally, there are differing evaluations in previous studies regarding the focus on the ‘uniqueness’ of Japanese concepts and philosophies in international student programs. This literature review has identified future areas for research via these four themes and their implications for JICA’s scholarship programs and the ABE Initiative.JICA留学生事業は、数多くの低・中所得国の将来のリーダー達が新たな知識・スキルを習得し、自国の発展により効果的に貢献することを可能にしてきた。JICA留学生事業の中で、「ABEイニシアティブ（アフリカの若者のための産業人材育成イニシアティブ：African Business Education Initiative for Youth）」は、日本とアフリカのビジネスのネットワーク構築・強化と日本企業の職場におけるインターンシップに重点を置いている点で他のJICAのプログラムと異なる。ABEイニシアティブに関する研究プロジェクトの第一段階として、本文献レビューは、JICA留学生事業に加え、同様の目的を有する人材育成プログラムに関する主要な先行研究に関し、その概要とともに、４つの主要な研究テーマを提示する。主要な研究テーマの一つに、日本社会についての理解や肯定的な見方を促す留学生事業の「ソフト・パワー」が挙げられるが、ソフト・パワーを意図した留学生事業について先行研究の評価は分かれている。第二に、JICA留学生事業のプログラムにとって重要な要素である「学位プログラムの質」が挙げられるが、先行研究では学位プログラムの質について批判的に論じられている。留学生事業を通じた「ネットワークの形成」については、特に高等教育機関の関連において肯定的に論じられている。他方で、留学生事業のプログラムに日本独自の概念や哲学を含めること（「プログラムの独自性」）については先行研究の評価が分かれている。本文献レビューは、JICA留学生事業のプログラムに関し、上記の４つの研究テーマにおいて、それぞれ今後の研究課題を明らかにした。articl
Synthesizing the Empirical Evidence on the Productivity of Public Capital in Japan: A Meta-Analysis
Full text linkOver the past few decades many attempts have been made to measure the output elasticity of public capital or infrastructure, with varying results. This paper focuses on the accumulation of empirical analyses in Japan that have been overlooked in previous meta-analyses and quantifies the impact of public capital on output in the country through a meta-analysis of 1,038 estimates from 44 studies. No significant evidence of publication bias was found. The output elasticity of infrastructure in Japan is positive at 0.146, and this value is strongly influenced by heterogeneity of infrastructure such as project entity, time frame, region, and sector. Projects undertaken solely by local governments or in non-metropolitan areas have relatively higher elasticities, but their value declines over time. Social infrastructure such as housing, sanitation, and education have relatively low elasticities compared to other sectors. These results add new insights to the debate on the productivity of public capital and provide a benchmark as the first meta-analysis of infrastructure output elasticities in Japan.公共資本／インフラの生産弾力性を測定する試みは過去数十年にわたり数多くなされてきたが、その結果は多様である。本稿では、過去のメタ分析で見過ごされてきた日本における実証分析の蓄積に焦点を当て、44の先行研究による1,038の推定値のメタ分析を通じ、日本における公共資本の生産への影響を定量化した。その結果、出版バイアスの有意な証拠は確認されなかった。日本におけるインフラの生産弾力性は0.146と正であり、この値は事業主体、時期、地域、分野などの対象インフラの異質性に強く影響されている。地方自治体が単独で行うプロジェクトや大都市圏以外のプロジェクトは相対的に弾力性が高いが、その値は時間の経過とともに低下する。住宅、衛生、教育などの社会インフラは、他分野と比べ相対的に弾力性が低い。これらの結果は、公共資本の生産性に関する議論に新たな示唆を与えるとともに、日本におけるインフラの生産弾力性の最初のメタ分析としてベンチマークを提供するものである。departmental bulletin pape
Measuring Interregional Fund Flows in a Dollarized Economy: Evidence from Branch-level Data of Deposits and Loans in Cambodia
Full text linkPartial dollarization is a prevailing phenomenon in the banking sectors of many developing countries. However, there is still a lack of evidence on how dollarization expands in a country through the banking sector, which is generally comprised of a complex network of multiple bank branches. This paper aims to empirically examine the interregional capital flows within the complex bank branch networks using branch-level deposit and loan data from Cambodia, a nation characterized by the coexistence of multiple currencies within its financial system. To quantify the interregional fund flow, we further develop an empirical approach originally proposed by Uesugi et al. (2022) to suit the specific contextual realities of the banking sector in developing countries. Using our modified approach, we describe the pattern of interregional fund flows by currencies in Cambodia, and examine the difference in the pattern of interregional fund flows between currencies. In, addition, we illustrate how the pattern has evolved from 2013 to 2017. The findings show that a significant proportion of lending in all the provincial regions was covered by excess funds collected through deposits in Phnom Penh and through wholesale funding and/or funding from parent companies; the trend is the same both for US dollars and Khmer Riel. However, while banks do not actively reallocate excess funds in Khmer Riel in comparison to US dollars, the number of deposits in Khmer Riel has increased over the years. Moreover, it is observed that the interregional fund flows between some provincial areas in Khmer Riel are opposite to those of US dollars. This means that there were regional differences in demand for loans and deposits between currencies. Overall, the study provides insights into the patterns and dynamics of interregional fund flows in Cambodia, emphasizing the importance of understanding currency-specific trends and the potential for promoting local currency and financial inclusion.多くの途上国の銀行セクターにおいて、部分的なドル化（Partial Dollarization）は一般的な現象として見られる。しかし、銀行セクターを通じてドル化がどのように国内に広がるのかに関する実証的なエビデンスは少ない。また、銀行セクターは通常、複数の銀行がもつ支店ネットワークが重なり複雑に構成されているため、銀行セクター内での資金移動を分析するには詳細なデータが必要となる。本論文では、複数の通貨が金融システム内で共存するカンボジアを対象に、銀行支店レベルの預金と融資データを用いて、銀行支店ネットワーク内での地域間資金移動を実証的に明らかにした。本論文では、地域間の資金移動を定量化するために、開発途上国の銀行セクターの実態に合わせ、植杉他（2023）によって提案された計量分析手法を発展させた。そして、その手法を用いて、カンボジアにおける通貨別の地域間資金移動のパターンを記述し、銀行を通じて資金がどのように流れているのか、さらに通貨別の資金移動のパターンが2013年から2017年にかけてどのように変化したか分析する。分析の結果、地方では融資の大きい割合が、プノンペンでの預金から集められた余剰資金や、ホールセール借入あるいは親会社からの資金で調達されていることが明らかになった。そして、この結果は米ドルとクメール・リエルの両方で見られた。ただし、クメール・リエルにおいては、預金額は年々増加しているにも関わらず、米ドルと比較して余剰資金の再配分が積極的に行われていないことが観察された。さらに、一部の地域間では、クメール・リエルの資金移動と米ドルの資金移動が逆向きであることも観察された。これは、通貨間の融資需要や預金需要に地域間での差異があることを意味する。これらの結果は、部分的なドル化経済においては通貨固有の資金移動のトレンドを分析する必要性、さらに現地通貨を促進するうえでは金融機関の余剰資金の再配分の効率性を改善していく必要性があることを示唆するものである。departmental bulletin pape