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TCSF English Newsletter No.1 2006. April

Viva! Africa: People’s network across continents

Published by TICAD Civil Society Forum (TCSF)
http://www.ticad-csf.net/eng/e-index.htm
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Dear colleagues,
Our English newsletter contains information about TCSF's activities and
Japanese aid support towards Africa. Through this, we hope to strengthen
our network with you by sharing information about our activities. Thank you.

___Index________________________________________________________________
About us (TCSF)
Activities of Working Groups
-Civil White Paper Working Group
-Partnership Seminar Working Group
-Alert Working Group
-TICAD Advocacy Working Group
Feature Story: Review of TICAD Conference on Consolidation of Peace
Topics of Japan-Africa Relation and Japanese Aid Support Forthcoming Events

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*About us (TCSF)

TCSF was established in 2003, after the TICAD (Tokyo International
Conference of African Development) III, by participants from both
African and Japanese civil society in order to further implement the
development process led by African people. The Forum focuses on
improving the Japanese policy towards Africa, and consolidates all
efforts of various partners within Japan, Africa and rest of the world
to bring about an actual change. The following are goals set by TCSF to
be achieved by 2008, the year of G8 Summit and TICAD IV.

- to build a functioning network of civil society groups of Africa, Asia, and Japan
- to make proposals specifically based on results of survey
analysis,to promote improvements of Japanese policies on African
affairs in order to reach grass roots level people in Africa and to
support their efforts.
- to make TICAD process meaningful, and reflect civil society’s voice to TICAD IV.

For further information, please refer to our website:
http://www.ticad-csf.net/eng/e-index.htm

We also have an English Blog for mutual communication. Please visit our
Blog site: http://blog.livedoor.jp/ticad_csf/

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*Activities of Working Groups

- TCSF White Paper Working Group

Published "Policies Towards Africa, TCSF White Paper 2005" on Japan's
policies towards Africa.

The "TCSF White Paper 2005 -Going Beyond Poverty and Inequality-" was
completed in collaboration with ENDA Graf in Senegal and ActionAid
International Kenya in December last year. Its inaugural party was held
at Meiji Gakuin University. Staffs of African embassies in Japan and
affiliates of international organizations were present and had
meaningful exchange of opinions. The Japanese version of the White
Paper was published in March 2006 and is now available in bookstores.
The English version will be ready soon and will be available on our
English website soon. The work operation for "TCSF White Paper 2006"
has already started in Japan. We would like to pursue further
participation of the African civil society in this activity for it is essential.

- Partnership Seminar Working Group

TCSF's partnership seminar aims to improve access be African Civil
Society Organization' (CSOs) to Japan's ODA Scheme.

The seminars introduce Japan's ODA schemes and how to access to its
funds by local NGOs in Africa. In 2005, the first seminar was held in
Mozambique, where staff from the Japanese embassy, JICA, and ten NGO
groups gathered and proactively exchanged their opinions. The seminar's
report is available in English on the TICAD website
(http://ticad-csf.net/eng/e-index.htm).

In 2006, the working group plans to hold seminars in Malawi and Ethiopia

- Alert Working Group

Publish "Africa Alert News," a quarterly magazine that informs people of
African issues, namely development projects and information on humanitarian aid.

This WG publishes newsletters focusing on news from the African civil
society. They have so far published three issues covering Durfur, food
shortage in Malawi, TICAD Conference on Peace Consolidation in Ethiopia.
Please refer to the following address for the first issue in English.
(http://ticad-csf.net/eng/e-index.htm). There is also the Alert Blog
(c.f. Blog site:http://blog.livedoor.jp/ticad_csf/) which conveys
information from African CSO’s on a regular basis. If you have
information to share, please send it to ticad-cso@yahoogroups.jp.

- TICAD Advocacy Working Group

Monitoring of the TICAD process lobbying.

The Follow Up WG recently contacted the members of the House of
Councilors' ODA Special Committee, on February 27th and 28th 2006 to
stress the importance of focusing on Africa. The working group will be
organizing a symposium with the OECD DAC chairman as a main guest, in
Tokyo on May 27th 2006.

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*Feature Story: Review of TICAD Conference on Consolidation of Peace

Two observers from TCSF attended the "TICAD Conference on Consolidation
of Peace in Africa," which was held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis
Ababa, on the 16th and 17th of February 2006. Its debriefing session by
TCSF was held in March 21st 2006 in Tokyo. Participants from a number
of NGO and Ministry of Foreign Affairs attended.

Our observers' reports:

This kind of international conference should focus more on prior
processes which lead to the conference. The conference must be the
culmination of relationships between stakeholders (governments,
international organizations, and civil societies) that would have been
built for a common purpose in the process. Although the conference in
Ethiopia was "big", we could not envision this important process. We
have confirmed, once again, the urgency and importance of "official
participation of civil society in the TICAD process", and the
importance of including African stakeholders (AU and NEPAD) as a part
of TICAD organizers.

You can find more detailed report on the conference on TCSF web site
(http://ticad-csf.net/).

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*Topics of Japan-Africa Relation and Japan's Aid Support

- Japanese New Initiative for Consolidation of Peace in Africa

Japanese Government announced its new commitment for Consolidation of
Peace in Africa at the Conference in Addis Ababa.
1) Japan will extend financial and technical assistance for
consolidation of peace in Africa, with particular emphasis on three
regions, namely Sudan, the Great Lakes Region, and West Africa.
2) Japan will play a comprehensive and active role in the activities of
the UN Peacebuilding Commission.
3) Japan bears approximately 20% of the total cost of UN peacekeeping
operations in Africa.

For more information about the Japan's support
http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/africa/ticad/peace/support.html

- Topics from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs

March 1. The Grant Assistance for Underprivileged Farmers in Uganda
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2006/2/0228-4.html

March 6. Opening Remarks by Japan's Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign
Affairs Yasuhisa Shiozaki at the TICAD Conference on Consolidation of Peace
http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/africa/ticad/peace/remark0602.html

March 20. Statement by H. E. Mr. Kenzo Oshima, Permanent Representative
of Japan, at the Public Meeting of the Security Council on the
Situation in Liberia
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/speech/un2006/un0603-3.html

March 28. Visit to Japan by the president of Cameroon
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/event/2006/3/0328.html

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*Forthcoming Events

- Prime Minister Koizumi Will Visit Africa

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Ethiopia, Ghana, and Sweden
from April 29th to May 5th 2006. Mr. Koizumi will be the second Prime
Minister of Japan to visit Sub-Saharan Africa. This visit is aimed to
strengthen the partnership with Africa.

Mr. Koizumi expressed his intention to "double Japan's assistance to
Africa in next 3 years" at the G8 Summit in July, last year.

- Symposium: "Can Japanese ODA save the world’s Poverty?" (in Tokyo)
On May 27, 2006, a symposium: "Can Japan’s ODA Save the World’s Poor?"

"Has Japan's ODA reform process incorporated international mainstream
views?" will be held in Tokyo. Japanese civil society members are going
to discuss the issues such as aid effectiveness and quality,
development legislation, MDGs and financial resources, with Mr.
Richaerd Manning, the Chairman of OECD/DAC, Senior officials from the
government of Japan, France, United Kingdom, Holland, and Germany.

- African Festa 2006 (in Tokyo)

"African Festa 2006" is scheduled on May 20th and 21st this year in
Tokyo. As one of TICAD II's follow-up projects, the Festa aims to
promote mutual understanding and interaction between Japan and Africa,
and to cultivate affinity for Africa. This is the sixth outdoor event
in the metropolitan area. There will be performance of African music
and dances, exhibition booths by African embassies and NGOs, African
food, lectures, workshops, and so on.

_______________________________________________________________________
＊TCSF operates an English mailing list for fasilitating communication
between TCSF and African CSOs and among African CSOs. If your address
is not on the list and wish to join, please contact TCSF
office@ticad-csf.net

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TICAD Civil Society (TCSF)
http://www.ticad-csf.net/eng/e-index.htm
office@ticad-csf.net
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