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■■■ TCSF English Newsletter No. 4 ■■■
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　◆ 2006 August ◆

Viva! Africa: People’s Network across the Continents
Published by TICAD Civil Society Forum (TCSF)
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　http://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 toward Africa. We hope to strengthen our network
with you by sharing information.

━━━━━━━【Index】━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

■　1. Activities of TCSF Working Groups
- TCSF White Paper Working Group
- Partnership Seminar Working Group
- Alert Working Group
- Secretariat
■　2. Feature Stories
- Dr. Konare lecture in Tokyo
■　3. Topics of Japan-Africa Relations and Japan’s Aid Support

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【1】Activities of Working Groups
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■TCSF White Paper Working Group■
The White Paper Working Group is preparing the second TCSF White Paper
for completion by the end of the year and publication early next year.

On July 4th, the Group met with representatives from two Japanese NGOs
(Cara and Can Do) to share their experience and to discuss problems and
potential s of CSOs in the development of African countries. The meeting
had more than 20 participants from TCSF and JICA and students from Tokyo
Metropolitan Uni versity.

As for the NGO evaluation survey, we have contracted with NGOs in Mali,
Malawi and Ethiopia. Part of the evaluation survey will start soon in
Senegal.

On June 4th, we delivered a presentation to the national conference of
the Japan Evaluation Society about the first TCSF White Paper and the
evaluation carried our by TCSF and African NGOs on Japan's ODA. This
evaluation was the first such challenge in Japan, attracting the
interest of many participants. In the near future, we expect to
collaborate with the Japan Evaluation Society to improve our methodology
for evaluating ODA policy from the viewpoint of the beneficiaries.

■Partnership Seminar Working Group■
The Partnership Seminar Working Group of TCSF organizes seminars in Africa
with local NGOs. It seeks to build partnerships with African civil society
and to share information about Japanese foreign aid policy toward Africa.

We are planning to hold seminars in Malawi and Ethiopia at the end of Septem
ber. The Malawi seminar will be held on September 29th or October 6th under
the auspices of MEJN (the Malawi Economic Justice Network) and AAI (Action A
id International). We will have a TV meeting, which connects the seminar ven
ue at JICA’s (Japan International Cooperation Agency) Malawi office with To
kyo. The Ethiopia seminar will be held on October 3rd under the auspices of
CRDA (the Christian Relief & Development Association). A questionnaire on Ja
pan's ODA is being delivered to Malawian and Ethiopian NGOs at the moment. T
he questionnaire probes relations between African and Japanese NGOs and Japa
n's ODA program in Africa. The results of the questionnaire will be presente
d at the seminars.

■Alert Working Group■
The Alert Working Group has just published volume 5 of its quarterly magazin
e, Africa Alert News. It includes 4 articles: "Disorder over the Election in
the Democratic Republic of Congo," "Food Insecurity Update from Kenya," "As
sessment of the Debt Relief Initiative," and "Review of the Symposium ‘Can
Japanese ODA Save the World's Ppoor" We continue to deal with these
issues as well as new emergency situations.
(http://ticad-csf.net/eng/e-index.htm)

Please also visit our new English blog site "Africa Alert Blog," which is
updated frequently.
(http://blog.livedoor.jp/ticad_csf_english/)

■Secretariat■
The secretariat held several events as follows.

June 18th: The first general meeting since TCSF became an NPO corporate
body.

July 15th & 16th: Learning Africa Beginner’s course. About 80 participants
learned basic information about Africa and enjoyed an end-of-the-course part
y, "African Night."

July 18th: A symposium with the director of DFID Tanzania. Later we had an
informal meeting with him.

July 20th: Informal meeting with some African ambassadors to Japan aiming
to build a network with them.

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【2】Feature Stories
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■Dr. Konare lecture in Tokyo■

H. E. Dr. Alpha Oumar Konare, chairperson of the commission of the African
Union (AU) and former president of Mali, visited Japan to discuss the
creation of a medical-science award for Africa as well as the situation in
Sudan's troubled Darfur region from July 24th to 28th. During his stay,
Dr. Konare held meetings with Mr. Koizumi, the prime minister; Mr. Yoshiro
Mori, the first Japanese prime minister to visit sub-Saharan Africa; and
Mr. Katsutoshi Kaneda, vice minister of foreign affairs.

Dr. Konare lectured at United Nations University (UNU) in Tokyo on July
24th about "African Dynamism: Efforts toward Regional Cooperation and
Integration." He spoke to a capacity house on the need for a recommitted
investment in Africa that helps the continent develop beyond the simple
exportation of raw materials and suggested a "United States of Africa"
could help ensure the development of the smaller, weaker countries and the
continent as a whole.

Minoru Obayashi, the president of TCSF, and Kunio Takase, the director of
TCSF, attended and talked to the coordinator of the event. The coordinator
mentioned that he was very surprised with the large attendance despite
deciding to hold the conference only two weeks earlier and lacking
adequate publicity. He also said that if they had joined with TCSF, which
has a network of people interested in Africa in
Japan, there would have been even more participants. It shows that many
people in Japan are beginning to become interested in Africa.

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　【3】Topics of Japan-African Relations and Japan’s Aid Support
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July 25th
Prime Minister Koizumi officially announced the creation of the Hideyo
Noguchi Prize for Africa, recognizing outstanding achievement in the
fields of medical research and medical services in Africa
http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/africa/prize.html
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20060727b3.html

July 28th
Assistance extended for "Support of Safe Motherhood in Nuba Mountains"
Project in Sudan
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2006/7/0728.html

July 31th
Food Aid to African Countries through the World Food Programme extended
http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2006/7/0731-3.html

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◆TCSF operates an English mailing list for facilitating communication betw
een TCSF and African CSOs and among African CSOs. If your address is not on
the list and you wish to join, please contact TCSF.
news@ticad-csf.net
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