NGOs and Japan’s ODA: Critical Views and Advocacy

Critiques and advocacy in relation to Japanese official development assistance (ODA) arguably began with two networks in Asia, the Asian Cultural Forum on Development (ACFOD) and the Asian Regional Exchange of New Alternatives (ARENA). In 1975, ACFOD was formed with the help of progressive Christian organizations in Asia. This unique interfaith network on development was the result of collaboration between critical thinkers, social activists, and NGO workers, such as Ichiyo Muto, who was a founder of the Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC) and the People’s Plan Study Group (PPSG). Another group, ARENA, was formally founded in 1980 in Hong Kong with participants from nine Asian countries. This regional network of concerned intellectuals, activists, researchers, writers, and artists aims to contribute to a process of awakening toward meaningful and people-oriented social change. Both groups provided a very useful vehicle for ODA critics in the 1980s and the 1990s in terms of their understanding of the actual situation of Japan’s ODA projects on the ground in Asia.