In Japan, the policy evaluation has the two origins.First, Mie Prefecture and other ‘aggressive’ local governments have introduced performance measurement-type evaluation and public works projects review. Second, in the Central Government (for example former Ministry of International Trade and Industry), there needed the so-called ‘policy review system’, and it became the other type of policy evaluation by 1998. As a result, there are two types of policy evaluation in Japan. Many students and practitioners, or sometimes citizens, wonder which is the true style of the policy evaluation, how to make self-evaluation and internal evaluation objective, and which is better to evaluate policy in terms of qualitative analysis (equity and equality) or quantitative analysis (efficiency and effectiveness). The Japanese-style policy evaluation is still in the process of formulating necessary and appropriate methods, and the author would like to suggest four issues which would stimulate the methodological elaboration.

View full abstract

The Government Policy Evaluation Act (GPEA) came into force from April 1st, 2002. Based on the GPEA, each administrative organization must implement ex post evaluations of all policies. During the years 2000 - 2001, the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry (METI) implemented and finished ex ante evaluations of all programs administrated by METI before the enforcement of the GPEA. Ex ante evaluations in METI are preparations for ex post evaluations which METI is now trying to implement. Ex ante evaluations by METI since 2000 are elaborated in line with the items of the evaluation report form.

View full abstract

The Development Bank of Japan (hereinafter “DBJ”) has carried out bank-wide operations evaluations on a trial basis since FY 2000. DBJ is legally required to proactively adopt a “management cycle” framework for its operations - one which involves planning (Medium-Term Policy Principles established by the Competent Cabinet Minister), doing (implementation of investments and loans), and seeing (evaluation by the Management Council).
For evaluations of individual projects, DBJ assesses the effects of each investment or loan. In FY 2001, staff compiled and analyzed the evaluations that had been performed prior to all 1, 052 investments and loans transacted in FY 2000 at implementation stage. Staff confirmed the progress of one project, valued at 12 trillion yen, which employed 310 thousand people and brought in 24 trillion yen in annual sales. They examined policy-based financing, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in terms of its effectiveness in furthering government policy and its role in supplementing and encouraging the financing functions of commercial banks.
Program evaluations involve the assessment of loan programs themselves. In FY 2001, staff evaluated all loan programs from the standpoint of effectiveness, also determining whether there was a need for support in the form of policy-based financing. These evaluations formed the basis for the elimination or amendment of certain programs in the DBJ's budgetary request for FY 2002.

View full abstract

Iwate Prefectural Government (IPG) has introduced the policy evaluation system in April 2001.Reviewing the system, thi spaper analyses its three features.First, the IPG evaluation system involves the prograrn evaluation, project analysis (ex-anteevaluation), project evaluation (ex-post evaluation), performance measurement, and public works review.Second, IPG evaluation system has both the internal evaluation (self-evaluation) and extemal evaluation (‘the evaluation committee’).Third, the budgetary process uses evaluation results.In the latter half of this paper, we review IPG's ‘evaluation committee’ from inter-organizational theory, especially its “resource dependence perspectlve”. After thls revlew, we can find the real status of the committee, and can advocate lt sproper status.

View full abstract

The Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship (AOTS) has, since its establishment in 1959, been sponsoring technological training programs for the peoples of developing countries. To create more impact and achieve more efficiency, AOTS set up the AOTS Training Program Evaluation System Committee in 1999 and reviewed its way of doing business. In 2002, AOTS completed the development of a new evaluation system.
This system aims to evaluate AOTS's training programs, its business as a whole, as well as the degree of achieving AOTS's mission, using 6 evaluation measurements and 20 indicators, and the concept of evaluation levels: micro, meso, and macro. The system is mainly composed of an AOTS's targets-means matrix, evaluation guidelines, conceptual diagrams, and various questionnaires.
AOTS is now determined to organizationally engage itself in improving the quality of its own business with feedback from this new evaluation system, as well as in fulfilling its own accountability by opening the evaluation results to the public.

View full abstract

The goal of the Japanese Government's Foreign Student Support Policy can be divided into two: 1) to contribute to the human resources development in recipient countries, and 2) to deepen mutual understanding and friendship with those countries by fostering pro-Japan people. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate its impact toward Indonesia from the second perspective.
Total of 6, 630 Indonesians studied in Japan: Japanese government sponsored students (36.0%), Indonesian Government sponsored students (28.5%), and private or no scholarship students (31.9%). Among government scholarship recipients, those who were dispatched before 1965 took important posts in the government or private sector in the period just after the independence; those who were dispatched after 1966 mostly became academic staffs of university or government officers.
In the questionnaire survey, Japanese alumni showed more affection to the Japanese than non study abroad group and than USA alumni to the American. Their Japanese ability showed strong correlation with their satisfaction with study environment and participation in friendship promotion activities.
It can be concluded that the Japanese government's foreign student support policy was successful in Indonesia in fostering pro-Japan people who further strengthened the tie and understanding between the two countries.

View full abstract

In recent years, complaints to and damages by wildlives increase rapidly and have become one of the social problems as wildlife issues. In this research, initial evaluation of model plans for such a wildlife issue of the Great Cormorant arising in Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture was performed. The level of importance of the attributes such as “damage to fisheries”, “damage to forests”, “population size of the Great Cormorant” and “tax burden” of measures on the wildlife issue of the Great Cormorant was computed respectively by conjoint analysis. Furthermore the model plans were evaluated using them.
As a result of analysis by the Internet, importance was attached to “population size of the Great Cormorant”, and “tax burden” to the same extent. But it was also specified that this recognition is the mixture of some different recognition of preferences. Then, it examined what plan is supported in the case where such recognition is different. By using numerical results on their recognition of the wildlife issue of the Great Cormorant, the model plans were evaluated by the approval rating simulation of plans. Although the approval rating of the plans brought an influenced result by changing of “population size of the Great Cormorant” or “tax burden”, it was estimated that the approval rating of less drastic model plans was always high. The difficulty of problem solution is shown in the stage of model plans, and the further difficulty in case the beneficiaries involve is pointed out.

View full abstract

In recent years the importance of project evaluations has been growing in the international development cooperation field, while the effectiveness and efficiency of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) is in question. This article is a practice of metaevaluation-the evaluation of evaluation-which aims at improving the quality of the evaluations. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), one of the agencies that implement the ODA in Japan, published a guideline for evaluating its projects to strengthen the result-based management system employing the mean of the Project Cycle Management which expects evaluators to conduct their evaluations according to the Project Design Matrix. In this article, the author uses this guideline as a measure to metaevaluate two specific project evaluations of JICA to clarify their problems and to draw some lessons from them. The usefulness of metaevaluation made clear in this case study can help researches and practices over metaevaluation concepts advance in the evaluation field.

View full abstract

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) introduced “Cooperation Program”, one form of programmatic approaches, to implement more efficient and results-oriented cooperation activities from fiscal year 2002.
This paper discusses if JICA's Project Evaluation Methodology can be applicable to the Cooperation Program, using the case study “Thematic Evaluation on Population and Health Sectors in the Philippines under JICA/USAID Collaboration” as an example. The evaluation for the Cooperation Program consisted of three steps: 1) constructing a Program-approach Logic Model (PLM), 2) assessing the achievements, and 3) conducting an evaluation using Development Assistance Committee's (DAC) five criteria (relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability) for evaluation of development assistance.
This study concluded JICA's Project Evaluation Methodology could be applicable to the Cooperation Programs. Constructing a PLM and assessing the achievements alone was a useful tool for managing the program. Furthermore, evaluation that focuses on effectiveness, efficiency and relevance--three out of the five DAC criteria--was found to be useful for improving the program.

View full abstract