NGOs seek appropriate use of $5 bil. Afghan aid with focus on people

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TOKYO, Nov. 11 Kyodo -
A total of 52 nongovernmental organizations in Japan pressed the Japanese
government on Wednesday to appropriately spend its $5 billion new aid package
to help reconstruct Afghanistan, with a focus on improving the local people's
living standards.
The NGO alliance, which includes about 10 organizations engaged in projects in
Afghanistan, told a press conference that Japan's Afghan support policy will go
through ''a major turning point,'' as its refueling mission conducted by the
Maritime Self-Defense Force will end in January and the main pillar will be
civilian-based assistance.
In the package decided on by the government Tuesday, Tokyo will extend up to $5
billion over a five-year period from 2009 to support Afghan police training,
shoulder half the payroll for Afghan police officers, implement vocational
training for former soldiers and aid agriculture and rural developments.
The aid groups specifically said Japan's assistance should also be directed to
fund the salaries of Afghan teachers to help improve the literacy rate in the
country, community-based health support, water provision and efforts to
eliminate landmines.
Keiko Kiyama, secretary general of aid group JEN, said aid workers are
concerned that increased financial aid from Japan would lead to ''heightened
dependency'' by the Afghan people. Tokyo has contributed about $2 billion to
Afghan aid projects over the past six years.
''We should be careful about how we deliver aid, because the massive financial
assistance could lower the quality of our support,'' she said.
Masaki Inaba of Africa Japan Forum expected that the government will heed the
opinions of NGOs that have hands-on experience in supporting the Afghan people
and in setting specific aid strategy for the conflict-ravaged country.
The network of civic groups submitted their proposals to Foreign Minister
Katsuya Okada earlier this week.
==Kyodo