JAPAN AS TOP DONOR - THE CHALLENGE OF IMPLEMENTING SOFTWARE AID POLICY

Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) is undergoing a major t ransformation in the post-Cold War era. As total aid supply has stagna ted in the 1990s, Japan has emerged as the new top ODA donor. Taking t he leadership in this area,Japan has recently joined the international community in shifting from provision of traditional ''hardware'' infr astructure and equipment, to ''software'' - human resource development and institutional building, emphasizing social issues like AIDS, wome n in development, population, and the environment. Although expressing strong policy support for software aid issues,Japan's present bureauc ratic complexity, human resource constraints,project monitoring and ev aluation, and generally closed policy process limit the ODA administra tion's ability to implement them. Our analysis suggests some changes w hich may benefit the present system: structural reform, including stre amlining the ODA bureaucracy and strengthening its software aid elemen ts, and opening ODA processes wider to participation by those outside the government, including fostering linkages with external organizatio ns.