On 29th November 2006, the 71st Regular GII/IDI meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), with six representatives from MOFA and 17 from NGO members in attendance.

The GII members heard reports on several meetings organized by NGOs, including one on the development of new medical technologies such as microbicides in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and an update by JBIC on the Joint Initiative by Development Agencies for the Infrastructure Sectors to Mitigate the Spread of HIV/AIDS.

JBIC launched the initiative in August 2006 to promote HIV/AIDS interventions in the infrastructure sectors, with the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), African Development Bank (AfDB), UK Department for International Development (DFID), and KFW Entwicklungsbank (KfW development bank). In the initiative, the six development agencies proposed to coordinate their activities in order to mainstream HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs in infrastructure sectors, among others.

While positively evaluating the initiative, MOFA pointed out that JICA, as well as UNFPA and IPPF, which have expertise in combating HIV/AIDS globally, should have been included in the six development agencies since these organizations often share responsibility for HIV/AIDS interventions with community people after infrastructure projects have been completed.

HDI

NGO members proposed that good practices on GO/NGO partnership be compiled by NGOs to show how they can support components of the Health and Development Initiative (HDI), launched in 2005 to help achieve the three health-related goals of the MDGs. NGOs want to participate in effective implementation of the HDI as equal partners with government, and it is expected that from early 2007 a case study will be prepared to highlight NGOs comparative advantages.

Improving ODA

As part of its efforts in improving efficiency, MOFA announced that it was considering establishing a 'Health Task Force', under the Global Issues Cooperation Division, which is responsible for GII/IDI. The task force would help coordinate official development assistance (ODA) within MOFA, as well as JBIC and JICA. This 'cross-sectional' approach would help improve links between policy and implementation and improve the efficiency of ODA.

Progress on the above new developments will be provided later.