Researchers

Researchers

OHNO, Izumi

OHNO, IzumiAs of Apr 2024

Professor Emeritus, Adjunct Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies / Senior Research Advisor, JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development

International development policy, Japanese development cooperation, industrial development cooperation, and business and development

Educational background

  • MPA (Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University)

Career

  • 1981-1988Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) -Mining & Industrial Planning Dept., Training Dept., Social Development Cooperation Dept.
  • 1988-1998The World Bank -Economist (Strategic Planning and Review Dept., SPRSP), Country Officer for Peru (Country Operation Dept. III, LAC) etc.
  • 1993-1995Research Institute for Development Assistance, Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan (OECF) -Economist & Deputy Director, Development Assistance Div.
  • 1995-1998The World Bank -Public Sector Management Specialist (Poverty Reduction & Economic Management Unit, LAC).
  • 1998-1999Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund of Japan (OECF) -Director, Environment & Social Development Div.
  • 1999-2001Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) -Director, Division for LAC.
  • 2002-2018 Professor -National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)
  • 2018-2020: Director, JICA Research Institute (current JICA Ogata Research Institute / Visiting Professor, GRIPS
  • 2020-2024: Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) ( - March 2024)
  • 2020-present: Senior Research Advisor, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Ogata Research Institute for Peace and Development (Oct. 2020-present)
  • 2024-present: Professor Emeritus, Adunct Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (April 2024- present)

Books and Chapters

  • Introducing Foreign Models for Development: Japanese Experience and Cooperation in the Age of New Technology (eds. with Kimiaki Jin, Kuniaki Amatsu and Junichi Mori), Springer, 2024.
  • Policy Learning for Industrial Development and the Role of Development Cooperation (eds. with Kuniaki Amatsu and Akio Hosono), JICA Ogata Sadako Research Institute for Peace and Development, February 2022.
  • Promoting Quality and Productivity Improvement/ Kaizen in Africa (eds. with Kimiaki Jin), JICA Ogata Research Institute , February, 2022.
  • Introduction to BOP Business: Addressing Global Challenges through Partnership, Ohno, Izumi, Hideyuki Sugawara and Shino Tsuchiya, Chuo-keizai Publishing Co., 2011
  • Diversity and Complementarity in Development Aid: East Asian Lessons for African Growth, GRIPS Development Forum, February 2008 (eds. with Kenichi Ohno and Masumi Owa).
  • Japan’s International Development Cooperation, International Development series Vol.4 (eds. with Goto, Kazumi and Toshio Watanabe), Nippon Hyoronsha, June 2005. (in Japanese)
  • The World Bank: Toward New Development Strategies?, NTT Publishing Co., October 2000. (in Japanese)
  • Japanese Views of Economic Development: Diverse Paths to the Market, Routledge, April 1998 (ed. with Kenichi Ohno).
  • IMF and the World Bank: Insiders Views on International Financial Institutions, Nippon Hyronsha, Oct. 2010 (in Japanese) (ed. with Kenichi Ohno)

Journal Articles and Papers

  • "Building Forward Better: What Does COVID-19 Mean for the Future of International Development?”, Ristumeikan Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, Vol. 40, March 2022, pp.1-21.
  • “New Partnership with the Private Sector in Japanese Development Cooperation” (with Sayoko Uesu), Ch. 7, in International Development Cooperation of Japan and South Korea: New Strategies for an Uncertain World, Palgrave and McMillan, 2022, pp.149-178.
  • “Dynamic Capacity Development: What Africa Can Learn from Industrial Policy Formulation in East Asia” (co-authored with Kenichi Ohno), Chapter 7, in Good Growth and Governance in Africa: Rethinking Development Strategies, edited by A. Norman, K. Botchewy, H. Stein, and J. Stiglitz, Oxford University Press, 2012, pp.221-245
  • “Ethiopia’s Experiment to Build Developmental States” (with Kenichi Ohno), State and Economic Development (eds. Keijiro Otsuka and Takashi Shiraishi), Chapter 3, Toyokeizai Shimposha, 2010, pp.61-89. (in Japanese)
  • Introducing KAIZEN in Africa, GRIPS Development Forum, October 2009 (with Kenichi Ohno, Sayoko Uesu, Ayako Ishiwata, Akio Hosono, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Takafumi Ueda)
  • “Japan’s ODA to Vietnam and New Growth Support to Africa: Projecting the East Asian Development Vision into the Global Aid Debate,” Chapter 3, Japanese Aid and the Construction of Global Development: Inescapable Solutions (eds. David Leheny and Kay Warren), Routledge, Contemporary Japan Series, 2010, pp.77-102.
  • “East Asian Perspectives of Development and Aid: Towards Japan’s Enhanced Contribution to Africa Growth Support,” Journal of International Development Studies, Vol.18, No.2, The Japan Society for International Development, November 2009, pp.129-142. (in Japanese)
  • “Ownership of What?: Beyond National Poverty Strategies and Aid Harmonization in the Case of Vietnam,” (with Kenichi Ohno), Chapter 3, Aid Relationships in Asia: Exploring Ownership in Japanese and Nordic Aid, eds. Alf Morten Jerve, Yasutami Shimomura, and Annette Skovsted Hansen, Palgrave Macmillan, December 2007, pp.41-62.
  • Managing the Development Process and Aid ?East Asian Experiences in Building Central Economic Agencies, (with Masumi Shimamura), GRIPS Development Forum, March 2007.
  • True Ownership and Policy Autonomy: Managing Donors and Owning Policies (ed.) GRIPS Development Forum, August 2005.
  • Good Donorship and the Choice of Aid Modalities ?Matching Aid with Country Needs and Ownership (with Yumiko Niiya), GRIPS Development Forum, December 2004.
  • Linking Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction ?Large-Scale Infrastructure in the Context of Vietnam’s CPRGS (with Yumiko Niiya), GRIPS Development Forum, November 2003.
  • “Diversifying PRSP ?The Vietnamese Model for Growth-Oriented Poverty Reduction,” October 2002, GRIPS Development Forum Policy Note. No.2, October 2002
  • “Beyond the East Asian Miracle: An Asian View,” UNDP Office of Development Studies, Discussion Paper Series 5, 1996.

Academic Association Affiliations

  • Japan Society for International Development (JASID)

Others

  • Major research projects (with external funding) include:
  • As Project leader:
  • ・Japanese Experiences of Industrial Development and Development Cooperation: Analysis of Translative Adaptation Processes, July 2019-ongoing (for the JICA Ogata Research Institute)
  • ・Strategic Network Building with ‘Pro-Japan’ Asian Monozukuri Human Resources, April 2016-March 2017 (for the Asia Pacific Institute of Research (APIR) )
  • ・Comparative Research on Overseas Business Expansion of Japanese SMEs, April 2014-March 2016 (for the Asia Pacific Institute of Research (APIR))
  • ・Action-oriented Research for Promoting Overseas Business of Japanese SMEs, April 2012-March 2014 (for the Asia Pacific Institute of Research (APIR))
  • ・International Comparison of Donor Support to Industrial Development in Africa (JSPS Kakenhi C), April 2010-March 2013.
  • ・Japanese Approach to Growth Support in Developing Countries: International Comparison and Case Studies (commissioned by the JICA Research Institute), April 2009-March 2010.
  • Participate as a member:
  • ・Study on Industrial Policy Dialogue in Ethiopia (JICA), 1st Phase: 2009-2011, 2nd Phase: 2012-2016, 3rd phase: 2017-2023. (leader Prof. Kenichi Ohno)
  • ・Pro-active Industrial Policy: Its Concept and Application (JSPS Kakenhi A), April 2010-March 2014 (leader Prof. Kenichi Ohno)
  • ・Global COE Program “The Transferability of East Asian Development Strategies and State Building” June 2008-March 2013 (leader Prof. Keijiro Otsuka)
  • ・21st COE Program “Asian Development Experience and Its Transferability” Sept. 2003-March 2003 (leader Prof. Kenichi Ohno)

Research Projects & Papers

  • OHNO, Izumi

    Building Co-Creative Partnerships with Asia –A New Development Cooperation Strategy for Japan–

    Discussion Papers

    Discussion Paper » Discussion Paper

     / DATE : 

    AUTHOR : 
    OHNO, Izumi

    ABSTRACT

    The landscape of international development has changed dramatically, with a rise of emerging economies, more diverse actors of development cooperation, and intensifying aid competition. Moreover, Japan itself stands at a major turning point. There is a new wave of ‘internationalization’ of Japanese manufacturing FDI involving SMEs, which necessitates building much deeper and co-creative partnerships with Asia. The latest revision of the 2003 ODA Charter and the formulation of the new Development Cooperation Charter by the Japanese government can be understood as an attempt to respond to such changes. This paper stresses the four principles of Japan’s contribution to international development in a new era—i.e., a quality and knowledge leader, a people-centered approach, a solution-provider, and network-based cooperation. It then proposes three sets of enhanced partnerships with Asia: (i) manufacturing (monozukuri) partnership, (ii) city development (toshizukuri) partnership, and (iii) knowledge (chiteki) partnership. Japan should create a global strategy that increases its soft power, making full use of the intellectual assets and expertise as well as the human networks accumulated in Japan and abroad, building on its sixty-year ODA cooperation. ‘Co-creative’ partnerships with Asia should be central to this global strategy.

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