Non-Project Grant Aid (NPGA) was introduced by the Government of Japan in 1987 as part of its Official Development assistance (ODA) programme. It was a new form of programme aid that could quickly and effectively finance the supply of capital equipment to selected developing countries. It soon proved to be a success and the initial list of recipients has since expanded from just a handful of countries in sub Saharan Africa to a total of over 60 recipients worldwide.
Crown Agents has to date managed over 130 grants with a total value of ¥189 billion (approximately US$ 1.772 billion) covering purchases from hundreds of different companies world-wide. Crown Agents Japan Business Director, John Demeza, has been involved in the programme for nearly 20 years. Here he gives a personal view of his experiences.
'I must admit that when I first received the phone call asking me to go to Manila in March 1991 to start work on a new JPY3.50 Billion Non Pro, I had little idea of how the programme worked, or how it would shape my life over the next 20 years.
Over the years the programme has given me great memories and helped me build long term relationships with a number of Japanese ODA Officials, Recipient Government employees, and officers of companies and organisations who ultimately received goods under the grant funding.
The Manila programme was relatively straight forward. Large allocations were made to the National Power Corporation, National Steel Corporation and Department of Agriculture to purchase; fuel oil for powers stations, steel coils to make tins for the food processing industry and agricultural chemical and soybean meal to support agricultural production. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo was probably the most dramatic event during my year in the Philippines but the most memorable thing for me was to meet the same staff I had worked with in the Department of Agriculture in 1991 when they came to the UK for a tender opening and evaluation in 2009.
From Manila it was off to Dar es Salaam in 1993. This was my first exposure to a programme which was allocated to small and medium enterprises in what was a new young private sector in what had been, for many years a centralised economy. Here my lasting memory was receiving allocation letters form the Ministry of Finance with only the name of the company and a PO Box address. These were the days before the internet, when it was difficult to locate some of the companies and even once located we often had no idea of what the company did nor what it was likely to be purchasing.
The highlight of this time was a trip to the wheat farm in Hanang that had been recipients of combined harvesters under the programme. I will never forget flying across the Ngororogoro crater in a light aircraft. 1995 was another year and another continent. La Paz Bolivia at 3400 meters was my next Non Pro assignment. Here there was a subtle difference to the programme in that the government of Bolivia made the grant available to private sector companies through an auction "subasta" held by the Bank of Bolivia. The beauty and contrasting landscape from the Altiplano to Amazon basin made visiting end users a spectacular experience.
After a year in the Andes it was off to my longest Non pro posting to Sarajevo. The government of Japan awarded non pro to Bosnia only months after the signing of the Dayton Peace accord. The Japanese government was keen to allocate funds to both entities within the Bosnian Republic .This was the first time I had two very different programmes in the same country .
The Bosnian Federation allocated the grant in significant amounts to a small number of government state owned companies to help stimulate employment after prolonged periods of inactivity during the war. These included the huge steel mill at Zenica and the aluminium factory in Mostar and the state owned forest department. One of the later grants was given to the Ministry of Agriculture to purchase tractors and an everlasting memory was driving to Kalesia, near Tuzla, and seeing the farmers queuing along a small country road waiting to take delivery of their new Japanese aid funded tractors.
In contrast, The Republika Srpska allocated smaller amounts to a huge number of state owned companies who had similarly remained inactive for much of the war. The companies were located from Bosanski Dubica to Bileca and from Sipovo to Bijelina which gave me ample opportunity to see most of what is a most beautiful country. The factories supported varied as much as the geographic location. A pig farm, cooking oil factory, bicycle plant, battery factory, shoe factory and oil refinery were amongst the near 90 end users we worked for in Republika Srpska.
The Japanese Non pro Grant Aid money was also used on the successful first phase of the Joint Japan, UK and Canadian funded Power Project, which helped restore the power on the cross entity power lines Trebinje- Bihac and Ugelivik to Banja Luka.
The new Millennium saw me arrive, along with devastating floods, to Maputo in Mozambique. Here, as in Tanzania, the Government used the funds to help grow the new private SME sector.
Pakistan was awarded a number of Japanese Grants to support it during the period and aftermath of the Afghan invasion of 2001/2. Here the programme was used to purchase fuel oil which allowed the government to quickly collect the rupees that were required to support the budget during these difficult times. I worked very closely with Pakistan State OIL Company to effectively disburse the Grant funds and they kindly provided me with my own desk within their offices in Clifton, Karachi.'
If you are interested in learning more about any of these programmes, please contact me at john.demeza@crownagents.co.uk