TICAD7 - Civil society has a big role to play

• 

  Participants of TICAD7 Stakeholders Sensitization Meeting. (Photo: UNDP)

Voice of civil society is indispensable, as the civil society organizations know the real needs of people. Speaking during the TICAD7 Stakeholders Sensitization Meeting on 13 August 2019 at the World Bank Country Office Botswana, Ambassador of Japan, Mr. Kozo Takeda, reiterated that the aim of the TICAD process should not be just to achieve an economic growth but to realize a balanced growth that benefits vast majority of society in Africa.

TICAD - Tokyo International Conference on African Development - launched by Japan in 1993, is co-hosted by United Nations, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank and African Union Commission (AUC). Japan, together with TICAD co-organizers, holds TICAD7 in Yokohama, Japan, from August 28 to 30 this year.

Mr. Takeda described TICAD as an open forum attracting a lot of interests and attentions from various sectors that generates innovative discussion, bringing together a broad range of global expertise and efforts of the international community. He said civil society also has a big role in TICAD to make sure that it is in a right direction to achieve mutually beneficial collaboration for prospering Africa’s development.

“Over time, the focus of TICAD has shifted. At its foundation, TICAD was about how best we can assist Africa. Reflecting Africa’s huge potential and its dynamism, the current focus is on how we can strengthen public-private partnership in order to achieve economic growth,” he said.

Ambassador Takeda was happy to know that the representative of Civic Commission for Africa (C-CfA), Ms. Maungo Mooki, together with her colleagues, will participate in TICAD7 in Yokohama, representing the civil society of Botswana and the entire African continent to convey their messages.