[AFRICA 8] Korea's development cooperation

DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

Korea development focuses on vulnerable people

Global poverty has been reduced dramatically over the past two decades. However, while the poverty rates have declined in all regions of the world, progress has been uneven. The work to end extreme poverty is still a long road to go and many of the remaining challenges of extreme poverty are increasingly concentrated in fragile states. To respond to this problem, many of the OECD member countries have contributed to development cooperation and we will look at more details on Korea.

At the 2017 UN General Assembly, Korea committed to supporting sustainable growth in developing countries with a specific aim of eradicating inequality. In this regard, Korea has two strategies related to leaving no one behind, the strategy on Assistance to fragile states and the Humanitarian Strategy. This targets the causes of fragility in marginalized fragile states where there is a lack of good governance, economic and social exclusion, low level of economic growth, and lack of employment of people and communities. It also includes supporting marginalized people such as refugees and people with disabilities focusing on social impacts and development effectiveness.

Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs implementation agency, KOICA, and the Economic Development Cooperation Fund each invest n fragile states on the basis of fragile criteria, taking differentiated and context-specific approaches. The guidelines on development cooperation that helps people with disabilities are also prepared. 

According to the OECD Development Co-operation Report 2018, Korea provided USD 2.2 billion in net ODA in 2017, which represented 0.14% of gross national income (GNI) and a 6.5% decrease from the previous year, due to lower levels of contributions to multilateral organizations. In 2016, 70% of ODA was provided bilaterally and 80% of bilateral ODA was programmed with partner organizations. Bilateral ODA was primarily focused on Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa (31% Asia, 24% in Sub-Saharan Africa). Moreover, 36.6% of bilateral ODA was allocated to the least developed countries and almost 42% of bilateral ODA was allocated to social infrastructure and services, with a strong focus on education, water, sanitation, transport, storage, and health. 

Through all these statistical results we have found from the report, we can take a fresh and critical look at the readiness and capacity of development cooperation and official development assistance to support developing countries and communities to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals for all. Providers need to make new deliberate, systematic and coordinated efforts to adapt their narrative, management practices, and financing to maximize individual and collective impact.