Fikremariam Tesfaye
17 November 2009
Addis Abeba — The Korea International Cooperation Agency (COICA) plans to increase the quality and quantity of its development assistance programs in Ethiopia.
KOICA has planned to expand its country assistance strategy (CAS) on the areas of primary education and Technical and Vocational Education Trainings (TVET), health, water, agriculture and rural development, as well as green growth or renewable energy, among others, said Chang, Woo-Chan, Deputy Representative of KOICA at the annual consultative meeting on KOICA Volunteers program for representative of host organizations held on Friday at Ghion Hotel here.
KOICA has also increased its budget from 3 million USD to 6 million for the years 2010-2012 CAS. In this year it provided 4.4 million USD for school construction, family planning and rural development.
In the past, development cooperation efforts were focused on meeting the Basic Human Needs of developing countries and on fostering their Human Resources Development (HRD). However, the focus has now shifted to promoting sustainable development, strengthening partnerships with developing partners, and enhancing the local ownership of beneficiaries. Additionally, global concerns such as the environment, poverty reduction, and gender mainstreaming, have gained significant importance in the international community, Chang added.
According to him, "Due to the continuously changing trends in development assistance efforts and practices, KOICA is striving to adapt to these changes by using its limited financial resources effectively in areas where Korea has a comparative advantage."
In particular, Korea has the unique experience of developing from one of the poorest countries in the world to one of the most economically advanced. "Know-how" gained from this experience is invaluable asset that helps KOICA to efficiently support the sustainable socio-economic development of its partner countries, he said.
KOICA is attached with the Korean Embassy and the first office in Africa was established in Addis Ababa in 1995. Over 34 Korean volunteers are in Ethiopia to share Korea's unique development experience and supporting different governmental offices, hospitals, higher institutions and others.
The Korea International Cooperation Agency was founded as a government agency on April 1, 1991, to maximize the effectiveness of Korea's grant aid programs for developing countries by implementing the government's grant aid and technical cooperation programs.
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