KOICA Opens Development Cooperation Curriculum Online... Strengthening ODA Education

Offline Training Courses... Fully Free Release via YouTube and Homepage

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] KOICA announced on the 27th that it has opened the ‘Understanding KOICA Projects’ course online, which was originally planned to be conducted offline, to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection while enhancing public awareness of development cooperation and addressing knowledge gaps.

Due to recent restrictions on public participation in development cooperation-related events caused by the impact of COVID-19, and the difficulty companies face in obtaining practical information to participate in KOICA project programs, KOICA made the course freely available on the KOICA ODA Education Center website and YouTube from the 21st, allowing anyone to easily take it.

As a central hub for domestic development cooperation, KOICA has provided various educational programs annually through the ODA Education Center targeting citizens interested in development cooperation, companies wishing to participate in projects, students and job seekers aspiring to careers in development cooperation, and current professionals.

This course consists of six instructors, including KOICA staff and external experts with direct experience in implementing or managing international development cooperation projects, offering approximately 12 hours of lectures covering ▲Understanding Projects ▲Project Planning ▲Project Procurement ▲Project Execution ▲Project Operation and Management ▲Project Case Studies.

In response to the spread of COVID-19, KOICA plans to enhance accessibility to development cooperation education during the pandemic by developing various online courses starting with this program, including ▲Advanced courses on key international development cooperation sectors (education, health, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, governance) ▲International development cooperation and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ▲PDM writing practice (concept and application of PDM).

Meanwhile, KOICA currently has 50% of its headquarters staff working from home or at smart work centers, participating in social distancing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. KOICA also plans to improve remote work capabilities during national disasters and crises by establishing a digital transformation strategy that integrates Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and digital transition to enhance non-face-to-face work efficiency.

Song Woong-yeop, Director of KOICA’s Global Partnership Division, stated, “We aim to turn the crisis into an opportunity during the COVID-19 situation by focusing more on developing untact lectures,” adding, “We will provide diverse and rich courses online to offer high-quality development cooperation information to the public and respond proactively to COVID-19.”