So said Country Director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Mr Chang Jae-yun, during an exclusive interview to the Communist Party of Vietnam Online Newspaper, sharing achievements of the Agency in the nation in 2015, and some future plans for 2016.
Photo: KOICA Vietnam
KOICA's ODA projects aim to assist the socio-economic development of Vietnam, and thus are planned and designed according to the nation’s Social Economic Development Strategy (SEDS) and the Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP).
“Last year, KOICA has carried out 20 projects throughout the nation, with a total investment budgets ranging USD2-35 million, covering policy consultation, vocational training, public health, environment and green growth, science and technology, and rural/urban development sectors”, shared the Country Director.
In general, these projects consist of construction of buildings, provision of equipment (including installation and maintenance), consultation, and capacity building programs (on-site workshops and invited training to Korea).
Recently, in order to cope with the fast changing environment of economic and social sector of Vietnam, KOICA is more focusing on delivering of consultations and advises on policy making, law making, and master plan establishment in related fields.
In collaboration with the World Bank, KOICA has supported Vietnam to formulate the Vietnam Vision 2035 Report through sharing Korean development experience in the two topics: Sustainable development and innovation and technological reform, with exclusive study tours and dispatch of Korean experts. Another spotlight in policy consultation is the “Development experience exchange program (DEEP) for Vietnam’s vision” in new rural development and other governance issues, in partnership with the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.
Vocational training: Key to meet increased demand of the industries
According to Mr Chang Jae-yun (who has been working for KOICA for 25 years), among the projects carried out in 2015, the vocational training projects and other work related projects emphasized to meet the demand of the industries, such as Improving the Central Highlands vocational college for ethnic youths in Dak Lak province (2013-2016, valued USD5 million), Improving the Vietnam-Korea industrial technology vocational college in Nghe An province (2014-2016, worth USD6 million).
Photo: KOICA Vietnam
An MOU has been signed by KOICA, Korea’s LOTTE, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of Korea and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam for “Capacity building for inclusive development of Vietnam’s distribution industry”, aiming to create skilled labor force in the sector of logistics and distribution, serving Vietnam on the way toward the market economy.
With desire to pass on its 48 years of experience and know-how on technology innovation, the Government of Korea decided to support the nation to establish the Vietnam-Korea Institute of Science and Technology (V-KIST) (2014-2018, with a total capital of USD35 million), duplicating the prestigious KIST of Korea. The project is the largest among Korea’s ODA operations to developing countries around the world.
Besides, KOICA also backs the Government of Vietnam in the public administration sector, through key projects such as technical assistance for establishment of the multi-purpose land information system model for Vietnam (2013-2015, valued USD3.5 million), strengthening the capacity of the Judicial Academy (2013-2015, worth USD9.5 million); establishing the E-library at the People's Police Academy of Vietnam (2014-2017, USD2.3 million).
As of January 2016, the new projects on environment and sustainability are undergoing the detailed negotiations between KOICA and responsible ministries in Vietnam. By standing side by side with the Vietnamese Government, KOICA will continue its utmost effort to meet the demand of the government of Vietnam to achieve the sustainable socio-economic development of the country.
More 25 projects of CSO Cooperation and Private sector engagement/USD5.62 million in 2016
Some of 20,800 people have benefited from 23 projects of civil social organization (CSO) cooperation and private sector engagement carried by KOICA in Vietnam last year, covering four sectors of vulnerable people - the elderly, children affected by HIV/AIDS, ethnic groups, poor children, the disabled, environment and health, self-reliance, and human resources, TVET, with the total investment of around USD5.23 million. In addition, there are three types of CSO Cooperation and Private sector engagement projects KOICA focuses on, which are under the Academy Partnership Program (APP), Business Partnership Program (BPP) and Civil Society Partnership Program (CPP).
Photo: KOICA Vietnam
This year, KOICA is expected to deploy 25 of these projects with a total investment of USD5.62 million, accounting for 18,730 beneficiaries. In which, five projects will be completed in the first quarter of 2016.
According to KOICA Vietnam leader, 57, in the line with the focus on Vision 2050 of Vietnam and Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) of KOICA, more projects for human resources with Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs will be implemented this year.
In particular, capacity building of poor youth with the training of skills on car maintenance and construction welding with Hyundai car and Hyundai engineering and construction will be actively implemented very soon. Apart from these, KOICA already planned to undertake the two projects for capacity building on climate change with the Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment, and on emission trading and for making the standards of emission trading.
“Numbers can speak”: 220 trainees, 10 country-specific fellowship programs
KOICA considers public officials as the key players of the socio-economic development of Vietnam. So, KOICA designed invited training programs for them in order to enhance their capacity in policy making in various field, by sharing the development experience in Korea, under the brand name of CIAT (capacity improvement & advancement for tomorrow) programs, thus equipping them new trend of development, including international development issues such as trade and market economy.
We have been carried out 10 country-specific fellowship programs, solely designed for the Vietnamese officials, through which about 220 trainees participated in 2015, such as capacity enhancement program for Vietnam’s high level strategic leaders, social insurance training for Vietnamese social security specialists, and capacity building of immigration service management.
Mr Chang Jae-yun mentioned that along with the country-specific programs, KOICA has also invited 79 trainees for 22 multi-country fellowship programs in which Vietnamese trainees can join the officials from other countries to learn and share about the experiences in various issues such as climate change, food safety, cyber crimes, Korean language and culture, intelligence property, ICT as well.
Also, KOICA offers master degree scholarship programs for Vietnamese officials. This is an international open competition in which participants come from corners of the world. In 2015, as many as nine Vietnamese candidates succeeded to undertake scholarships in prestigious universities in Korea, for the majors including ICT, women policy, economic and industry policy, and marine science.
People to people connection
In Southeast Asia, Vietnam has been a major partner of World Friends Korea (WFK) program. Run by KOICA, it is designed for Korean citizens who fulfill certain qualifications go abroad to live together with the residents of developing countries and work to improve their quality of life and strengthen their capabilities. It not only serves to enhance friendly relations between Korea and developing countries, but also cultivates Korean volunteers into global citizens with regional expertise.
Photo: KOICA Vietnam
Since 1994, KOICA has dispatched four WFK volunteers in the nation (two for Taekwondo and two for Korean language education) and gradually increases to an average of 50-70 ones yearly.
Based on the local and national needs of Vietnam and KOICA’s long term strategic development plan, the annual number of WFK volunteers has been adjusted. In 2015, KOICA successfully dispatched 57 WFK volunteers from various fields, including education, healthcare, public administration, agriculture, forestry and fishery, industry and energy, and environment.
With the aim to contribute and strengthen the capacities of Vietnamese recipient agencies and local citizens as well as to promote sustainable development, KOICA WFK volunteers have implemented many significant activities, which have been highly appreciated and valued by the local authorities, such as the training course for machinery manufacturing department in Quy Nhon vocational college (USD48,339); establishing the “Korea-Vietnam Cultural Education Center” in Nghe An province (USD40,757); project for the empowerment of traditional medicine at Quang Nam Central General Hospital (USD30,870); and project for agricultural road expansion and paving of Vinh Thinh commune and after-care facilities, Thanh Hoa province (USD49,500).
Photo: KOICA Vietnam
“In 2016, KOICA envisions to develop its program in remote and poor provinces in order to help achieve the Sustainable Developments Goals adopted by the UN in 2015 and fulfill Vietnam’s national targets to 2020. To this end, KOICA hopes to deploy WFK volunteers and experts in public health, education, women’s empowerment, community development, and tourism to the Northern, Central and Southern provinces, such as Son La, Lai Chau, Thai Nguyen, Quang Binh, Kien Giang, and An Giang” continued Mr Chang Jae-yun.
Apart from other international sponsors, this year, KOICA is expected to back Vietnam more to fostering socio-economic development, perfecting the Sustainable Developments Goals adopted by the UN, fulfilling Vietnam’s national targets to 2020, especially as the nation just successfully conducted the 12th National Party Congress./.