<With Teacher Issue PICK> In the era of global complex crisis, what is Korea’s role?
2024-11-23 05:11:05
ODA, which stands for Official Development Assistance, refers to various aid activities carried out by public institutions such as the government or public institutions for the development and poverty eradication of developing countries with public funds such as taxes.
Speaker Wook-Heon Lee is a living witness to the history of ODA and has worked on the front lines of ODA in places such as Iraq and Vietnam.
In an anarchic Iraq where it is difficult to even obtain a passport, the Korean training program for Iraqi civil servants, which was carried out by creating a simple passport with the help of a retired U.S. military colonel, received a positive response and was of great help to Iraq.
The speaker, who was active in the central region where the war was most intense during the Vietnam War, thought about a project that could soothe the wounds of the past among local residents, and invested $2 million from KOICA's budget to build 40 elementary schools in five provinces in central Vietnam.
established.
Recently, V-KIST was established in Vietnam, benchmarking the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, KIST, by investing $35 million, the largest amount in Korea's ODA grant history.
In particular, as the need to respond to climate change increases, fundamental measures are needed for residents experiencing food shortages and poverty in dry corridor regions such as Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras located on the Pacific coast of Central America.
Accordingly, from 2022 to the present, Korea has built approximately 3,700 m2 of horticultural infrastructure in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, and is dispatching experts from Korea to transfer technology and conduct joint research, as well as conducting local resident participation programs.
Lastly, the speaker said, “About 700 million people, accounting for 8.5% of the world’s population, live in absolute poverty, living on less than 3,000 won (USD 2.15) per day, and children die before they turn five every six seconds.
“It’s happening one by one,” he said, conveying the reality the world is currently experiencing.
