1. Overview
The Education sector is the core area necessary for achieving effective poverty reduction as it provides social opportunities and social safety nets. The Education sector provides the basis of sustainable development and is critical in ODA programs. Equal educational opportunities should be provided to all people in order to overcome the vicious circle of poverty and to ensure standards of living. Also, vocational training as a safety net is important to prevent people from falling into poverty due to sudden unemployment or retirement and lack of‘decent work’ for professional soldiers after discharge.
Education is one of the fundamental sectors of a developing country and it is a compulsory means to tapping an individual’s diverse potential for social and economic development. The education sector is related to three goals of the MDGs; improving employment for poverty reduction, achieving universal primary education, and enhancing gender equality and women’s empowerment. The world is trying to achieve detailed targets such as improving adult employment focusing on young adults and women, primary education enrollment, youth literacy, and increasing the ratio of women to men in primary, secondary and university level education.
To share Korea’s development experience of achieving rapid growth through developing human resource, KOICA supports the socioeconomic development of developing countries implementing projects to increase primary education enrollment and completion rates by the enlarging primary education opportunities, training technical professionals to improve national productivity, and nurturing high-skilled human resources to lead the country’s development.
2. Performance
The total expenditure of KOICA’s Education sector since 1991 has been 230 billion KRW (USD 245.4 million) which accounts for 16.78% of the entire ODA budget. Within the Education sector, KOICA has supported primary education with USD 63.97 million, vocational training with USD 124.64 million, and tertiary education with USD 15.93 million. Forty-seven primary education projects, 73 vocational training projects, and 21 tertiary education projects were carried out from 1991 to the present. This means a total of 141 projects in the Education system were implemented during the course of KOICA’s operations.
A. Primary Education
From 1991 to 2010, KOICA has implemented a total of 47 projects in the primary education sector including projects still in progress. The total expenditure of these projects is about USD 63.97 million and the average volume per project is USD 1.36 million. Projects in primary education were mainly focused on the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. In Iraq and Afghanistan, primary education has been supported through disaster relief programs. The education projects, which formerly were focused on the Asian regions in the 1990s, have been expanded to include support programs in Africa since the mid-2000s.
B. Vocational Training
From 1991 to 2010, KOICA implemented a total of 73 projects for vocational training including projects that are still in progress. The total expenditure of the projects is about USD 124.64 million and the average per project is USD 1.7 million. The vocational training projects support the establishment of vocational training centers and the adoption of national qualification exams. Vocational training projects are mainly focused in Asia and Africa. African countries are mostly from Northern Africa including Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya. The size of support for education projects in Sub-Saharan Africa is relatively insignificant because of the poor local industrial infrastructure and manpower.
C. Tertiary Education
From 1991 to 2010, KOICA implemented a total of 21 projects for tertiary education including projects that are still in progress. The total spending of the projects amounts USD 15.93 million and the average per project is USD 1.78 million. In the 1990s, assistance in this area was mainly focused in Asia, but since 2000 educational assistance is being focused on both Asia and Africa. Education programs in the ICT sector are being implemented in these regions to foster high-skilled human resources.
Source: Korea International Cooperation Agency. 2011. 20 years of KOICA 1991-2010, Translated by Institute for Development and Human Security, Ewha Womans University. Seoul.
3. Strategy and Institutional Improvement
In pursuit of Education for All (EFA), KOICA’s education ODA endeavors to achieve sustainable development through human resource development in developing countries by employing three strategies; ① improving access to education regardless of gender or income by expanding facilities for primary education, vocational training, and tertiary education, ② enhancing education quality by ensuring the appropriateness of materials and methods, ③ improving management systems through improvements to the education system and policy. Further, three subordinate strategy targets were selected and pushed ahead; ① realizing the developing country’s potential and training technical manpower upon real demand, ② expanding primary education opportunities with priority given to areas that have poor primary education facilities, and ③ fostering core manpower to lead the developing country’s socio-economic development.
Since 2007, mid-term strategies and policy in the Education sector have been established for effective project implementation. Based on demands from the field, projects collaborating with local NGOs have been developed and supported including Ghana’s Primary Education Environment Improvement Project and Paraguay’s Youth and Homeless Children Support Project.
[Figure 3-1] The Education Sector Strategy
A. Training Technical Labor
In order to fully utilize the potential of a developing country as a driving force for its socio-economic development, it is essential to identify sectors in which it has comparative advantages. Human resources must then be developed to maximize the potential of each of those sectors. KOICA has been sharing Korea’s industrial development experience in training technical labor and has provided high quality vocational training opportunities to partner countries. This endeavor also has contributed in achieving the MDG of promoting adult employment including jobs for young adults and women.
KOICA’s education projects focus on poverty reduction, increasing incomes and the promotion of labor productivity to deal with sudden unemployment through the provision of social opportunities and safety nets. KOICA’s education projects include building the foundation of a vocational training system in partner countries, providing better quality facilities for vocational training, and introducing rules for certification examinations in technical areas. Assistance is geared towards the promotion of sustainable development in partner countries by providing step-by-step support for each country’s own strategies, and strengthening software support including training technical human resources vital for industrial development, and establishing management system and relevant institutions for vocational training.
B. Expansion of Primary Education Opportunities
KOICA has set the target of expanding equal primary education opportunities to the poor and underprivileged classes in developing countries. KOICA supports primary education in countries with poor educational environments created by poverty, conflict, and disaster.
KOICA supports the establishment of special schools through the publication and distribution of textbooks, library building and reading programs, and curriculum and teaching method development for the vulnerable classes, particularly children who are intellectually and physically challenged. KOICA also supports specialized educational efforts including illiteracy eradication programs and the establishment of alternative schools. Consultation on education policies and rules is provided by KOICA utilizing Korea’s own experience which achieved universal primary education efficiently.
C. Promoting Advanced Human Resources
KOICA has supported advanced human resource development to realize the development potential of its partner countries. In order to achieve this, KOICA has been assisting its partner countries to develop tertiary educational facilities. When giving such support, KOICA analyzes the partner country’s development plans and human resources to determine what types of programs will be most useful to the country’s development. For example, KOICA promotes human resource development in specific areas depending on the needs and strengths of each partner country. KOICA also provides consultation on the establishment of tertiary education facilities, the promotion of better quality higher education, and the establishment of higher education development policy.
As the MDGs and EFA have encouraged ODA to the education sector since 2000, the major donor countries and organizations have increased support for primary education. The elementary school enrollment rate in developing countries has increased significantly by 88.8% since 2008 and the global community expects to make great strides towards attaining universal primary education by 2015.
Once the MDGs’second goal of universal primary education is achieved in many countries, the international community needs shift its focus to‘ Post-Primary education.’The expansion of primary education is very important for laying a foundation of development potential, but it is not sufficient to actually tap into that potential. It is vital that sectors in which partner countries have potential be identified and their human resources developed systematically. The shift of expanding educational plans from focusing only on primary education to including post-primary education requires changing the developmental goals in this sector. The post-primary education sector includes secondary education, vocational training, and tertiary education and requires different assistance than primary education.
It is essential that human resource development plans are established in areas related to partner countries’development plans in the specific areas of agriculture, manufacturing, commerce, and marine industry in order to actually contribute to an increase of income and, ultimately, to poverty reduction. As emerging industrial sectors demand highly skilled engineers, developing countries are in need of technical labor. KOICA is helping its partner countries meet this need by assisting their efforts to establish industrial development plans and human resource promotion plans according to each country’s potential.
Korea is in a unique position to suggest a new paradigm for education ODA to the international community because of its success in developing its own human resources through education. Since primary education became standardized in 1957, Korea has had ample high-skilled technical human resources to meet its industrial demands. In the 1970s and 1980s, developing industrial, scientific, and technical human resources was essential to Korea’s development strategy. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Korea’s industry evolved from a labor intensive industry through light industry, heavy chemical industry, mechanical industry and finally into a knowledge and information intensive industry. The focus of Korea’s human resource development has mirrored this evolution. Although promoting highly skilled technical and scientific human is necessary to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth in developing countries, it is difficult, in reality, to implement this due to financial and technical limitations. Hence, KOICA’s strategy for future ODA projects in the education sector aims to identify the areas with the most development potential in each partner country and to systematically support human resource development in these areas.
Source: Korea International Cooperation Agency. 2011. 20 years of KOICA 1991-2010, Translated by Institute for Development and Human Security, Ewha Womans University. Seoul.
(4) Best Practices
A. Establishment of the Rehabilitation Training Center for Vulnerable Children in Paraguay
The gap between the rich and the poor in Paraguay is severe; the top 10% of income holders earn about 65 times more than the bottom 10% and the level of income inequality is continuing to worsen. As children and young adults of the lowest class living in the rural areas often fall victim to a vicious cycle of self-perpetuating poverty. They migrate into urban areas to find work, but the weak welfare system does not provide them with education; therefore, they are unable to find employment and frequently become addicted to drugs. These young people from the vulnerable class have been abandoned by society and often live on the streets, begging for living, or become easy targets for domestic and international human trafficking.
According to a recent survey, there are about 15,000 homeless children in the Paraguayan capital city of Asuncion and its neighboring areas.
However, protection and education facilities for helping these children smoothly transfer into society are largely insufficient. Therefore, KOICA has opened a rehabilitation center and reconstructed a shelter to provide both educational opportunities and drug rehabilitation treatments to facilitate their participation in social activities.
As KOICA’s the first project supporting vulnerable children and young adults, this project established facilities that systematically protect, educate, and offer treatment to the homeless youths abandoned by their families and society in Paraguay. Also, KOICA strengthened the work capacity of the civil servants in the Department of Children and Young Persons in order to contribute to the development of social protection policy and rules as well as sustainable management.
Furthermore, this project is an excellent example of how encouraging the social participation of homeless youth can reduce the crime rate, promote social stability, and contribute to poverty reduction. By collaborating with Good Neighbors, an NGO with domestic and overseas experience in facility management, KOICA offered Paraguay consultation on establishing relevant facilities, strengthening human resource capacity, and policy and institutional development. The President of Paraguay attended the opening ceremony of the Rehabilitation Training Center held on November 5, 2010. He expressed his belief in the ability of the homeless youths who were expected to use the center to become contributing members of society and was highly satisfied with the project after inspecting the facility.
The Rehabilitation Training Center provided school curriculum and vocational training opportunities lasting from 6 to 12 months to about 50 homeless children. This center also provided treatment and rehabilitation programs for youths suffering from drug addiction.
In addition, by remodeling a shelter, KOICA provided short-term residency for around 15 male and female homeless youth per month, hosting up to 180 annually. The shelter also served as a transition venue for recovered drug addicts reentering society as it is connected to the Rehabilitation Center.
[Figure 3-2] The Opening Ceremony of the Rehabilitation Training Center for Vulnerable Children and Youth in Paraguay
- On November 5, 2010, KOICA held the opening ceremony of Rehabilitation Training Center to facilitate social inclusion of vulnerable children and young adults in Paraguay. The President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, attended the ceremony and encouraged the children and young people entering the center.
[Figure 3-3] The Rehabilitation Training Center for Vulnerable Children and Youth in Paraguay
- The Rehabilitation Training Center, established by KOICA, supports the social inclusion of vulnerable children and young adults by providing education and technical training program lasting 6 to 12 months
B. Textbook Supply Project for Secondary Schools in Laos
The government of Laos announced the ‘Education for All National Plan of Action 2003~2015’and has endeavored to actively develop human resource based on this educational reform to reduce poverty. While overall education conditions have improved, thanks to the support from the international community and the effort of the government of Laos, the textbook supply rate for secondary school is only about 20%, far behind that of 80% for primary schools. Therefore, the government of Laos requested assistance from the international community in delivering textbooks to middle and high schools. This project, implemented over three phases, included the publication of middle school textbooks in Laos and high school textbooks covering 13 subjects. The first phase of textbook distribution took place in September 2008, the second in December 2008, and the third distribution was completed in September 2009. A total of 2.66 million books were distributed to 390,000 students from sixth to eleventh grade. During the first phase, a total of 996,562 textbooks were distributed, including 698,563 textbooks for 13 subjects studied by eleventh grade students, 53,714 per subject. During the second phase, KOICA distributed an additional 773,188 high school textbooks covering 13 subjects for tenth grade students, 9,476 copies per each subject. Finally, in the third phase a total of 892,073 ninth grade textbooks covering 13 subjects, 68,621 copies per each subject, were provided.
The people and the government of Laos highly appreciated this project and acknowledged that it had contributed Laos’s human resource development. KOICA not only supported textbook publication and distribution and supplied related hardware including printing and publication equipment, but also supported software development. KOICA dispatched experts in software development to develop curriculums and build capacity and human resources in the printing and publication field. Trainees in this field were also invited to participate in training programs in Korea. As a follow-up project, KOICA is planning to supply textbooks for other grades based on Laos’reformed school system which is expected to promote the effectiveness and sustainability of the project.
The project has contributed to boosting a friendly image of Korea in Laos as is represented by the Korean and Laos flags appearing together on the last page of every textbook. Furthermore, Korean media publicized this project thus raising public awareness of ODA projects in Korea.
[Figure 3-4] The Laos Secondary School Textbook Supply Project
- KOICA contributed to improving the quality of secondary education in Laos by supplying a total of 2.66 million textbook to 390,000 students in secondary schools
C. Expansion of Korea-Vietnam Industrial Technical School and Strengthening Capacity in Vietnam
In order to promote project sustainability, KOICA extended the Korea-Vietnam Technical School project as a follow-up to the first project in 1998. In 2007, the Korea-Vietnam Technical School was upgraded to a college, and KOICA launched the second project to establish an educational environment that enables the school function as a tertiary educational institution. Since its founding a decade ago, this college has been continuously improving thanks to Vietnam’s autonomous management efforts. Vietnam was able to take over the management of this school after the completion of the first project and thanks to the improvements of human resources and school material that was supported in the second project. The project has been highly praised by the government of Vietnam for its contribution to the education of highly skilled technical personnel necessary for economic and social development. As a result of focusing on Vietnam’s self-reliance and management capacity in the first project, the school successfully managed its own facilities and academic operations and in 2009, 90% of its 4,000 graduates were employed. From this pool of graduates, around 500 found employment in Korea. This proves that the school has become a representative vocational training education institution in Vietnam.
[Figure 3-5] The Korea-Vietnam Industrial Technology School
- The Korea-Vietnam Industrial Technology School, supported by KOICA, was upgraded to a college in 1007 and became a representative vocational training tertiary education institution in Vietnam
[Figure 3-6] The Promotional Brochure of Korea-Vietnam Industrial Technology School
- KOICA’s support for the Korea-Vietnam Industrial Technology School is shown by the school name being printed in Korean on the promotional brochure.
Source: Korea International Cooperation Agency. 2011. 20 years of KOICA 1991-2010, Translated by Institute for Development and Human Security, Ewha Womans University. Seoul.
