“Contributing to the advancement of international cooperation through various cooperative projects to promote friendly and cooperative relationships and mutual exchanges between the Republic of Korea and developing countries and achieve poverty reduction, improvement of the quality of life, sustainable development, and humanitarianism of developing countries”

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the Republic of Korea’s government agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for development cooperation, was first established in 1991. Its key objectives are the following: reducing poverty, improving the quality of life, fulfilling sustainable development and humanitarianism, promoting friendly and cooperative relationships with developing countries, and contributing to global peace and prosperity.

Asia has been KOICA’s top priority for development cooperation in 2021(48.3%), followed by Africa (25.6%), Latin America (14.7%), and Middle East/CIS (11.4%). The aid in Africa is constantly increasing, along with the government’s expansion of international cooperation policies. 38.1% of KOICA’s total sources are allocated for LDCs, and the proportion will continue to expand in the upcoming years.

For more effective support, the ODA delivered is allocated to different sectors in accordance with SDG goals and major development priorities of developing countries. KOICA adopted its top 5 sectors of 2021, which are of the following: Technology/Environment & Energy (17.8%), Education (17.3%), Health (16.5%), Public Administration (16.2%) and Agriculture (12.6%).

KOICA’s projects are designed to achieve sustainability in a region, and SSTC is a key model to implement the actions. Various programmes cover different fields in cooperation with governments, civil society, international organizations and academia. KOICA aims to enhance international cooperation through ‘ODA together’, one of the strategic targets under the 3rd Mid-term Strategy for Development Cooperation of the government of the Republic of Korea (2021-2025).

KOICA seeks to establish major partnership with countries in different regions to better take advantage of SSTC in the future. MIKTA, a cross-regional partnership established in 2013, would be a good example of these partnerships. The MIKTA development cooperation institutions network was established in 2021 under KOICA’s initiatives, allowing the Agency to further expand its work through triangular cooperation. Mexico, Indonesia and Turkiye worked with KOICA through triangular cooperation and the high understanding between partners allows for increasingly effective cooperation.

Korea Disaster Relief

KOICA, SENAI of Brazil, and DINAC of Paraguay partner to strengthen the Aircraft Maintenance Sector in Paraguay through Triangular Cooperation.

This triangular cooperation project was a collaboration between KOICA, Brazil’s National Service of Industrial Apprenticeship (SENAI) and Paraguay’s National Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (DINAC), aimed at developing the capacities of aircraft maintenance professionals in Paraguay. KOICA was the facilitating partner, with SENAI being a pivotal partner in supporting the education of professionals and providing the infrastructure needed. To learn more, please click here.