Making International Development Cooperation Effective

A new project on international cooperation is being jointly undertaken by UNRISD and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

The project has two goals. First, it aims to assess the development experience of the Republic of Korea, taking into account political, social and economic dimensions. Second, it considers the Korean experience in order to provide relevant insights and policy lessons to developing countries.

The project looks at how foreign aid and non-aid policies interact with national development policies to achieve development across the three dimensions, with a focus on achievements related to economic growth, democratization, and the reduction of poverty and inequality. The research should provide insights to aid donors and recipients alike, and contribute to strengthening the Republic of Korea as a responsible donor.

Since joining the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in 2010, the Republic of Korea—the first country to have transformed itself from a recipient to a donor country—has been making significant efforts to enhance the level of international cooperation for development, both in terms of aid volume and aid effectiveness.

To further contribute to this discussion, the Republic of Korea hosted the OECD–DAC’s High Level Forum 4 (HLF-4) in November 2011 in Busan.
Donor countries need to formulate effective aid policies for development that can address both old and new challenges, for recipient and donor countries, and facilitate equitable, democratic and sustainable development, and this project aims to contribute to this go.

Presentations made at a project workshop, held in Seoul on 13 October 2011,can be found here

The summary report of a methodology workshop held in Seoul in May 2011 is available here

A policy brief written by UNRISD and KOICA, and published by KOICA, is also available in English and Korean.

Source: UNRISD