Global Spread of Saemaul Undong for Rural Development in Developing Countries

Abstract

○ As growing attentions are paid to Korea’s Saemaul Undong, also known as the New CommunityMovement, around the world, an increasing number of non-Koreans take Saemaul Undong-relatedtraining programs, and relevant institutions have been organized in developing countries, with ruraldevelopment policies designed by benchmarking Saemaul Undong.○ In the UN General Assembly and the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, the SaemaulUndong case of Korea was proposed as a new paradigm for international development cooperation,and accordingly, the Korean government released the Plan for Global Spread of Saemaul Undong onMay 3rd, 2016.- The five key challenges include i) clarifying the concept of the Saemaul Undong ODA, ii)establishing strategies customized to each recipient country, iii) improving procedures andmethods of projects, iv) improving the implementation system and efficiently allocating roles, andv) consolidating partnerships by expanding participation of stakeholders in the developmentprocess.○ The Plan for Global Spread of Saemaul Undong has significance in that it presents the standards forSaemaul Undong ODA projects, which used to lack coherence in the past. Aside from the plans forthe existing 24 key partner countries, the country-specific implementation strategies have beenestablished with consideration for demands for development based on Saemaul Undong. In particular,the subcommittee has been organized under the International Development Cooperation Committeeto take charge of systematic implementation, monitoring, evaluation and coordination of SaemaulUndong ODA projects.○ The scale of Korea’s ODA projects has not reached the international standard level yet, but israpidly growing. And as the number of ODA projects related to rural development has been on therise, many relevant institutions, including the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), theMinistry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA), the Rural Development Administration(RDA), and the provincial government of Gyeongsangbuk-do, have promoted SaemaulUndong-related or similar projects in the form of integrated rural development, development ofcustomized agricultural technologies, and education and training programs for local residents.○ The following points should be considered in applying the approaches of Saemaul Undong to theprocess of rural development in developing countries.- The concept, principles and detailed methodologies of Saemaul Undong should be abstractlyoutlined and defined as the Saemaul Rural Development Approach to be applied to a variety oftoday’s ODA projects.- ODA projects should serve not as another common type of aid project, but as the ones to actualizepotential capacity of recipient countries, helping them autonomously develop subcategory projectsbased on the characteristics of and demands for development in target regions.- In order to employ the approaches of Saemaul Undong in ODA projects, the projects should beimplemented by remaining consistent with international goals of development assistance such asSDGs and observing international regulations.