Kang Seung-woo is the Business Desk editor at The Korea Times. Prior to this position, he covered politics, national affairs, finance and sports.
KOICA recognized for aid transparency
Trainees participate in the vocational educational training and qualification expert system training course held at the Gyeonggi Provincial Human Resources Development Institute of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2018. Courtesy of KOICA
By Kang Seung-woo
By Kang Seung-woo
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has gained global recognition as a transparent and accountable aid donor in the international community.
According to the results of an aid transparency evaluation, the agency received a “Good” rating in the 2022 Aid Transparency Index (ATI), released July 13 by Publish What You Fund (PWYF), an independent non-governmental organization based in the United Kingdom that campaigns for aid transparency.
KOICA is the nation's sole organization subject to the aid transparency assessment, and this is the second time that it has received a “Good” rating since 2020.
Compared to the previous assessment in 2020, KOICA's scores rose evenly across the evaluation criteria, including areas such as organizational planning and commitments, finance and budgets and joining-up development data.
KOICA's aid transparency index rose from 36.94 points in 2018 to 70.7 points in 2020, and 77.7 points in 2022, marking a 10 percent increase from 2020. KOICA's evaluation rating also rose two levels from 2018's “Poor” to 2020's “Good,” and continued to maintain this level in 2022.
The ATI evaluates 35 indicators grouped into five categories: organizational planning and commitments, finance and budgets, project attributes, joining-up development data and performance.
In terms of the overall rankings, KOICA ranks 13th out of 50 aid organizations around the world that were subject to evaluation in 2022. In terms of donor countries, KOICA was ranked third.
“Despite the strengthening of evaluation standards and changes in some indicators, it is a remarkable achievement for KOICA to have received the highest score since its eligibility, in the 2022 Aid Transparency Index,” said Ahn Ji-hee, director general of KOICA's Data Innovation Team. “In accordance with the results of the evaluation, KOICA will strive to make strides as a leading development cooperation agency on par with advanced countries.”
KOICA established its digital transformation strategy in 2021 and is now expanding its digital-based ODA projects, digitalizing project management and establishing a data management system. KOICA plans to organically link its digital transformation strategy with the aim of improving its ATI scores in the future.