KOICA’s dispatch of volunteers to Ethiopia has been playing a crucial role in sharing their skills, knowledge, and experience, the Ministry of Women and Social Affairs said.
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) organized 2023 host organization representatives meeting today.
During the meeting, Minister of Women and Social Affairs, Ergogie Tesfaye said Ethiopia and Korea are two sisterly countries, enjoying historical and long-standing relations in multifaceted spheres, including voluntary service.
Noting the KOICA has been dispatching many volunteers to Ethiopia, she said the volunteers have been sharing experiences, skills, knowledge to Ethiopia and working with the community at grass root levels.
She elaborated that the volunteers will also further strengthen the bilateral relation between Ethiopia and Korea.
She expressed her hope that the KOICA will dispatch more volunteers as well as senior advisers to Ethiopia so that they can share their expertise and skills for public institutions in the country in addition to linking and encouraging with local volunteers in Ethiopia.
“Volunteers play a critical role in economic development and with its critical mechanism, social inclusion can be promoted in all our frameworks,” the minister added.
Accordingly, the ministry is implementing a voluntarism program at the country level and it is one component of the youth development program.
Country Director of KOICA Ethiopia Office, Lee Byunghwa said on his part World Friends Korea (WFK) volunteer Program is one of the technical cooperation programs of KOICA.
He stated that the office has started re-dispatching volunteers physically to Ethiopia after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
“Currently, we have 9 project volunteers working in the health sector. The team is composed of social welfare, youth development, nurse, and public relations fields. They are promoting their voluntary services for the community,” he elaborated.
So far, KOICA dispatched more than 1,300 volunteers to different parts of the country, it was indicated.
The volunteers shared their expertise with community at grass root levels as well as they contributed in changing the lives of the people that they served, the country director noted.
He added: “Thought-out this meeting, I hope that we will share our experiences and suggest the ways forward for the improvement of the service and strengthen the program to contribute to what Ethiopia is striving for.”
Moreover, he said that KOICA aims to alleviate poverty and support sustainable socio-economic development in developing countries.
Since its establishment in Ethiopia in 1995, KOICA has been assisting the government of Ethiopia in achieving development targets by implementing projects worth of more than 288 million US dollar and providing technical assistance programs, it was learnt.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency