The Export-Import Bank of Korea (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman Yong Hwan Kim, “Korea Eximbank”) announced on December 3 that it held a ‘Foreign Aid Performance Management Seminar’ at its Yeouido headquarters in Seoul, jointly with the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

The purpose of the seminar was to discuss the pitfalls in the current aid management system, the necessity of a rigorous monitoring system to address those pitfalls, and the role of the government and aid-executing agencies.

Divided into 2 sessions, the seminar was attended by 80 participants from official development assistance (ODA)-related agencies, such as the Asia Development Bank (ADB), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT), and KOICA, as well as from academia and development NGOs.

In the first session, Senior Loan Officer Seong Gi Jo of Korea Eximbank’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) and Project Management Director Gi Hee Yoo of ADB’s Southeast Asia Department gave presentations on the themes of an integrated system for monitoring Korea’s ODA and ADB’s project performance management system.

The speaker from Korea Eximbank described how the EDCF’s integrated ODA monitoring system, developed jointly with the government, allowed all information on ODA projects conducted by over 60 Korean agencies to be fed to the EDCF in real-time, making it possible to prevent overlaps and monitor performances in a systematic fashion.

The second session featured equally detailed presentations by Research Officer Nasu Takenori of JICA and Director Cao Thanh Phu of the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam on JICA’s project management process (Plan, Do, Check, Action; PDCA) and Vietnam’s ODA monitoring and evaluation system.

The participants hailed the establishment of an integrated ODA monitoring system capable of managing in real-time information on every ODA project pursued by Korean agencies as an achievement that is unprecedented in the international aid community, highlighting the importance of the role the EDCF has to play in enhancing the transparency and accountability of Korea’s development aid.

Korea Eximbank Vice-Chairman Sang Wan Byun said in his welcoming speech, “It is important to establish a systematic and powerful ODA monitoring system at a cross-government level in order to enhance the effectiveness of ODA. By sharing the best practices of the international community through this seminar, we hope to further improve the performance-based management of Korea’s ODA.”