The Capacity Building Center at KDI School hosts a number of short term training programs for foreign governments and organizations in developing countries around the world. In 2016, the Center is set to host a total of 36 programs, involving more than 1,000 participants from countries such as China, Vietnam, India, Thailand, and Myanmar. Most programs involve a combination of lectures followed by site visits to relevant organizations.

The most notable training program in 2016 took place between July 31 and August 13, 2016. Titled, “Capacity Building of High-level Officers of Communist Party (Vietnam)”, the Capacity Building Center invited 15 high-level government officers at the Commission for Economic Affairs in Vietnam. The delegation, led by Vice Chairman Dong Hai NGO, 15 officers arrived in Korea to participate in the capacity building program featuring lectures and site visits to relevant organizations.

As part of a three year master plan (2016~2018), this year’s program for the Vietnamese high-level government delegation began with an orientation session at KOICA followed by lectures on the Korean economic development experience, government reform and good governance, the e-government system in Korea, and public service systems in Korea. Given the fact that the Incheon Free Economic Zone provided good examples of pioneering and creative government policies in Korea, the delegation travelled to Incheon in order to visit facilities such as the U-City Integrated (Ubiquitous) Urban Control Center – which controls the city’s traffic, power, policing, administration all in one integrated system – and the Rural Development Administration – which uses cutting-edge technology e.g. advanced greenhouse technology to increase productivity. The delegation also met with Vietnamese students studying at Incheon National University and Vietnamese expatriate workers at the Incheon Namdong Industrial Complex.

These capacity building sessions are also designed to foster reciprocal cooperation between Korea and the invited countries. For instance, the capacity building session for Vietnamese high-level officers facilitated discussions between Incheon and Hai Phong city in Vietnam (the sister city of Incheon) to increase cooperation and help the Incheon Tourism Corporation develop tourism products with Hai Phong.

KDI School is putting more emphasis and support behind these training programs hosted by the Capacity Building Center. Given KDI School’s network and content available in the field of economic development, the Capacity Building Center can help the School achieve its primary mission of developing experts in the field of public policy, development policy, and public management. In other words, the Master’s degree programs at KDI School take care of long term demand for education from developing countries and the Center’s programs can look after more immediate and short-term demand for education. The Center expects to bolster its short term programs in the coming years based on the success it has had so far projected demand.

By Ranel Ram CHENG [2016 MPP, The Philippines]