Republic of Korea

Under the oversight of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) delivers grant-based programs. It also serves as a development cooperation platform by entering into partnerships with a wide arrange of stakeholders including government ministries, public institutions, civil society, business and academia.

In the 2021-2025 education mid-term strategy, KOICA has set comprehensive targets that aim to cover quality and inclusive education initiatives, while also focusing on gender equity and the development of relevant skills.

KOICA has three strategic objectives as follows:

• Quality education for learning outcomes: providing support for teacher capacity building, the improvement of curriculums and teaching materials, and the establishment of safe and healthy learning environments to improve learning outcomes at the primary and secondary education level and reduce the education gap by gender;
• Digital education for skills development: providing support for digital education to bridge the education gap in a post-pandemic world and build ICT capacity, one of the core competencies of youth suggested by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
• TVET and higher education for youth empowerment: fostering youth education and empowerment for the economic development of partner countries.

In 2020, the top recipients of KOICA’s ODA in education were Viet Nam, Tanzania, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Mongolia.

Korea hosted the Spring 2015 Board Meeting in Seoul. This was immediately following the World Education Forum held in Incheon, when the 2015 Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action, outlining the targets and means of implementation for achieving SDG 4 were formally launched.