On 2nd June 2023, KOICA Volunteer’s Partner day of year 2023 conducted at the Courtyard by Marriot (Emerald Hall), Colombo City Centre, Colombo 02 with the presence of the Country Director of KOICA Sri Lanka office Mrs. KIM MYUNGJIN, Mr. Ajith Abeysekara, the Director General of External Resources Department and officials from the Department of Technical Education & Training, National Institute of Education, National Youth Services Council and over thirty (30) volunteer partner organization representatives in Sri Lanka.
The meeting conducted by KOICA – WFK Division to recognize, manage, share and take advantage of the know-how, experience and knowledgeable resources with the partner organizations. The main goals of the sharing session were to deliver relevant information about the resuming of KOICA Volunteer program adaptive to the current situation in Sri Lanka and to generate insights from the partner organizations that will be useful in recalibrating WFK program’s future direction.
During the session, participants of partner organizations shown their desire to obtain the services of volunteers, especially for the fields of Korean Language, ICT, Electronics and Auto-mobile and further they appreciated and emphasized the importance of resuming of KOICA Volunteer Program in Sri Lanka.
Since KOICA Sri Lanka’s initiation in 1991, volunteer dispatch activities have taken place throughout most regions in the country. There has been a significant demand for KOICA volunteers in the educational sphere targeting areas of Korean Language, ICT, Electrical and Mechanics. The expertise received from Korea has not only given shown developmental potential in partner organization but has also provided invaluable expertise for the youth to expedite in the job market. Due to Easter Attacks and COVID-19, the KOICA Volunteers were withdrawn back to Korea. However they assisted the partner organizations with E-Volunteering opportunities. Following this, 10 volunteers were deployed in 2022 to conduct e-volunteering programs towards selected organizations to aid the community in developmental areas.
The Country Director of KOICA Sri Lanka office Mrs. KIM MYUNGJIN expressed her gratitude to all the participants of partner organizations and added “KOICA HQ and the Sri Lanka office delighted to resume the volunteer program in Sri Lanka by dispatching 4 Korean volunteers in June 2023 and looking forward to dispatch more volunteers in coming months of 2023, while introducing new focused volunteer fields in alignment with the SDG goals and the Sri Lankan government priorities.”
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the grant aid division of the Embassy of Republic of Korea is the Korean government agency for grant aids under the mission of “mutual development cooperation leaving no one behind.” KOICA Sri Lanka Office has been implementing a variety of development projects and fellowship programs since 1991 and currently supporting various grant projects including COVID-19 response projects to fight against COVID-19 in Sri Lanka in conjunction with the Sri Lankan Government, Korean NGOs, and International Organizations. KOICA Sri Lanka Office is particularly keen to put more efforts to support the most vulnerable in society to overcome the current crisis.
