[Fellowship Program] Capacity Building for Programming Pilot Rural Village Project of the Kyrgyz Republic

June 12(Mon.) ~ 22(Thur.), 2017 Suwon, Korea

Fifteen(15) officials from the government of the Kyrgyz Republic including the Prime Minister's Office(3), the Ministry of Economy(1), Chui Province(2), Osh Province(3), Naryn Province(1), Issyk-Kul Province(1), Batken Province(2), and Bishkek City(2) will take part in the Fellowship Course for Strengthening Capacity for Programming Pilot Kyrgyz Rural Village Development Program to be held from June 12 to June 22, 2017 in Suwon, the Republic of Korea.

The Fellowship program is a short-term training course funded under the 2017 Official Development Assistance (ODA) Program of the Ministry of the Interior(MOI), the Republic of Korea. The fellowship course aims to support Kyrgyz government's efforts to build capacity for designing and implementing integrated rural development project and program in the village level of local provinces and to establish cooperation and development partnership with Korean and Kyrgyz government.

Entrusted by the Ministry of the Interior the Korea Institute for Rural Development (KIRD), the program execution agency, designed the course in anticipation of and harmony with the future program of the Integrated Rural Development Program of the Kyrgyz Republic to be launched in the fellowship participating provinces and city: Chui, Osh, Naryn, Issyk-Kul, and Batken and Bishkek. The Korea International Cooperation Agency(KOICA) through the channel of grant assistance scheme is also preparing a pilot rural development project in the Kyrgyz Republic, which is now under the step of project design and consultation.

The fellowship course is a capacity development program with which the planning and implementation of the Kyrgyz integrated rural development project and program would be reinforced by learning from Korea¡¯s rural development experience including the Saemaul Undong. For eleven(11) days of the fellowship course in Suwon area the participants will listen a number of lectures in the class as well as several study visits on the site. The participants will have chances to travel to a rural village community to become familiar with Korean rural surroundings and to observe the practices of rural value chain creation. And the delegation is required to develop a number of action plans(A/P) for addressing some of the current issues in the area of rural development in the Kyrgyz Republic.

In addition, Kyrgyz Republic participants will have the opportunity to experience Korea's contemporary culture and to enhance their understanding on Korean society through city tour and field trip.

* Later this year the Korea International Cooperation Agency(KOICA) will launch a pilot rural
development project based on based on Korea's Saemaul Undong(SMU)¡¯s participatory approach.
Through this project KOICA will extend about three(3) million US dollars.