[PDI Working Paper No.7] Uncertainty and Response of Korean Development Cooperation NGOs

Jun Hyup Kim(Professor, School of International Studies, Languages and Literature at Handong Global University)

 

* This paper was published at Jiam Workshop #4.

 

 

Abstract: 

Korea Development Cooperation NGOs experienced a rapid increase in the number of sponsors and an explosive financial growth in the 2000s, but their growth slowed down from the mid-2010s and showed negative growth in 2020. This can be said to be a problem for all domestic development cooperation NGOs, not only for the five domestic development cooperation NGOs mentioned in the text. While the number of individual and group sponsors sponsored by each institution is limited, development cooperation NGOs are continuously established, and the amount of fundraising that each NGO can expect is gradually limited. In addition, as several NGOs’ moral deviations occurred and the spread of COVID-19 continued until 2020 and 2021, expectations for increased sponsorship were lowered as the economic downturn was prolonged and household economic conditions worsened.

In order to respond to this uncertainty, development cooperation NGOs should be able to set and promote mid- to long-term goals for the direction of development cooperation projects. First of all, there is a way to differentiate the business direction of development cooperation NGOs and the composition of human resources within the institution from other institutions by further subdividing and specializing. This can also be an alternative to increasing operational efficiency in terms of preventing unnecessary waste of resources by NGOs. In order for the partner country of development cooperation or the community at the village level to achieve sustainable development, above all, sustainable operation should be guaranteed from development cooperation NGOs.

In the long run, domestic development cooperation NGOs need to seek a shift in perception in the form of performing development cooperation projects from a more fundamental and long-term perspective, away from the existing growth paradigm and long-term perspective. This is not only a matter limited to domestic development cooperation NGOs, but also a matter required throughout the future development cooperation field.