Republic of Korea to fund new UNESCAP poverty reduction initiative

Bangkok (United Nations Information Services) -- The Republic of Korea, through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), will commit US$226,000 to UNESCAP to implement a joint effort to reduce poverty in the region.

"This contribution signals a new era of partnership between UNESCAP and KOICA to disseminate best practices on poverty eradication in the region", said Mr. Kim Hak-Su, UNESCAP's Executive Secretary. "The funds come at an important time where poverty eradication is at the forefront of national and international agendas."

UNESCAP will implement the project in Cambodia and the Lao People's Democratic Republic, two of the poorest countries in the region, in an effort to increase household incomes and enhance quality of life for the rural poor. The scope of the project will include training, advisory services and community asset creation. KOICA is also considering an additional $80,000 contribution to implement a similar project in the Lumbini District of Nepal.

The project will focus on best practices on rural community development by replicating Saemaul Undong, a grassroots effort that transformed rural areas in the Republic of Korea in the 1970s. As a behavioural philosophy, it promotes diligence, self-help and cooperation with the ultimate goal of establishing social welfare through the development of friendly and cooperative neighbourhoods, pleasant surroundings and a healthy society.

According to the United Nations, Asia is home to the great majority of the world's poor. In September 2000, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, world leaders agreed to a set of time-bound and measurable goals and targets for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women. The first of these "Millennium Development Goals" is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by reducing by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and those suffering from hunger.

Note to Editors; You or your representative are invited to attend the signing ceremony with Mr. Song Chang-Hoon, Director, Planning and Cooperation Team, KOICA (Seoul) and Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary, UNESCAP, on Tuesday, 19 November 2002, 11:00 hours, UNESCAP Building. Interviews with Messrs Song and Kim may be arranged upon request.

For further information please contact:
Mr. Kiran Pyakuryal, Chief
Rural Development Section/UNESCAP
Telephone: +662- 288-1390; Fax: +662-288-1056
E-mail: pyakuryal.unescap@un.org

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