Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)

Organizational profile: Through the sharing of Korean’s development experiences and know-how with its partner countries, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) aims to fight global poverty and support sustainable socio-economic development in developing countries while at the same time strengthening Korea’s friendly relations with them. Setting health, education, governance, agriculture and rural development and technology, environment and energy as priority sectors, KOICA delivers grant-based programs through its development projects, Development Experience Exchange Program (DEEP), international volunteer and fellowship programs, emergency relief provision, and multilateral cooperation. 

KOICA complements bilateral grant projects through international organization cooperation projects. International organization cooperation project refers to the cooperation between KOICA and international organizations to collaborate in resolving global issues such as economic and social development, humanitarian assistance and food security, climate change and human rights of target countries. Additionally, the Civil Society Cooperation Program supports international development cooperation activities of CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) and academia, working towards reducing poverty and promoting the better standard of living in developing countries, and complements intergovernmental projects through grass-root development cooperation projects on five focus areas (higher education, education, health, agriculture and fisheries, multi-area).

KOICA invests in agricultural and rural development as well as the conservation of natural resources and the ecosystem against climate change through the Agriculture & Rural Development Mid-Term Strategy. Their major programs include
- Conservation of fishery and forestry resources
- Agro-biodiversity conservation
- Consulting for a national strategy of forestry development
- Sustainable forestry management

Financing instrument: Grants

Project scale: Recent forest-related projects have ranged from US$1,500,000 to US$2,000,000

Recipient countries regions/country groups: KOICA currently has 24 core countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Pakistan, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mozambique, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Bolivia, Paraguay, Colombia, and Peru.

Recipient categories: NPOs/NGOs, Governments

Eligibility Criteria: Current bilateral grant projects must take place in one of the 24 core countries.
For international organization cooperation projects, the project period must be 2-3 years. The funding rate is typically 8:2, with the funding ratio varying depending on the type of the partner organization.

Application guidelines: Through its assistance programs, KOICA plays an active and critical role in the implementation of the Korean Government’s Country Partnership Strategies (CPS). The scope of CPS covers ODA volume, priority areas, mid-term allocation plans and implementation strategies for each country. Based on the direction of CPS, KOICA implements official development assistance in the form of grant aid. With KOICA's cooperation projects/programs on the basis of recipient government requests, project proposals for bilateral grant projects should be submitted following the CPS to each local KOICA office.

For International organization cooperation projects, KOICA distributes the guidelines of Multilateral Development Cooperation Project in the first half of each year, for projects to take place 2 years later. A preliminary review occurs in the second half of the same year. The main review and budget review occur by the subsequent year, with implementation following in the year after that. A meeting request can be made through completing the online form on their website,