KOICA Receives 'Good' Rating in Original Transparency Index Evaluation

Two-Step Upgrade from Lower Grade in 2018 to Higher Grade in 2020
Only Domestic Original Transparency Evaluation Target, Highest Score and Grade Since Evaluation Participation

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) announced on the 24th that it received a top (Good) rating in the ‘2020 Aid Transparency Index (ATI) evaluation’ released by ‘Publish What You Fund (PWYF)’, a global public-private campaign for aid transparency.

KOICA is the only Korean institution subject to the aid transparency evaluation. Compared to the previous evaluation, KOICA’s scores increased evenly across all evaluation indicators. KOICA’s Aid Transparency Index rose 1.9 times from 36.94 points in 2018 to 70.7 points in 2020. The evaluation grade also jumped two levels vertically from the lower (Poor) grade in 2018 to the top (Good) grade in 2020. ATI evaluates a total of 35 items grouped into five categories: institutional plans/commitments, finance/budget, project characteristics, development information, and performance.

According to PWYF’s ‘Aid Transparency Index 2020’ report, KOICA was recognized as an institution that showed remarkable improvement in this evaluation, achieving the third largest score increase after the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

After receiving the lower (Poor) grade in 2018, KOICA established an aid transparency improvement plan based on the analysis of evaluation results by indicator, strengthened its statistical information management system through improvements in data collection systems, standardized management of project statistical information, and technical system enhancements.

Additionally, KOICA expanded the number of International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) disclosure items from 22 to 31. By incorporating PWYF’s recommendations, KOICA expanded the disclosure of financial and budget information such as individual project budgets and recipient country regional budgets compared to the previous evaluation, reduced technical conversion errors identified in the previous evaluation, and also expanded the disclosure of performance-related indicators such as project objectives and outcomes on IATI.

The frequency of information disclosure was also improved from twice a year to four times a year. KOICA continuously strengthened quality assurance efforts by repeatedly checking project information statistics to ensure that the data provided can be trusted and used reliably.

Im Ki-young, KOICA President, said, “The rise in the Aid Transparency Index is not only KOICA’s achievement but also a greater recognition of Korea’s efforts to enhance aid transparency internationally,” adding, “As Korea’s representative development cooperation agency, KOICA will continue to work responsibly to improve transparency in international development cooperation.”

The Aid Transparency Index was developed by PWYF to measure the status of aid transparency by country for donor countries and related institutions worldwide. All target institutions are classified into five groups based on their aid transparency index scores: △Very Good (80-100 points) △Good (60-79 points) △Fair (40-59 points) △Poor (20-39 points) △Very Poor (0-19 points). The evaluation is conducted biennially.

KOICA joined IATI in 2015 and, after the first IATI disclosure in August 2016, has gradually expanded its disclosures and currently submits performance statistics for ongoing projects to IATI four times a year.

KOICA plans to create an environment where anyone who wants to utilize data can easily access and use it as needed by expanding the external disclosure of statistical information in line with global standards, fitting the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.