Ewha Womans UniversityInstitute for Development and Human Security

Like many other countries, South Korea has been providing official development assistance (ODA) to assist in developing countries’ political, economic and social development, for not only humanitarian purposes but the nation’s political, economic and diplomatic interests.

 

The Institute for Development and Human Security (IDHS), a think tank on South Korea’s ODA, was established with the support from the Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development (currently Ministry of Education) under the name of Global Cooperation Center (GCC) in September 2007 to provide and expand South Korea’s previous experiences of economic development through establishing collaborative system of industry-university-institute and educating the next generation to bring about broad agreement and support for ODA among its population. 

 

With the leadership of Professor Eun Mee Kim (Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University), IDHS successfully carried out “World Class University (WCU)” project of Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development from April 2009 to August 2013, and changed its name to Institute for Development and Human Security specifying its research area.

 

From September 2013 to August 2016, IDHS also executed a project entitled “Advocacy for Korean Engagement in Global Health and Development”funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is one of the biggest philanthropic foundations in the world established by Bill Gates, who is the founder of Microsoft, and his wife Melinda Gates in 2000 (Principal researcher: Professor Eun Mee Kim). Researchers at IDHS focused on decreasing child mortality and improving maternal health and emphasized that adolescent girls under 18 in developing countries should be protected from child marriage, child pregnancy and birth, rape, malnutrition, lack of education opportunity and environmental risks. Moreover, the research findings contributed to the initiation of Korean government’s “Better Life for Girls” Initiative.

 

In October 2015, IDHS newly established the International Development Results Management Center under IDHS. This center carries out research and education regarding monitoring and evaluation process in the area of international development, sharing and expansion of knowledge about monitoring and evaluation through seminar and workshops, evaluation projects based on social research methodology, and performance evaluation and consulting service based on qualitative and quantitative data.

 

In November 2016, the team led by Professor Eun Mee Kim received the second grant from the Gates Foundation to carry out the project entitled “Korea Global Health Strategy” for three years. In November 2019, the team received its third grant from the Gates Foundation once again for three years, from November 2019 to October 2022. This is the first two-consecutive funding in Korea after receiving the total of $400,000 in 2013 for three years (2013-2016). This achievement illustrates the successful activities and accomplishment in the area of ODA from 2013 to 2019 by the multidisciplinary research team with backgrounds in development cooperation, medicine (preventive medicine, adolescent medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, medical education), nursing, women’s studies, public administration, sociology, and international studies.

 

The following is the major research areas of IDHS

1. Global public health in the SDGs era and its effectiveness

2. Case studies of girls’ health in developing countries

3. Case studies of South Korean ODA based on Korea’s economic development

4. Case studies of human security and aid effectiveness in conflict-affected areas

5. Development cooperation plans addressing the cooperation between donor and recipient countries 

6. Enhancing knowledge and knowhow on international development cooperation and sharing information

7. Establishment of network among national and international organizations and stakeholders in the area 
   of development cooperation to increase effectiveness and efficiency of ODA.