South Korea’s COVID-19 response: hard lessons on saving lives

Staff from The Asia Foundation Korea writes in DevPolicy on South Korea’s Covid-19 response, with potential implications to other countries. In the article, authors Kwang Kim, Kyung-sook Lee, and Jaemyung Lee break down the key elements of Korea’s response: making the most of the early window, planning for difficult public policy choices, practicing implementation playbook for future outbreaks. The authors point out that In 2015, Bill Gates suggested investing billions of dollars to develop “Germ Games,” analogous to investments in “War Games.” As Korea learned the hard way, the time to prepare is now. Please check the link below or the attached PDF to read the full article. Link: https://devpolicy.org/south-koreas-covid-19-response-20200609-1/

AADC 2020 Spotlights Asia’s Changing Landscape of Development Cooperation Amidst and Beyond Covid-19

November 24, 2020 — The Asia Foundation, together with KDI School of Public Policy and Management, hosted the Asian Approaches to Development Cooperation (AADC) webinar series on “Changing Landscape of Development Cooperation Amidst and Beyond Covid-19 in Asia” on November 11-13. For its 10th anniversary this year, the AADC opened the dialogues to the public for the first time and facilitated broader knowledge sharing to better respond to Covid-19 in the region. The webinar series addressed emerging approaches on official development assistance and roles of non-state actors and multilateralism in response to Covid-19. Speakers from the Republic of Korea, China, India, Bangladesh, Philippines, UNESCAP, and ASEAN along with local community partners and INGOs shared diverse Asian experiences and approaches in adapting to the Covid-19 crisis and future global pandemics with more systematic, collective responses. Watch Day 1 of the webinar series: ..

Accelerate Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Opportunities in Korea

With generous support from Fondation CHANEL, The Asia Foundation implemented a one-year research project, Accelerate Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Opportunities in South Korea, to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing women entrepreneurs in Gyeonggi Province, including the current policy environment. The long-term goal of the project is to support women entrepreneurs in Gyeonggi Province to: (a) start and operate successful businesses as a viable career option; (b) improve their socio-economic well-being and that of their families and communities; and (c) enable them to contribute to and benefit from economic development. Please find the attachment to see the report.