The World Bank, which is one of the top 3 international economic organizations together with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization), is showing great interest in the Saemaul Undong.
The South Asian representatives of the World Bank WSP (Water and Sanitation Program) visited YU to learn about the lessons from the 'Saemaul Undong' of the 70s on the 18th. The World Bank WSP representatives visited domestic rural areas and environmental facilities to learn about Korea's rural development and hygiene facility development from the 16th to the 21st. They took out a day from their tight six day schedule to visit YU.
The WSP representatives comprised of 14 mid-level government administrators in the environmental and hygiene sector and World Bank of Pakistan and Bangladesh attended a special lecture program prepared by the YU Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul (Dean Park Seung-woo). The topic of the special lecture was 'Globalization of the Saemaul Undong' [International Development Cooperation Center Director (Global Saemaul Forum Chairman) Choi Wae-chul] and 'Policies and Strategies of the Saemaul Undong' (Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul Vice-Dean Kim Ki-soo).
During the special lecture, Dean Choi Wae-chul said, "Using the spirit and principles of the Saemaul Undong is very effective for overcoming global poverty and for sustainable development." He added, "It is necessary to utilize the experiences of the Saemaul Undong for water resource management and solving the water shortage problem in South Asia, as well as to improve the public health and hygiene environment."
The representatives showed especially high interest on the success factors of the Saemaul Undong going much beyond the scheduled lecture time and holding Q&A sessions and discussions with Mr. Choi.
Following the special lecture, the representatives invited about 90 international students studying at the Park Chung Hee School to introduce the WSP program of the World Bank, while challenging the students to show continued interest in finding solutions to the hygiene issue of emerging countries after finishing their studies and returning to their home countries.
Meanwhile, the YU Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul was established in 2011 for the goal of fostering Saemaul development leaders in emerging countries and to globalize the Saemaul Undong. A total of 424 international students from 59 countries around the world enrolled to learn the Saemaul science and the development experience of Korea.
