South Korean NGOs have criticised the country’s Overseas Development Aid (ODA), saying it has been implemented in the absence of a legal framework and an aid philosophy, and with fragmented monitoring and evaluation.

In its statement dated March 5, 2008, a group of South Korean NGOs argue that South Korean Overseas Development Aid (ODA) has been implemented in the absence of a legal framework and an aid philosophy, and that monitoring and evaluation and tend to be fragmented.

The statement also expresses the NGOs’ disappointment with the way the government perceives the role of NGOs as simply recipients and not partners. In fact, NGOs have the very channels needed to the target the ODA: poor and marginalised people; and most have multiple areas of expertise, such as human rights, the environment and gender.

Through the statement, the NGOs express concern with the shortfall of South Korea’s ODA commitment. Despite its growing economic standing, the country is yet to meet the 0.7 percent ODA/GNI target promised by the international community. In 2006, South Korea's ODA was only 0.051 percent of its GNI, and needed to be significantly increased to help address the problems of extreme poverty and inequality in many parts of the world.
 
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