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South Korea selects Lanka to implement Saemaul village

South Korea has selected Sri Lanka to implement its Saemaul village development programme from 2012.

Korea's International Administrative Development Center Director General Kim Won Jin and Korean ambassador in Sri Lanka Jong Moon Choi met Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa to discuss the details of this programme at the ministry recently.

Kim Won Jin said that the Korean government has selected two countries, Sri Lanka and Myanmar to implement this programme from this year.

Saemaul is a combined word from Sae and Maul. Sae in Korean means new or refreshed and Maul means a village which is the basic unit of a community. In other words, Saemaul means a movement to make the local community better and also a village rehabilitated by the efforts of its residents.

"Development should be carried out by the community as a whole and the benefits should be enjoyed by the entire community. This is the basic concept of Saemaul Undong movement," said Kim Won Jin.

The Korean government initiated Saemaul Undong to develop underprivileged and underdeveloped rural villages of Korea on April 22, 1970. The government proposed and executed 10 major projects for improving rural areas. These include expanding and straightening villages' inner roads, providing roofs and fences, installing laundry facilities, developing community wells, building bridges and improving water systems.

An environment improvement project was followed by an income increasing project. New farm roads were built and high yield varieties of rice was supplied to increase productivity. As a result, the rural output reached to a self - sufficient level in staple grains in 1974. "The key factor behind such remarkable success was that all the projects were operated based on community collaboration, the spirit of Saemaul Undong," said Kim Won Jin.

Saemaul Undong is a mental reform movement to raise the "can do" spirit and finally practice by themselves. Based on the three core values of diligence, self help and cooperation, Saemaul Undong develops and transforms a community as well as a nation through the villages' own efforts and cooperation. Korea has become a wealthy country thanks to Saemaul Undong, Kim Won Jin added.

Many developing countries are asking for the techniques of Korea's Saemaul Undong to eradicate poverty and Saemaul Undong has spread across the world as Korea's new international cooperation model, he said.

Minister Basil Rajapaksa said the development policy of the government is mainly based on rural development and poverty alleviation. "Sri Lanka initiated the Gama Neguma - village uplifting programme in 2005 aiming to develop infrastructure, livelihood, environment and capacity of the rural people. Eighty percent of the population of Sri Lanka live in rural areas. We plan to develop rural areas with all facilities such as education, transport, water, electricity, communication. Then we can avoid unnecessary urbanization experienced in the development process of western countries," the minister said. He said, Divi Neguma national development project is another initiative of the government to improve the income, nutrition and healthy food habits and foods security of rural people. Both programmes, Gama Neguma and Divi Neguma, have been implemented successfully and a large contribution came from these projects for the country's economic growth.

"The government will implement these programmes continuously making adjustments when necessary. Experience and learning from similar projects will help Sri Lanka to make such adjustments. Therefore, Sri Lanka will closely watch and study the Korean experience to adopt them in Sri Lanka's development drive," the minister said.

 

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