Two interns from the United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (UN-APCICT) won first prize in an article-writing contest for university students, on the topic of Korea’s official development assistance (ODA) and international development cooperation.
The contest was organized by the Korea International Cooperation Agency and sponsored by the Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade – although APCICT, a regional institution of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), based in Incheon, in the Republic of Korea, also played a role in the prize-winning article, according to the winners.
“The paper we wrote proposes a knowledge sharing mechanism for Korea’s Aid Programme on information and communication technology for development,” said Hye Ryoung Jung, who co-wrote the article with Sun Mi Ha. “It is very much based on the experience and knowledge gained during our internship at APCICT.”
Ms. Ha completed her 3-month internship in September and is now back at the University of California (San Diego) continuing her studies at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. Ms. Jung has been interning with APCICT since August and will continue her studies in International Relations at Seoul National University in December. They will each receive $3,000 scholarship and an opportunity to travel overseas to experience first-hand one of Korea’s ODA projects.
Sharing in the students’ excitement was Hyeun-Suk Rhee, the director of APCICT, which aims to strengthen the efforts of the member countries of UNESCAP to use ICT in their socio-economic development through building human and institutional capacity for ICT.
“It is very heartening to see my advisees’ excellent performance as investing in the region’s future leaders is one of our key priorities at APCICT,” said Ms. Rhee, a former university professor. “The Centre’s internship programme represents a starting point for interns’ involvement in using information and communication technology for development, and we are proud that our interns have built on this experience.”
