Although the size of national heritage ODA has increased... Project selection and evaluation system ‘insufficient’

Although the scale of official development assistance (ODA) projects led by the National Heritage Administration has increased, it has been pointed out that the system for implementing and managing them is inadequate.

According to data submitted by Jin Seon-mi, a member of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, from the National Heritage Administration on the 8th, the ODA budget related to national heritage tripled from approximately 3.669 billion won in 2022 to 11.12 billion won this year.

However, it was found that improvement was needed in various areas of the project execution process.

For example, in the case of the 'Digital Heritage Center Construction Support' project conducted in Egypt from 2023 by the Korean University of Traditional Culture under the National Heritage Administration, the National Heritage Administration has requested an audit from the Board of Audit and Inspection.

The congressman's office said, "As a result of the investigation by the National Heritage Office, it was pointed out that existing free productions were delivered as (ODA) project results and that personnel who did not participate in the project were included in the data for labor cost settlement."

In addition, “The National Heritage Administration extended the contract period three times to 2023 and 2024 even though it was aware that there were problems with project execution,” he said. “The project was judged inappropriate in the 2027 project review and is scheduled to end early this year.”

There are also opinions that the criteria or process for selecting organizations to carry out ODA projects are not clear.

The congressman's office pointed out, "In the national heritage ODA project, a 'self-evaluation' structure was confirmed in which the executing agency develops evaluation indicators to judge performance and selects and evaluates an evaluation company following project execution."

Whether or not interim evaluations to check project progress were conducted also appeared to vary depending on the project.

Rep. Jin Seon-mi emphasized, “The poor ODA project goes beyond wasting citizens’ taxes and can lead to damage to Korea’s international trust,” adding, “The overall project execution system must be improved.”