Wednesday 20 September 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., more than 20 people met online to attend the Development Cooperation Colloquium, whose theme is <Community engagement and the role of civil society organizations in disaster prevention and humanitarian aid>. The Colloquium is sponsored by KOICA(코이카), NRF-2020S1A5A2A03043548(한국연구재단), HUFS(한국외국어대학교). 

 

The webinar started with the introduction of the moderator, Yunjeong Yang, a professor at Hanuk University of Foreign Studies, followed by the invited speakers＇ presentations. First, Sandra Engstrom, lecturer at the University of Stirling, shared her perspective and research on Civil Society Organizations(CSOs) and community resilience in terms of disaster risk reduction(DRR). Next, Kyungshin Lee, a humanitarian affairs specialist at the Korean NGO Council for Overseas Development Cooperation (KCOC) continued to convey her insights on the role of Korean CSOs in the humanitarian sector, especially in climate crisis adaptation and DRR projects.

 

 

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Sandra Engstrom＇s research centres on community resilience as well as the role of social work in combating the climate crisis. This often takes the form of looking at community mental health, trauma, and eco-grief. Currently she is the Canopy and Communities Officer for the Forth Climate Forest (FF) Project, a partnership in Scotland, hosted by the University of Stirling＇s Scotland International Environment Centre, which aims to drive a net zero regional economy. The FF will facilitate the planting of around 16.4 million new trees across 8,300 hectares within the next 10 years. Sandra has experience working with vulnerable populations and community groups within a research and teaching capacity.

 

Kyungshin Lee is Humanitarian Affairs Specialist at Korea NGO Council for Overseas Development Cooperation, which is a national platform of 140 Korea NGOs in international development and humanitarian sector. Her work focuses on ensuring quality and accountability in humanitarian response by providing guidance and advise on integration of Q&A standards into program management and coordination. She had previously served as a Program Director of Humanitarian Partnership at the same organization for over 10 years, contributing to initiation and development of humanitarian partnership between the ROK government and Korea NGOs that consists of advocacy, financing and capacity strengthening of NGOs.