A Study on Multilateral Aid Strategies of OECD/DAC Members and Policy Implications for South Korea


Hyuk-Sang Sohn, Toh-Kyeong Ahn, and Jong Hee Park


Globally, UN organizations and international financial institutions (IFI) play an important role in effective development and cooperation. International society has increased the volume of multilateral aid, having recognized its importance through international organizations. Advanced donor states utilize efficiency, professional knowhow, and regional expertise of international organizations to supplement bilateral aid and also accomplish their own goals in international development and cooperation along with global development goals such as MDGs. In addition, they have actively carried out multilateral policy with strategies of international organizations in order to increase their influence on international organization and society.

Hence, Korea should draw policy implications through analysis of how advanced donor states implement their strategies along with policies of international organizations for effective accomplishment of policy goals through multilateral aid. This research thus aims to do the following: 1) provide basic data for the research of the KIEP, clarifying the overall trend of multilateral aid policy among advanced donor states through study of OECD DAC member states; 2) study and analyze multilateral aid policies of five advanced donor states (the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and Australia) to draw policy implications; and 3) based on OECD DAC research and case studies, elicit policy implications which can serve as reference in formulation of strategies for the promotion of Korean multilateral aid.

The research report consists of five chapters. The introductory chapter explains the background, objectives and necessity of the research as well as the range, method, and its composition. The second chapter conducts a comparison of DAC member states’ multilateral aid policies, covering the general situation and policies of OECD DAC member states regarding multilateral aid; in addition to analyzing the trend and features of their multilateral aid promotion strategies and monitoring systems. The third chapter is entitled, “Analysis of DAC member states’ multilateral aid situation.” The chapter covers the volume of multilateral and bilateral aid of respective DAC member states and highlights priorities of various international organizations, areas, and regions according to the time change via network analysis and time-series analysis. The fourth chapter, entitled “Major advanced donor states’ multilateral aid policies and promotion strategies,” assesses development and cooperation, multilateral aid situation, goals, and principles of various states through a case study of five states. It also analyzes the standards and monitoring systems used to classify multilateral aid volume and use of multilateral aid. The last chapter concludes with policy implications for increasing the efficiency of Korean multilateral aid, and policy implications for Korean multilateral aid in general.