The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has dispatched four new Korea Overseas Volunteers (KOVs) to Nepal. They arrived in Kathmandu on January 20, 2025, and will begin their assignments from February 26, 2025 after completing local adaptation training.

KOV Youngah Maeng will be dispatched to the Himalayan Special School for Autism and Rehabilitation Center, Dhangadhi, Kailali in Special Education Sector, KOV Dahl Sam Hong will be dispatched to Suryodya Municipality Office, Ilam in Tourism sector, KOV Taekyu An will be dispatched to Nepal Red Cross Society, Kaski (Provincial Blood Transfusion Services) and Haeun Kim will be dispatched to Dhaulagiri Provincial Hospital, Baglung in Nursing sector. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, KOICA re-launched its KOV program in December 2021, and since then a total of 21 KOVs have been dispatched to Nepal in various sectors.

The volunteers will take one month of local adaptation training program in Kathmandu where they will learn about Nepalese society, culture, tradition as well as language. Such kind of adaptation program will be helpful for them to adjust and work in their concerned community/organization enabling them to be familiar with the Nepalese environment.

The objective of the KOV program is to focus more on transferring Korean knowledge and experiences directly at the grassroots level. However, these programs aimed to improve the quality of life of people in partner countries to strengthen the friendship and mutual understanding between Korea and partner countries and to help in the efforts to achieve development goals set by the international community.

Since 1990, KOICA volunteers have been assigned to different government organizations both within and outside the Kathmandu valley, in response to the requests and demands of the Nepalese government. They contribute to diverse sectors such as education, health, agriculture, IT, tourism, and more. As of now, a total of 489 volunteers have been sent to Nepal, with 4 KOICA volunteers presently engaged in active roles within various government institutions located in the Kavre, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts.

KOICA Nepal Office expressed commitment to take every possible measure in following the health protocol with regards to COVID-19 while implementing the KOV program.