Kenya asked to adopt South Korean model to lower rural poverty

Kenya has been challenged to financially empower villages to improve economic growth and reduce rural poverty.

During his visit to the country, Jin Kwang, the president of Saemaul Undong, a community-based movement that helps to improve the lives of people in South Korean villages, said this strategy has been rolled out in Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia.

“By practicing Saemaul Undong (new community), villagers learned directly from their own work, such as the improvement of the living environment, which produces outcomes and benefits in a short time,” Mr Jin said.

In the 1960s, Korea was among the world’s least developed countries, with a gross national income per capita of under Sh10,000 ($100).

“The Korean economy in the 1970s jumped to industrialisation as the government pushed ahead with a five-year economic plan,” Jin said.

“But rural areas, where 70 per cent of the Korean population resides, still suffered from poverty. Former President Park Chun-hee believed that national development could not be achieved without rural development, so he came up with Saemaul Undong in 1970.”

Free of charge

The model saw the central government provide raw materials free of charge to participating villages, entrusting them to build infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, and set up irrigation schemes.

“After establishing a rural development plan, the government provided 33,267 villages with 335 sacks of cement for free. Villages set specific plans for their projects, while the government just provided rough guidelines on how they could work together. A year later, the project yielded more than was expected, with villagers cherishing the work they had done using their own funds and labour.”

Today, South Korea is the world’s 14th largest economy.

The Saemaul Undong model aims to help villagers access basic infrastructure so they can create income-increasing projects. This includes building bridges, paving village roads, cultivating land, developing irrigation and greenhouse systems, cultivating horticultural products, and creating markets.

It also seeks to expand co-operative businesses, which include community credit co-operatives for village finance, labour co-operatives and public market stalls.

Jin said the model has since spread to cities, factories and companies, with people working together to create decent societies with public etiquette, awareness on conserving the environment, quality control, reducing waste and improving productivity.

For Jin, if embraced in all Kenyan villages, the model would not only eliminate the ‘serikali saidia’ call, but also foster volunteerism and cultivate unity among communities.