Korea Saemaul Undong Center conducted a feasibility study on new projects in the two countries of Uganda and Laos from February 28 to March 19 towards launching a sustainable Global Saemaul Undong. The study was conducted to determine the appropriateness of the two candidate SMU model villages, establish a cooperative channel through a meeting with the government and related agencies and collect information and data to promote Saemaul Undong in the mid- to long term.

The study team ? made up of personnel from Korea Saemaul Undong Center and Korea’s Ministry of Interior and Safety, as well as external experts - visited the target village in each country and engaged in in-depth interviews and conducted the surveys. In addition, the team examined the villages’ general conditions for Saemaul Undong such as roads, markets, and geographic conditions, as well as the level of current development, and resident characteristics. It also visited the central and local governments and related agencies to look at their support levels and systems for cooperation.

Korea Saemaul Undong Center evaluates three areas when ing a new SMU model village: 1) the existence of autonomous organizations, the level of participation from residents in general and women in particular, the possibility of fund raising, and the village’s ability to pay for its own project 2) villagers’ educational level, experience with village projects, understanding of Saemaul Undong, and concrete willingness to adopt Saemaul Undong as well as the village leaders’ leadership capabilities and 3) the level of cooperation from the central and local governments, whether there is a land the village owns itself usable for the project, resident level of farming education and administrative capacity. 

The results of the local feasibility study will be finalized after thorough review and analysis of the target country government’s willingness to adopt and execute Saemaul Undong projects and the current project execution structure as well as the assessment based on the above criteria for ion of SMU model villages.