The NHI took part in this DEEP Program to share Korea’s national development experience through public HRD and administrative policy consulting. It offers various advice on curriculum design, textbook development, and teaching method establishment based on the NHI’s current education programs for foreign public officials.

The NHI concluded an MOU with the Academy of Public Administration (APA) in 2014. In May 2015, Korea and Uzbekistan agreed on exchanges for public sector capacity building at a bilateral summit. Following the agreement, Uzbekistan asked for a Capacity Building Project for Public Sector Innovation and KOICA concluded an Agreed Minutes with the APA in 2016. The Korean government delivered a Note Verbale to the government of Uzbekistan in June 2017. Next, the NHI concluded a Negotiated Contract with KOICA in November 2017. KOICA selected the Korea Institute of Public Administration (KIPA), Seoul National University (SNU) and CIC SOFT as Project Contractors (PC) in 2018.

The “APA Capacity Building Project for Public Sector Innovation in Uzbekistan,” which is the official name of the project, started from November 2017 and is expected to end on November 2021*. The project is to develop the public HRD system in Uzbekistan through policy consulting, to strengthen APA’s education capacity, and to improve capacity building through an invitational program.
* Due to COVID-19, the project period has been extended by one year from the previous three years.

In 2019, The NHI held four invitational programs in Korea with a total of 70 participants to strengthen participants’ policy management capacity. Two APA master’s programs (20 participants each), one APA faculty members program (15 participants) and one high-level public officials program (15 participants) were organized.

The NHI also had three workshops in Uzbekistan on March, June and August to improve teaching methods and job skills for the APA’s faculties. In addition, the NHI had four project management monitoring visits to Uzbekistan for baseline investigation and to monitor project contractors’ tasks.

Furthermore, the NHI participated in the APA’s international conference in November titled “State Human Resource Policy in the Context of Civil Service Reform: The Experience of Uzbekistan Foreign Practice." During the conference, Professor Hwang In-pyo from the NHI gave a presentation on “HRD Innovation using Living Lab.”

In 2020, invitational programs and business trips to Uzbekistan for project monitoring was not possible due to COVID-19. Thus, the NHI is continuously holding meetings for project management monitoring with PCs to successfully carry the project forward.
* Project Contractors continued with their task on policy consulting, policy case study development, smart learning, and etc in 2020.

In 2021, the NHI will have three online programs including two APA faculty members programs (30 participants in total)and one APA master’s students program (20 participants). The NHI is also planning to have online project management monitoring meetings and one end-line survey. Project contractors are also expected to finalize their given tasks. The DEEP project will be completed in November 2021.