KOICA Nepal Office organized a Pre-Departure Orientation Program for 15 government officials from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology including CTEVT on August 20, 2025 followed by a similar program for 20 government officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development on August 21, 2025.

The orientation programs were organized under KOICA’s Capacity Improvement and Advancement for Tomorrow (CIAT) Fellowship Program. Through the CIAT program, KOICA has been supporting the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in implementing the training program titled “Capacity Building of TVET Instructors on E-Learning in Nepal” since 2023, this is one of the KOICA’s multi year capacity building program which is concluding this year. Through this program until now 55 government officials from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology have participated in the training program in Korea. The departure orientation was attended by KOICA Deputy Country Director Choong Hee Choi, he stressed that this program shall contribute in strengthening e-learning system in Nepal.

Likewise, starting form this year KOICA is implementing new CIAT program with Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development in program titled “Capacity Building for Agriculture Officers on Post-Harvest Management of Fruits and Vegetable Crops in Nepal”. This too is a multiyear program and will be completed on 2027. It is expected by 2027, 50 participants from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development will be benefitted. These capacity building training programs are designed to enhance Nepal's education and agriculture policy and system based on Korea's experiences.

The orientation program for Agriculture program was organized on August 21, 2025 aimed to ensure that the government officials are well-prepared for the program. It provided all the necessary information about program objective logistic arrangements and few things on cultural aspect which shall support the participants to attend the program smoothly.

The program also had a session on Knowledge Sharing Program where KOICA graduate from Kangwon National University 2025 (official from Ministry of Agriculture and livestock Development) Madan Marasini, presented his thesis titled “Impact of Cooperative Participation of Wheat Seed Production Farmers on Technical Efficiency, Income, and Yield: The Case of the Terai Region in Lumbini Province, Nepal”. In his presentation, he explored how farmer cooperatives impact wheat seed producers in terms of technical efficiency, income, and yield. Using data from 121 farmers across four districts and employing Stochastic Frontier Analysis and Propensity Score Matching, his study found that cooperative membership significantly reduced input costs and improved yield and gross margin. The study concluded that while cooperatives are effective in input delivery, their role in enhancing production efficiency needs strengthening. With improved support, contract farming could play a crucial role in achieving the goals of Nepal’s Seed Vision 2013–2025. The sharing was organized with an objective of maximizing the impact of the KOICA CIAT program.

Since 1991, the KOICA fellowship program has supported over 2200 Nepali government officers through various programs, including Country Specific Programs, Multi Country Programs, and Scholarship programs. This year also 5 government officials have been awarded with KOICA Scholarship, all 5 of them are scheduled to depart with in August 2025 to pursue Master Degree program in different renowned Universities in Korea. KOICA remains committed to supporting human resource development in Nepal via these kinds of programs.