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[Focus] 2016 KAIST Conference on Emerging Financial Markets2016-12-16Hit:1327

  • Writer주선희
포토갤러리


On December 21, 2016, KAIST Conference on Emerging Financial Markets was successfully held on campus, and two of our alumni were invited from their home countries. The alumni are the first two winners of the latest essay contest, which they presented to the faculty and current students. Also, there was a special lecture on “The Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment” delivered by Seokwoo Kim, Professor of the Department of International Relations, University of Seoul. After the presentations, the awards ceremony and dinner followed. The winners, current students and faculty members gathered and celebrated the event together.

This event was held after KGSF’s Essay Contest designed for the purpose of encouraging the international alumni to improve their work performance after returning to their home countries. It is the second time this contest has taken place.

According to a survey by KGSF, many of our alumni said that they have been successfully applying what they learned. They also have been trying to share their knowledge within their organizations. For this reason, KGSF designed this essay contest. The event will increase the alumni’s motivation for applying and sharing their knowledge within the alumni network. We expect this contest will stimulate the alumni to demonstrate their pride and passion for work which will help them improve their organizational performance. It will be also helpful for the alumni to learn from other people’s experiences.

In the contest this year, many of the alumni submitted impressive stories. All the essays successfully described their education and experiences at KAIST as well as their ways of applying what they learned to their work. The contest was judged by a review committee consisting of four professors through a double stage review process.

The winners are:
○ First Place: Kwesi Asante from the Ghana
○ Second Place: Vongsokunthy Koun from Cambodia
○ Third Place: Jessica Andrea Bolanos from Ecuador
○ Forth Place: Lila Raj Kafle from Nepal

The first and second place winners were invited to attend the conference and ceremony, and the third and fourth place participants were given a plaque and a school logo watch set as prizes.

Kwesi, who placed first, discussed the application of his knowledge and experience he achieved at KAIST after he returned Ghana. Before coming to study in KAIST, he was the Head of the Natural Resource, Environment and Climate Change Unit which was tasked with tracking all financial resources used to implement climate change activities. Highly motivated, he successfully completed the Green Finance Track as well as the Finance MBA.

After his arrival in Ghana, he had an opportunity to present the research that he conceptualized when he was studying in KAIST. The research is related to tracking climate finance by advocating for the implementation of Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review – a methodology that helps to track climate-related financing and expenditure through national budgets. In his presentation, he suggested using government incentives to attract private sector participation in climate finance, something he learned through a case study in climate finance.
 
Since he was assigned to the Deputy Coordinator position of his new Secretariat (NREG/GHEITI), which deals with environmental management, natural resource governance, and enhancing revenue transparency and accountability in the extractive sector, he has contributed to the production of the annual report on the mining, oil and gas sectors. Also, the Secretariat organized a dissemination workshop in communities to share the findings with the locals and empowered them with information and the platform to demand accountability, which led to significant policy changes. His department also organized a hands-on workshop to build the capacity of officials from relevant government organizations.  He was one of the facilitators that took participants thorough financial tools like CAPM, capital budgeting, financial statistics – key tools he learned at KAIST.

Kunthy, the second place winner, describes a wide range of knowledge sharing cases in Cambodia. After completing his study program, he returned home in 2014 and has had a chance to present his study outcomes in Korea in front of the bank's senior management. Through his presentation, they all acknowledged that Cambodia and Korea have something in common which in many cases can be applied to Cambodia. He also made another presentation to young employees working in the bank. He explained that studying overseas, especially in a country that has similar past experiences such as Korea, is the right path in the hope of gaining new knowledge, skills and experiences.

After he was transferred to the Department of Economic Research & International Cooperation, he continued sharing his knowledge and experiences. Kunthy and other participants, delivered presentations during the class in order to promote a broad based discussion and an exchange of experiences among all participants, realizing that sharing personal insights and professional experiences through group discussions provides more comprehensive knowledge of country-specific frameworks for conducting monetary policy and fostered a network. He usually discusses these experiences and skills to his colleagues in his department through a learning session called Friday Talk, which is held on every Friday morning to update and discuss current economic, social and financial issues in the country, as well as regional and global issues.

*click here to see the essays.
-Kwesi Asante 
-Vongsokunthy Koun


Contact : Kim, Jihye ( jaimekim@kaist.ac.kr )
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