Earticle

Agricultural productivity in developing countries is increasingly imperiled by climate variability. Nepal presents a compelling case study: with 66% of its population dependent on agriculture, the country must contend with fragmented landholdings, erratic monsoon patterns, and severe agro-ecological heterogeneity across 1,359 distinct climatic zones. Timely, location-specific weather forecasts are a prerequisite for informed crop management, yet such systems have remained largely inaccessible to smallholder farmers. This study presents a comprehensive, data-driven agricultural decision-support framework that integrates spatio-temporal weather forecasting, soil-aware crop recommendation, and a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) advisory chatbot within a unified mobile platform, with the aim of enhancing farm-level decision-making across Nepal's diverse agro-ecological landscape. Historical weather data spanning 42 years from 1,359 locations (NASA POWER) were used to train two deep learning architectures: a Transformer-based Graph Neural Network and a Spatio-Temporal Graph Convolutional Network (STGCN). A graph structure encoding geodesic distance and altitudinal similarity (edges within 15 km or 50 m altitude difference) modeled spatial dependencies. A 120-day rolling lookback window captured temporal dynamics. Forecasted weather variables were integrated with static soil attributes via an inverse-distance scoring algorithm to rank crop suitability. A RAG chatbot using hybrid SPLADE and dense embeddings provided natural-language advisory support in Nepali and English. The STGCN achieved superior forecasting performance with a Mean Squared Error (MSE) of 0.011 compared to 0.013 for the Transformer-based model, demonstrating its capacity to capture complex spatial and temporal dependencies. The crop recommendation engine generated ranked suitability indices across all 1,359 locations. The RAG-based advisory system produced contextually relevant, multilingual responses to diverse farmer queries. The mobile deployment received positive qualitative feedback from rural users in terms of accessibility and relevance. This study demonstrates that integrating spatio-temporal deep learning with soil data fusion and conversational AI can deliver scalable, accessible, and accurate agricultural guidance in data-scarce, geographically complex settings. The framework offers a replicable model for precision agriculture in other developing-country contexts vulnerable to climate variability.

우리나라가 2010년 경제협력개발기구(OECD) 개발원조위원회(DAC)에 가입함에 따라 공적개발원조(ODA) 규모 및 개도국 지속가능성장 사업 지원이 해마다 확대되고 있는 추세이다. 특히, 기상⋅기후분야는 개발도상국가의 자연재해 피해 저감과 기후변화에 따른 적응 능력 배양에 직결된다는 점에서 매우 중요한 분야이며, 자연과학, 공학, 사회과학이 총망라되는 분야이므로 기존의 다른 공적개발원조사업과는 구별되는 특수성을 바탕으로 기획되고 관리되어야 한다. 본 연구에서는 국내외 공적개발원조 기관(KOICA, EDCF, USAID, GTZ, JICA)과 국제금융기구(WB, ADB)의 기상⋅기후 공적개발원조사업 현황을 조사하고, Post-2015 합의 이후 우리나라의 기상⋅기후 유무상 공적개발원조사업후속관리를 위한 제도적 방안을 도출하였다. 또한 효율적인 개도국의 기후변화 적응 능력 향상을위한 공적개발원조사업 추진 전담 대응 전략 조직을 제시하였다. 이 공적개발원조사업 추진 전담조직의 지휘탑은 개도국의 기후변화적응 배양을 위한 공적개발원조사업 전략을 제시하고, 대상 개도국 나라별 공적개발원조사업 발굴, 이행에 관한 감독 및 평가를 해야 할 것으로 사료된다. 마지막으로 지속가능한 개발목표 달성을 위한 효율적인 기상⋅기후 공적개발원조사업 추진을 위해 국내외관련조직들 간의 거버넌스 체계를 제시하였다.

The Official Development Assistance (ODA) has expanded gradually in Korea since it joined the OECD DAC in 2010. The ODA projects related to weather and climate issues have been designed and managed with special attention as they require a multidisciplinary approach including natural science, engineering and social science. This study aims to review the current projects by various domestic and international ODA organizations, along with the international financial institutions such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Based on the review, this study provides a systematic design to plan and manage the ODA activities related to weather and climate, following the post-2015 agenda. Considering the demand in developing countries, a solid control tower along with cascading strategic components is suggested to efficiently run the ODA system. Finally, we propose to establish an effective governance system which can provide better results to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

본 연구에서는 공적개발원조(ODA) 사업의 일환으로 수행되는 산학협력 프로그램을 고찰하고 개선 방향 을 도출하였다. 먼저, 공적개발원조(ODA)로 시행되는 산학협력 프로그램에서 발생할 수 있는 잠재적인 문제를 해 결하기 위한 기본적인 방안으로 명확한 커뮤니케이션 및 공유 목표, 학문적 이익과 상업적 이익 사이의 균형, 역 량 구축 및 자원 할당, 인재 유지, 지역 관련성 등을 제시하였다. 그리고, 이와 같은 방안을 충족하면서 현장에서 ODA 산학협력 프로그램으로 활용할 수 있는 ODA-리빙랩 프로젝트를 제안하였다. 향후, 개발된 기술에 대한 지 식재산권 확보와 해당 기술의 보호를 위해 대학의 직무발명 프로세스를 통해 공동으로 특허출원을 지원받게 되 며, 지역내의 상공회의소와 연계해 클라우드 펀딩 제도 등 다양한 창업지원 제도를 활용하게 된다.

In this study, the Industry-university cooperation program conducted as part of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) project was reviewed and improvement directions were drawn. First, as basic measures to solve potential problems that may arise in industry-university cooperation programs implemented with ODA, clear communication and sharing goals, balance between academic and commercial interests, capacity building and resource allocation, talent retention, regional relevance, etc. presented. In addition, the ODA-Living Lab project, which can be used as an ODA industry-academia cooperation program in the field while satisfying these measures, was proposed. In the future, joint patent applications will be supported through the university's employee invention process to secure intellectual property rights for the developed technology and protect the technology. In addition, it will support the start-up of the project by utilizing the cloud-funding system linked to the local chamber of commerce.

지난 10년 동안 세계화가 빠르게 진행됨에 따라 FDI는 선진국에서 신흥국으로, 특히 개발도상 국에서 가장 두드러진 특징으로 나타났다. 특히 아시아, 아프리카 및 중남미 국가들은 FDI의 주요 대상국으로 부상하였다. 이에 본 논문에서는 1980년대부터 2019년까지 개발도상국의 패 널데이터를 이용하여 개도국의 FDI 유입 결정요인이 무엇인지 분석하였다. 분석대상은 개발 도상국 33개국 아시아, 아프리카 및 중남미 3개 그룹으로 구분하여, 그룹별 국가에 영향을 주 는 FDI결정요인이 무엇인지? FDI에 영향을 주는 종속변수와 금융발전, 시장규모, 거시경제, 인 프라시설, 무역개방성, 노동자원 6가지 독립변수로 하여 패널 데이터 분석을 실시하였다. 분석 결과 금융발전 수준, 시장 규모, 물가 수준 , 인프라 시설, 무역 개방성, 노동자원이 개발도상국 FDI 유입에 긍정적 요인으로 나타났으며, 아시아, 아프리카, 중남미 각 지역에 대한 분석결과 를 비교해보면 아시아의 경우 FDI 유입을 촉진하기 위해 시장 규모와 무역 개방성이 FDI 유입 요인으로 나타났다, 또한 아프리카의 경우는 인프라와 금융 개발, 중남미 지역의 경우 금융발 전 수준, 시장 규모, 노동자원 및 무역 개방성이 각각 FDI에 영향을 준 것으로 분석되었다.

Purpose : Foreign direct investment is one of the important economic characteristics in the modern globalized world. The flow of investments into developing economies is increasingly accounting for a large share of global FDI. The purpose of the study is to find out the factors that influence the attraction of foreign investment into developing countries. Research design, data, methodology : The study collected data from 33 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin, Central America, and Caribbean between 1980 and 2019. By using the Eviews, stationary test, fixed effects and random effects test to find variables that have a significant impact on the development of developing countries as well as each region of Asia, Africa, Central South America. Results : The results show that since 1980, financial development, market size, price stability, trade openness, infrastructure capacity and labor force have had a significant impact on FDI inflows to developing countries. However, when separating with Asia, Africa, the Americas, Central America and the Caribbean, different factors determine the FDI inflows of each region. For Asia market size and trade openness are influential factors that have a positive impact on attracting foreign capital inflows. The larger the trade openness, the more FDI inflows are attracted. Similarly, a larger market, encouraging efficient investment, has been particularly attractive to FDI investors in recent decades. For Africa, the level of financial development, market size, trade openness, infrastructure and labor source are the factors that influence the attraction of FDI inflows. While for Central South America, the level of financial development is the most significant variable affecting FDI attraction, followed by market size, labor source and trade openness are positive factors that have a significant impact on FDI inflows. Conclusions : Therefore, In order to promote FDI inflow, the level of financial development, market size, openness of trade, infrastructure construction and workers' resources should be established. And as the analysis shows, different FDI determinants in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are different, so policy planning and enforcement for each region are needed.

Due to the low usage level of traditional financial services in many developing countries, Fintech services that often substitute for such traditional services with greater convenience have great potential in these markets. However, there have thus far been relatively few attempts to examine Fintech adoption in developing countries. As financial services are a highly sensitive industry in terms of government regulation and consumer trust, it is critical for policymakers to understand how to foster a healthy Fintech marketplace in developing country environments. In this paper, we review the scholarly literature on Fintech adoption with respect to three stakeholder groups: customers, service providers, and policymakers. Adding with practitioner-oriented documentation relating to Fintech adoption in Vietnam, we derive propositions for Fintech adoption research in Vietnam and similar developing countries. We collect these propositions as a framework that suggests avenues for future research.

무선 전자 장치 상에서 전자 정부의 행정 처리는 안전하지 않으므로 메시지들이 공격에 취약하다. 따라서 무선 인터넷을 지원하는 장치는 유선 네트워크와 동일한 수준의 보안과 프라이버시가 보장되어야 한다. 유선 환경에서 사용 되는 전자 정부의 국가 공개키 기반 구조(NPKI)는 컴퓨팅 성능, 메모리 용량 및 제한된 배터리 전력의 한계로 인해 모바일 전자 정부를 위한 무선 환경에 적합하지 않다. 이를 위해서는 유선 NPKI와 동일한 보안 수준을 제공하는 개발 도상국을 위한 모바일 국가 공개키 기반구조(mPKI)의 개발이 필요하다. 무선 환경에서의 mNPKI 요구사항은 짧은 시간 한계를 갖는 인증서를 기반으로 한다. 분석 결과 mNPKI는 무선 인터넷에 적합하고 유선 NPKI와 동일한 보안과 프라이버시를 제공함을 확인하였다.

Government transactions over wireless electronic devices are not safe and hence the messages are prone to attack. Thereby, devices supporting wireless Internet must assure the same level of security and privacy as the wired network. National public key infrastructure (NPKI) for electronic government used in the wired environment is not suitable for wireless environment for mobile government (mGovernment) because of the limitations of computing power, memory capacity and restricted battery power. This requires the development of a new NPKI for mGovernment, denoted as mNPKI, to developing countries, which provides the same security level as the wired NPKI. For the wireless environment requirements, mNPKI is based on short lived certificates. Analysis shows that mNPKI is well suited to wireless Internet and provides the same security requirement from the wired NPKI.

Local government is considered as an inextricable part of the government system that provides rural people with services. In developing countries like Bangladesh where poverty still dominates, local government plays a vital role in improving the living conditions of the rural poor. Indeed, the role of local government may be more important in developing countries. Local government can be considered as the most significant channel through which government can reach the doorsteps of the rural poor. This study aims to contribute to the literature by looking at some cases of a developing country. In Bangladesh, local government lacks the capacity to provide the rural poor with effective services. This study looked at the case of the Union Parishads (UPs) in Bangladesh as an example of local governments in developing countries to examine the prevailing problems and future prospects in delivering public services to the rural poor and encouraging public participation. In doing so, three UPs (Kalirbazar UP, Moynamoti UP and Bijoypur UP) were chosen as the study area. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, this study found that local residents (villagers) have increasing need for the delivery of public services by their UP. A lack of service delivery coordination, lack of funds, and limited authority are identified as the major challenges. To address these challenges and other issues, we offer some policy recommendations. A transparent selection process should be implemented for the beneficiaries of public service and assistance programs. A consensus among the committee members should be in place and follow-up feedback provided by the local public. The UP should have adequate resources to maintain the proper level of service delivery. The UP should establish some revenue generation programs, related to the development, beyond the current tax collection. The UP should have the proper level of autonomy to provide services without undue pressure from political elites. Having more public participation from the local population as well as the general satisfaction of the public would help to accomplish this.

Although there is no direct relationship between the size of the country and development, in the epoch of globalization, developing countries of small size are facing more complicated problems than developing countries of larger size. The principal concern is if small states have any problems related to the foreign market or foreign relations, they are fundamentally less capable than other countries of adequately resisting and adapting because of their lack of physical and financial resources. Although all small countries are facing different globalization challenges, their internal and external environments are dissimilar. Therefore, small countries need more country-specific strategies in order to benefit from globalization. In this paper, the focus is on Mongolia. As Professor Christopher Atwood from Indiana University said, “Mongolia is one of a small fraternity of ‘sandwich’ countries, which are entirely contained between other powers.” Additionally, Mongolia is an ex-communist country, which is struggling to build a parliamentary democracy with a market economy. Therefore, the country’s specific conditions and challenges for globalization differ a lot from the ones of the other small developing countries. The presenting paper explains, first, the needs of Mongolia for globalization in the light of geopolitical, economic, and socio-cultural contexts. It is important to highlight that in the case of Mongolia, its traditional and transitional difficulties challenge its efforts toward globalization. Second, some possible development strategies or trends, which are based on the Mongolian current reality, are discussed.

이 논문은 ‘개발도상국에 있어 ODA가 FDI 유입에 미치는 영향’을 추정하는데 그 목적이 있다. ODA와 FDI의 관계에 대한 이 주제는 많은 경제학자들에 의해 연구되어 왔지만, 아직 합의를 이루지 못한 분야이다. 이 논문은 2000년부터 2019년까지 91개 의 개발도상국 데이터를 이용하여 분석하였다. 전체 데이터를 이용한 추정에서는 ODA와 FDI간 유의미한 관련성을 찾을 수 없었다. 그렇지만 개도국들을 저소득국과 중소득국으로 나누어 분석했을 때는 저소득국에서 ODA가 FDI에 양의 영향을 줌을 알 수 있었다. 중소득국의 경우에는 그러한 영향이 없었다. 이 분석결과는 ‘저소득국 경제개발을 위해 더 많은 ODA가 지원되어야 한다’는 국제사회의 정책방향에 부합한다.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the effect of Official development assistance (ODA) on foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in developing countries. This issue has been studied by many economists but there is no consensus yet on the relationship between ODA and FDI. We analyzed the data of 91 developing countries for the period of 2000 to 2019. For the whole data, the relationship is not significant in our estimation results. When we divide the data into low-income and middle-income countries, however, we found a positive effect of ODA on FDI inflows in low-income countries, but no significant result in middle-income countries. This result supports the policy direction of international organizations to provide more ODA funding to low-income countries for economic development.

이주노동자의 해외송금은 개발도상국 경제에서 외환수입의 원천이자 금융발전 측면에서 매우 중요한 역할을 하고 있다. 본 연구는 세계은행의 연간 자료를 이용하고 패널 PMG와 패널 VECM기법을 적용하여 1981년부터 2018년까지 해외송금 유입이 개발도상국의 금융발전에 미 치는 영향을 분석하며, 1994년부터 2018년까지 해외송금 유입이 금융발전에 미치는 장·단기 영향의 크기와 방향을 분석하고 도입 변수들의 동태적 인과관계의 정도를 파악함을 목적으로 하였다. 본 연구의 핵심적인 연구결과는 제시하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 패널 PMG기법을 이용한 장기균형식 결과 1% 유의수준에서 해외송금의 증가는 국내신용을 확대시키는 것으로 나타났 다. 그리고 오차수정항이 음(-)의 부호를 가지면서 통계적으로 유의한 것으로 분석되었다. 단 기적으로 저소득국가 그룹만이 해외송금 변동이 국내신용 변동에 통계적으로 긍정적으로 유 의한 영향을 주는 것으로 분석되었다. 둘째, 패널 VECM을 추정한 결과 저소득국가와 고중소 득국가로의 해외송금 유입은 국내신용에 단기와 장기에 일방적 인과성을 갖는 것으로 나타났 다. 게다가, 저중소득국가와 고중소득국가로의 해외송금은 순공적개발원조에 단기와 장기에서 영향을 주는 것으로 분석되었다. 본 연구의 실증적 결과는 개발도상국들의 금융재원 가용성 향상과 금융중개 효율성 향상 정책을 수립하는 기초자료를 제공함으로써 이주노동자의 국제 적 이동을 향상시켜 개발도상국들의 지속적인 금융발전과 경제성장을 달성하는데 도움을 줄 수 있을 것이다.

Purpose : The objective of this paper is to analyze the effects of remittance inflows on financial development by income level in developing countries. Research design, data, methodology : This paper uses the World Bank's annual data from 1981 to 2018 and from 1994 to 2018 applying the panel PMG and panel VECM methods to analyze the long-term and short-term impacts of remittance inflows on financial development in developing countries. Results : As a result of the long-term equilibrium equation, the increase in remittances at the 1% significant level showed to expand domestic credit. In addition to, the VECM results showed that short-term and long-term unidirectional causality running from remittance inflows into domestic credit in the low income and upper middle income countries. Conclusions : The empirical results of this study will help improving the availability of financial resources and establishing policies for improving the efficiency of financial intermediation in developing countries.

The concept of e-Government was first developed and implemented in industrialised countries. Consequently, it should not be assumed that this concept is automatically appropriate for developing countries. This study aims to examine the roles of perceived support quality and support satisfaction in the context of government- to-citizen (G2C) transactions towards behavioural intention and usage in developing countries. To test the proposed model, the official website of Kuwait Government Online Services (KGOS) was selected. A survey with a total of 628 responses was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to investigate the goodness of fit of the model and the underlying indicators. The findings confirm the significance of support quality perceived by citizens and provide insights to explain citizens’ intention to use e-Government systems.

This paper reconnoiters the growth of Ghana’s E-government system for government agencies and proposes the implementation of appropriate security systems using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). The article discusses security components such as encryption, digital signatures, digital certificates, public/private key pairs, non-repudiation, and time-stamping. Most of these will be benched marked from Korea E-government PKI and other security systems. The research will provide a practical insight to policy-makers and practitioners in Ghana government agencies to design government PKI for effective adaptation of E-government security.

실업은 개도국에게 있어서 가장 중요한 경제적 과제이다. 본 연구는 개도국에서 일자리 창출과 감소에 관한 기업의 운영기간, 규모와 소유권의 역할에 관한 조사이다. OLS 분석 방법을 사용 하였으며, 본 연구는 기업의 운영 기간과 총 일자리 창출과 순 일자리 창출과의 사이에 반비례 관계를 도출 하였다. 이러한 결과는 시장 선정(market selection)의 이론과도 일치한다. 그러나 기업의 운영 기간과 총 일자리 창출과의 관계는 다른 결과를 보인다. 또한 본 연구의 결과에선 기업의 규모와 총 일자리 창출 사이에 반비례 관계를 보인다. 소기업들 또한 그들의 순 직업 창출 비율을 대기업들의 것과 비슷하게 만드는 더 높은 총 직업 감소율을 보인다. 이러한 발견은 기업의 운영기간이 특히 순 일자리 창출에 관해서는 가장 중요한 요소라는 것을 의미한다. 따라서, 기업들의 진출을 위해 규정들을 개선시키는 것은 개도국에게도 이점을 주며 개도국 내에 일자리 창출을 향상시키는 대에 도움을 줄 수 있다. 본 연구의 결과는 또한 외국 소유의 기업과 현지 기업 모두 추정 모형(the estimation model)에서 상호작용(interaction terms)이 허용되었을 때 일자리 창출에서 더 높은 순 효과(net effect)를 보여준다.

Unemployment is the single most important economic challenge to developing countries. This paper investigates role of firm age, size and ownership in job creation and destruction in developing countries. Using OLS, the paper establishes an inverse relationship between age and both gross job creation and net job creation. This result is consistent with the theory of market selection. However, the relationship between age and gross job destruction is indifferent. There also is a significant and inverse relationship between size and gross job creation. Nonetheless small firms also exhibit higher gross job destruction rate, which makes their net job creation rate to be similar to that of large firms. These findings mean that age is most important driver especially with regard to net job creation. Thus, improving regulatory environment to enhance easy entry of firms in the economy can benefit developing countries and help them improve job creation. The results also show that both foreign owned and state owned firms have a higher net effect in job creation when interaction terms are allowed in the estimation model.

본 연구는 외국인직접투자를 유치한 개발도상국 경제에 기여하기 위해 다국적기업이 행해야 할 몇 가지 주요한 조언을 제공하는데 주요 목적을 두고 있다. 이 목적을 달성하기 위해, 우리는 한국의 성장경험으로부터 시사점을 도출해 보고자 노력하였다. 한국의 경제성장 과정을 살펴본 결과, 다국적기업에게 다음과 같은 다섯 가지 제언을 하고자 한다: 1) 다국적기업은 현지시장의 인적자본 개발을 돕고자 시도해야 한다. 2) 다국적기업이 보유하고 있는 지식과 기술을 숨기고자 하는 모습은 바람직하지 않다. 3) 다국적기업은 현지시장의 부패를 근절하고자 힘씀은 물론, 개발도상국 내에서 사회에 기여하는 선량한 시민이 되고자 하여야 한다. 4) 다국적기업은 특히 급변하는 환경 속에서, 사회적 책임활동을 비용이 아닌, 의무로 고려하여야 한다. 5) 다국적기업은 개발도상국 시장을 강압적으로 개방하고자 하여서는 안된다. 우리는 본 논문을 통해 다국적기업이 사회적 책임활동의 긍정적인 면을 조망하고, 개발도상국과 상생할 수 있는 협력적 방안을 모색하는데 조금이라도 도움이 되었기를 바란다.

This paper strives to suggest some advice for MNEs by identifying advisable roles for MNEs in host developing countries. In order to achieve this objective, we have also tried to obtain implications from economic development in the Korean experience. Through observing the process of Korean economic development we propose the following five guiding principles to MNEs: 1) MNEs should try to help in the improvement of human capital in local economies, 2) It is not desirable for MNEs to endeavor to hide valuable knowledge and technology in local markets, 3) MNEs should try to eradicate corruption and set an example for good citizenship in developing countries, 4) MNEs should consider CSR, not as a cost, but as a duty, particularly in turbulent environments and 5) MNEs should not force developing countries to open their markets. We hope that this paper helps MNEs to think about the positive aspects of CSR and the ways to cooperate with developing countries in pursuit of a win-win approach.

Electrolyzed oxidizing (EO) water is known for its promising disinfecting action. EO water is generated using salt solution and tap water in an electrolytic cell with anode and cathode. With a wide array of EO water’s microbial effects including bactericidal, fungicidal, and virucidal activity, it has been used as an innovative sanitizer with various applications in the field of medicine, food industry, poultry and agricultural management, and even household management. Though EO water’s disinfection effects are well- understood, the disinfection mechanism needs further exploration. Implication of the broad function of EO water in daily life, health care, and sanitation is postulated to improve health issues in developing countries.