Gwangju Dong-gu Operates 'National Design Team' for Welfare Policy Development

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (District Mayor Im Taek) is operating a ‘National Design Team’ for the development of welfare policies.

On the 19th, Dong-gu announced that it will form and operate the ‘2020 National Design Team’ under the theme of ‘Our Happy Sarangchae Project’ to prepare an operation plan for Sarangchae, a community hub facility.

The National Design Team refers to a policy promotion group in which residents, private experts, and public officials participate together throughout the policy process to improve and develop public policies and services.

Since 2018, Dong-gu has continuously operated the National Design Team to prepare welfare policies. ▲In 2018, the ‘4060 Hope Project’ to support middle-aged single men ▲In 2019, the ‘Dong-gu Talented Children Dream Tree Support’ project designed to support talented children and nurture local talents were selected for operating expense support and developed as representative welfare policies of Dong-gu.

In particular, last year, through the evaluation of 163 National Design projects conducted by central administrative agencies and local governments, Dong-gu was selected as one of the final 11 excellent projects, receiving an institutional commendation and a special grant of 130 million KRW, the only autonomous district in Gwangju to receive such an award.

Based on past experience, Dong-gu plans to form a new type of National Design Team composed of two-thirds residents, including 1 designer, 13 residents (one from each neighborhood), 6 private experts, and 4 public officials, with private experts and public officials focusing on helping realize residents’ needs.

The operation schedule includes forming the design team within this month and setting operational tasks such as ▲operating the village Sarangchae and establishing freely usable spaces for residents ▲creating youth-centered jobs using the village Sarangchae ▲implementing landmark policies reflecting the agendas of 13 neighborhoods, and will operate until July.

In the second half of the year, based on the results from the National Design Team, the ‘Our Happy Sarangchae Project’ will be realized according to Dong-gu’s circumstances to implement welfare that residents can directly experience.

Im Taek, Mayor of Dong-gu, said, “The National Design Team can be applied to various fields, but I believe it is most suitable for welfare administration directly related to residents’ lives,” and added, “We will continue to operate it as a Dong-gu customized National Design Team that reflects residents’ needs in developing welfare policies.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.