Nowon District Mayor Oh Seung-rok Creates 'Nowon-style Youth Policy' as a Model for South Korea's Youth Policies

Preparation of 5 Core Strategies Including 'Job Creation', 'Establishment of 5 Safety Nets', 'Foundation for Youth Activity Ecosystem', 'Youth Influx', and 'Establishment and Stabilization of Youth Policy Implementation System'... Prioritizing 73 Billion KRW Investment This Year for 58 Short- and Long-Term Projects

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) is promoting the 'Nowon-type Youth Policy' to move beyond the role of a messenger for existing central and metropolitan youth policies and create a foundation where young people can work and be active in the local community.

Comprising five core strategies and 58 short- and long-term projects, the Nowon youth policy, which will invest 7.3 billion KRW this year, reflects the needs of 170,000 young people who make up 32% of the district's total population, including their participation and activities, life stability and rights protection, skill development, and anticipated social environmental changes.

The five core strategies of the youth policy are divided into ‘Job Discovery,’ ‘Establishment of Five Social Safety Nets,’ ‘Foundation for Youth Activity Ecosystem,’ ‘Youth Influx,’ and ‘Establishment and Stabilization of Youth Policy Implementation System.’

First, looking at the detailed implementation for each strategy, the ‘Nowon Youth Job T/F Team’ will be operated to discover youth jobs. This is to find region-led projects that meet the needs of young people rather than short-term jobs.

A representative project is ‘Job Incubating.’ It involves identifying companies that will expand youth employment and providing job-seeking youth with pre-information about companies seeking employees, then pre-training those who wish to be employed by those companies. Incentives are provided to participating companies. In addition, 3.3 billion KRW will be invested in 18 projects including ‘Youth Startup Support’ and the ‘Nowon-type Job Creation Project,’ which aims to employ 1,000 people over five years with 200 people annually.

The establishment of five social safety nets for youth aims to create a comprehensive social safety net that prevents social exclusion, ranging from psychological difficulties to housing. In particular, seeing the concentration of youth in urban areas as due to a lack of educational support within the region, the district shares lifelong learning education infrastructure to help youth build their capabilities locally.

First, the ‘Youth Lifelong Learning Account Support System’ will be implemented for low-income job seekers. It encourages participation from numerous companies and organizations and cooperates with the Education Welfare Foundation.

Also, 3.57 billion KRW will be invested in 24 projects including ‘Discovery of Youth Housing Models,’ ‘Youth Credit Recovery Support Project,’ ‘Provision of Youth Culture Vouchers,’ ‘Customized Employment Support for Specialized High Schools,’ and ‘Operation of Youth Public Counseling Centers’ to provide ongoing counseling for youth experiencing psychological poverty and depression.

A foundation for an ecosystem to unleash youth potential will also be established. This is to support young people with active willingness to participate in voicing their opinions locally. Projects include ‘Establishment and Activation of Youth Space Networks’ such as installing youth spaces by region and conducting public contest projects through youth participatory budgeting.

Additionally, 370 million KRW will be supported for eight projects including ‘Youth Activist Training’ and ‘Youth Community Activation,’ which encourages university students to develop policies and conduct research to solve local problems through small groups.

Furthermore, a strategy to attract youth to Nowon is being promoted. Nowon-gu has the fifth largest youth population in Seoul. Many young people in their early 20s come to commute to seven universities, the most in Seoul. The district plans to utilize Nowon not only as a place to ‘reside’ but also as a base for ‘living,’ working, and engaging in activities. This includes five projects such as ‘Creation of Youth Culture Streets,’ ‘Establishment of Nowon Youth Dormitory’ to provide housing, and ‘Campus Town-linked University Activation Projects’ in cooperation with local universities.

Lastly, a public-private cooperation system as partners will be established. This is because fundamental youth issues cannot be solved by administrative service delivery alone. A ‘Policy Inspection and Implementation System’ will be set up for public and private sectors to diagnose and solve problems together. The ‘Nowon-gu Youth Policy Committee’ will also be operated. Composed of 20 members including ex officio and appointed members, it will deliberate on the establishment and evaluation of basic youth policy plans and coordination and cooperation of related projects. Additionally, 100 million KRW will be allocated for three projects including the construction of a ‘Youth Support Center.’

This basic plan for the Nowon-type youth policy is based on a research project commissioned last year to the nonprofit organization Youth and Naranhi. Furthermore, face-to-face surveys and online questionnaires were conducted with 250 young people aged 15 to 39 who reside or are active in Nowon.

The survey was divided into a ‘Basic Survey’ for analyzing youth needs and an ‘In-depth Survey’ for discovering policy demands. The basic survey included items such as conditions for personal happiness as perceived by youth, their personal future, sense of belonging and alienation in daily life, and priority youth policies needed in Nowon. The in-depth survey was conducted in an interview format with respondents willing to be active in Nowon-gu.

Nowon-gu established a Youth Support Team early last year to systematize related projects. In May last year, the Nowon-gu Youth Basic Ordinance was enacted, and in December, a youth policy town hall meeting was held at the auditorium of the Seoul Eastern Blood Center. This was to ensure youth participation in policy formulation and to discover agendas for policy establishment. About 130 people including youth residing or active in Nowon-gu and experts attended the discussion to diagnose the current status of youth policies in the district and discuss future visions in areas such as ‘Jobs,’ ‘Youth Support,’ ‘Community Activation,’ ‘Youth Spaces,’ and ‘Housing.’

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “In the era of decentralization, youth policies still remain as messengers of central and metropolitan governments. We will take time to steadily cultivate capabilities so that the Nowon-type youth policy can become a new model for youth policies in Korea.”

Nowon-gu Office, Child and Youth Division

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