Guro-gu Wins Manifesto Best Practice Competition for 11 Consecutive Years

Last October, the weekly event Guro Village Democracy Festival 'Gonggam GURO' received high praise... Residents actively participated in all stages of planning, execution, and promotion, realizing democratic values

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Guro-gu (Mayor Lee Seong) won the Grand Prize in the Regional Culture Revitalization category at the ‘2020 National Basic Local Government Heads Manifesto Best Practice Competition.’

Since receiving the Excellence Award in the Election Pledge Book category in the 2010 local elections, Guro-gu has consecutively won awards for 11 years up to this year in various categories organized by the Manifesto, including Excellence in Integrity in 2011, Grand Prize in Job Pledge in 2012, Excellence in Pledge Implementation in 2013, Grand Prize in Election Pledge Book in 2014, Grand Prize in Urban Regeneration in 2015, Excellence in Youth Issue Resolution in 2016, Grand Prize in Regional Culture Revitalization in 2017, Grand Prize in Election Pledge Book in 2018, Grand Prize in Pledge Implementation Plan Evaluation in 2019, and Grand Prize in Citizen Participation and Village Autonomy.

The Manifesto Best Practice Competition, jointly hosted by the Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters and Gyeonggi Research Institute, was divided into seven categories: job and employment improvement, income gap resolution, super-aging response, climate environment, safety autonomy, regional culture revitalization, and newsletters/broadcasting. A total of 353 cases were submitted by basic local governments nationwide, of which 172 passed the first preliminary round.

The second round of judging and presentations were held online over two days on the 9th and 10th to prevent COVID-19. Judges evaluated videos of case presentations submitted by each local government.

As a result, Guro-gu received the Grand Prize in the Regional Culture Revitalization category for the ‘Democracy Has Bloomed? Guro Village Democracy Festival.’

From October 14 to 17 last year, Guro-gu designated four days as ‘Village Democracy Week’ and held the nation’s first weekly democracy festival, ‘Sympathy GURO.’ The festival was organized to resolve conflicts within the community and build a cooperative consensus between residents and the district office through a ‘Democracy Festival.’

To create a festival with residents, Guro-gu formed a public-private joint festival planning team and held over 200 discussions. Through this, residents actively participated in all aspects of the event, including program selection, execution, and promotion.

‘Sympathy GURO,’ themed ‘Nine Stories of Democracy in Guro,’ consisted of programs that made democracy easily accessible to residents. Nine programs, including Guro愛Malhada Masked Speaker’s Platform, academic forums, youth public forums, talk shows and open concerts, and flash mob contests with residents, were held throughout Guro-gu. Especially at the district office plaza, the ‘Guro愛Malhada Masked Speaker’s Platform’ ran for three days, where residents from all walks of life wore masks and freely expressed their opinions on district administration.

‘Sympathy GURO’ led to achievements such as the opening of the Public Interest Activity Support Center, the enactment of an ordinance for universal provision of menstrual products for youth, the launch of the Guro1st Street website, and the production of a documentary commemorating the democratic uprising.

The Manifesto judging committee highly evaluated that ‘Sympathy GURO’ realized the value of democracy by having residents directly participate throughout the entire festival process.

A Guro-gu official said, “‘Sympathy GURO’ became an opportunity for the public and private sectors to overcome their differences and create a more mature relationship,” adding, “We will do our best to achieve true democracy where residents’ participation and authority are expanded.”

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