Gwangju Dong-gu Leads Grassroots Democracy Realization... Accelerates with Launch of 'Resident Autonomy Council'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Im Taek) is accelerating efforts to realize true grassroots democracy by gradually abolishing each neighborhood's residents' autonomy committees and launching residents' autonomy councils.

According to Dong-gu on the 9th, residents' autonomy is a practical core element of local decentralization that guarantees residents can properly exercise local government authority while independently identifying and deciding solutions to local issues.

To this end, the residents' representative organization that gathers and discusses diverse thoughts and demands of residents and executes them is the "Residents' Autonomy Council."

While the existing residents' autonomy committees were advisory bodies for neighborhood administrative tasks, the residents' autonomy councils will have authority and responsibility as practical residents' representative organizations. Specifically, by forming subcommittees, activities such as holding residents' general meetings, establishing village plans, and prioritizing resident-participation budget projects are being systematized.

In particular, whereas the previous residents' autonomy committees were formed mainly through open recruitment centered on local notables, the residents' autonomy councils recruit through a combination of open recruitment, lottery, and recommendation according to ordinances, and members are required to complete six hours of mandatory pre-education.

Earlier, since 2016, Gwangju City developed an independent "Gwangju-style Residents' Autonomy Center" model to establish residents' autonomy councils as residents' representative organizations. Through this, it broke the framework of residents' autonomy committees operated since 1999 and has strived to form a local community network for the successful establishment of residents' autonomy councils.

Currently, among the 13 neighborhoods in Dong-gu, residents' autonomy councils have been launched in four neighborhoods: Sansu 1-dong, Dongmyeong-dong, Jisan 2-dong, and Chungjang-dong. Among these, Sansu 1-dong was the first to be selected as a pilot neighborhood for the "Gwangju-style Residents' Autonomy Center," abolished the residents' autonomy committee, and launched the residents' autonomy council in July 2017.

Over the past four years, the Sansu 1-dong residents' autonomy council, centered on about 30 members, actively promoted village activities such as producing the "Bitgoeul Sansu Times" for resident communication, conducting house repair, side dish sharing, and safety bell installation projects for vulnerable groups, and organizing village cleanups and campaigns to create a pleasant village environment.

In June, Dongmyeong-dong, Jisan 2-dong, and Chungjang-dong launched residents' autonomy councils and recently held two workshops on operational plans. These three neighborhoods are building a village autonomy platform by forming subcommittees and establishing village autonomy plans after the workshops to ensure the successful establishment of residents' autonomy councils.

Dong-gu plans to sequentially transition the remaining nine neighborhoods, excluding the four pilot neighborhoods, to residents' autonomy councils starting next year.

Im Taek, Mayor of Dong-gu, said, "I hope residents will take great interest in the residents' autonomy councils operated through direct participation for the development of each neighborhood," and added, "We will carry out the formation of residents' autonomy councils in all 13 neighborhoods without fail to create warm and livable villages through village plan establishment."

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