Deokyeon-dong, Suncheon City, Wins Grand Prize at the 19th National Resident Autonomy Expo

The Village's First 2030 Deokyeon-dong Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Establishment

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Deokyeon-dong, Suncheon City, won the Grand Prize in the resident autonomy category at the 19th National Resident Autonomy Expo held for five days from the 7th to the 11th.

The National Resident Autonomy Expo is the only nationwide event related to resident autonomy in Korea, launched in 2001 and now in its 19th year. It aims to discover and spread excellent cases of resident autonomy at the eup, myeon, and dong levels, providing a platform for residents' exchange and learning.

Due to the spread of COVID-19, this expo was held non-face-to-face. Prior to the event, a call for cases was conducted in five fields: resident autonomy, regional revitalization, learning communities, resident organization networks, and institutional policies, receiving 309 cases nationwide.

Deokyeon-dong, Suncheon City, was selected as one of the seven regions for the final presentation with the case titled “The Village’s First 2030 Deokyeon-dong Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Establishment and Resident-led Autonomous Administration.” After the presentation on the 11th, it received the Grand Prize in the resident autonomy category, awarded by the Minister of the Interior and Safety.

In particular, the judging panel highly evaluated the agenda development and policy establishment that combined the UN Sustainable Development Goals with village planning, set the “2030 Deokyeon-dong Sustainable Development” goals, and created a happiness baseline reflecting residents’ needs, adding humanistic value to objective indicators from a perspective-shifting viewpoint.

Deokyeon-dong Chief Moon Mi-jung said, “Despite difficult conditions such as COVID-19 this year, thanks to the passion of Deokyeon-dong residents for resident autonomy, we were able to achieve valuable results.” She added, “We will continue to strive so that Deokyeon-dong can lead resident autonomy nationwide.”

Lee Hyang-gi, Chairperson of the Deokyeon-dong Resident Autonomy Committee, said, “Although we newly launched as a resident autonomy committee last year, we achieved great results in a short time.” She added, “I hope this will be a good signal ahead of the full implementation of resident autonomy committees in all eup, myeon, and dong of Suncheon City next year.”

Meanwhile, Deokyeon-dong has consistently achieved results since winning the Grand Prize in the resident autonomy category for the first time in 2006 at the National Resident Autonomy Expo, followed by the Grand Prize in 2007, Excellence Awards in 2010 and 2016, Encouragement Award in 2018, and Excellence Award last year. This year, by winning the Grand Prize again, it is solidifying its status as a nationally recognized leading model of resident autonomy.

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