Gwangju Seo-gu Secures 14.3 Billion Won in Evaluation and Public Contest Projects... Administrative Capability Shines

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The administration of Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Seo Daeseok) has received high evaluations from external sources and achieved remarkable awards in various assessments.

Seo-gu announced on the 18th that it secured 14.3 billion KRW through various evaluations and contests this year.

It is interpreted that Seo-gu demonstrated high administrative capability by achieving excellent results in evaluations across various fields such as resident autonomy, welfare, safety, environment, and health, which are key government policies.

Recently, at the 19th National Resident Autonomy Expo, Nongsong 1-dong and Chipyeong-dong won the grand prize in the resident organization network and resident autonomy categories, while Pungam-dong and Hwajeong 3-dong received excellence awards.

Additionally, Hwajeong 1-dong won an excellence award in the learning community category, and in the institutional policy category, Seo-gu received the Autonomy and Decentralization Award, earning the honor of being the local government with the most excellent cases selected nationwide for five consecutive years.

Moreover, following Geumho 1-dong last year, Nongsong 1-dong was nominated for the grand prize this year, showing the strength of producing grand prize candidates for two consecutive years.

Last year, Seo-gu solidified its position as a leading local government in resident autonomy by winning the grand prize, one grand excellence award, three excellence awards, and four encouragement awards, the highest number of excellent cases nationwide.

Seo-gu also received a special award at the 9th Korea Knowledge Awards hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

The Korea Knowledge Awards is the most prestigious award in this field, established to discover and spread excellent cases of knowledge administration and management in both the private and public sectors.

Seo-gu was highly evaluated for actively conducting knowledge-based activities such as suggestion systems for residents and public officials, idea contests, Seo-gu Office SNS, and youth policy participation groups.

Furthermore, Seo-gu participated in the ‘2020 Governance Local Politics Awards’ organized by the organizing committee of the Governance Local Politics Awards, themed ‘Realizing Autonomous and Participatory Village and Field-Centered Autonomous Communities,’ and won the grand excellence award in the field of strengthening autonomy and decentralization.

Seo-gu also shone in the welfare sector.

In the 2020 Regional Welfare Project evaluation hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Seo-gu won grand prizes and grand excellence awards in three categories, receiving institutional commendations and a prize money of 40 million KRW.

Among 229 local governments nationwide, Seo-gu was selected as the grand prize winner in the ‘Visiting Health and Welfare Service Provision’ category and as the top institution in the ‘Public-Private Cooperation and Resource Linkage’ and ‘Community Integrated Care Service Provision’ categories.

In the evaluation, Seo-gu received high scores for initiatives such as the emergency neighbor care movement, various package productions, and customized integrated care services for seniors aged 75 and older through comprehensive surveys, all conducted to ensure psychological stability, communication, and living stability for vulnerable groups despite COVID-19 this year.

Amid various difficulties such as the COVID-19 pandemic and heavy rains, Seo-gu also achieved good results in disaster preparedness evaluations.

Recently, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety selected Seo-gu as an excellent institution in the ‘2020 Summer Natural Disaster Countermeasure Evaluation’ and awarded a special grant of 200 million KRW.

In the evaluation conducted among 243 local governments nationwide, Seo-gu was recognized for proactively managing emergency situations based on safety and life protection plans for disaster-prone areas during the summer natural disaster pre-preparation period.

In addition, Seo-gu won the grand excellence award in the flood and windstorm insurance business evaluation conducted by Gwangju City to increase flood and windstorm insurance subscription rates, and received an excellence award in the 2020 Civil Defense Work Evaluation, standing out in the safety field.

In the environmental sector, Seo-gu was highly evaluated for contributing to greenhouse gas reduction and climate change response through the introduction of various eco-friendly policies and leading practical movements, winning the comprehensive grand prize, the Minister of Environment Award, at the Green Environment Awards.

This year, Seo-gu distributed 377 solar power and solar thermal facilities in Hwajeong 3-dong and Hwajeong 4-dong areas, installed LED lights in 414 social welfare facilities and vulnerable households, and supported 2,315 eco-friendly low-NOx boilers, achieving the effect of planting 350,000 pine trees.

Also, to reduce water problems such as floods, groundwater depletion, and worsening urban heat islands caused by increased urban impermeable surfaces, Seo-gu became the first autonomous district in Gwangju to promote the ‘Green Rainwater Infrastructure Creation Project’ to reduce non-point pollution and stormwater runoff.

Seo-gu also achieved visible results in job creation and health sectors.

In the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Elderly Job and Social Activity Support Project evaluation, the Gwangju Seo-gu Senior Club won the grand excellence award; in food poisoning prevention management, it received the Food and Drug Safety Administration Director’s Award; in obesity prevention management projects, the Minister of Health and Welfare Award; and in autonomous district birth policy evaluations, an excellence award.

Recently, Seo-gu was selected as the top institution in the regulatory reform autonomous district evaluation hosted by Gwangju City, based on the government joint evaluation indicators and six certification system diagnosis indicators, and also won the Administrative Award at the Administrative and Legislative Awards hosted by the Korean Governance Society and others.

Thus, Seo-gu won 45 awards in various evaluations this year and was continuously selected in various government ministry and Gwangju City contests, securing urgent project funds.

A representative contest project was the selection in September for the 2021 New Renewable Energy Convergence Support Project by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Energy Agency, securing 3.26 billion KRW in project funds.

This project fund will be used to install 2MW scale solar power generation facilities at 436 locations in Sangmu 1 and 2-dong, Hwajeong 1-dong, and Geumho 1-dong, solar thermal water heating facilities at 10 locations, and fuel cell power generation facilities at one location.

Additionally, Seo-gu secured 1.07 billion KRW in the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s 2021 Local-Led Youth Job Project contest, 420 million KRW in the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Health and Welfare Delivery System Strengthening Pilot Project contest, 160 million KRW in the Community Integrated Care Leading Project Specialization contest, and 340 million KRW in the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Regional Industry Customized Job Creation Support Project.

Moreover, Seo-gu secured 2.44 billion KRW for the 2021 Traditional Market and Shopping District Facility Modernization Project and 850 million KRW for the Social Enterprise Job Creation Project hosted by Gwangju City, among a total of 75 contest projects, securing approximately 14.3 billion KRW in project funds, providing some relief to the financially strained district budget.

Seo Daeseok, Mayor of Seo-gu, said, “The outstanding results in various internal and external evaluations and contests were achieved through the active efforts of all public officials based on collaboration,” and added, “We will effectively execute the secured project funds to ensure that urgent projects proceed without any setbacks.”

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