Dobong-gu's Chadong Empathy Policy Wins Top Prize in Seoul

Grand Prize for “Visiting and Embracing with Our Neighborhood Care Membership”
Encouragement Prize for “Sharing Garden with Middle-aged and Elderly Single-person Households”

Participants of the sharing garden program with middle-aged and elderly single-person households are cultivating the sharing garden at Choansan Neighborhood Park.

[Asia Economy, reporter Park Jongil] Dobong-gu (District Mayor Lee Dongjin) was honored with two awards-the Grand Prize and the Encouragement Prize-at the “2020 On-site Community Center Empathy Forum” organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in mid-December. This recognition highlighted Dobong-gu’s efforts and passion for empathy-driven policies.

Since the launch of the “On-site Community Center” (hereafter referred to as “Chadong”) initiative in 2015, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has annually identified and awarded outstanding empathy policies to expand the effectiveness of on-site community centers and share exemplary policies across the city.

The district’s award-winning best practices were: the Grand Prize for “Visiting and Embracing with Our Neighborhood Care Membership” and the Encouragement Prize for “Sharing Garden with Middle-aged and Elderly Single-person Households.”

The success factors for these best practices included identifying and providing warm support to isolated households-such as North Korean defectors and middle-aged single-person households-who are at greater risk of social isolation due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. The district also made efforts to communicate with residents and build relationships to help overcome “corona blues,” which can result from a lack of social interaction.

In particular, the Grand Prize-winning “Our Neighborhood Care Membership: Visiting and Embracing” is a membership service that provides integrated monitoring for North Korean defectors and existing defectors experiencing difficulties with settlement.

Key services included: mandatory initial consultations upon new resident registration; health consultations and management by professional nurses (with telephone consultations in emergencies such as COVID-19); distribution of customized nutritional supplements; and specialized case management for those requiring focused support. These services were provided in an integrated and continuous manner to help residents settle in the community.

The Encouragement Prize-winning “Sharing Garden with Middle-aged and Elderly Single-person Households” is a project to prevent solitary deaths by cultivating a sharing garden at Choansan Neighborhood Park, with participation from middle-aged single-person households, in an effort to overcome “corona blues.”

The crops harvested from the sharing garden were distributed to low-income neighbors, and various community activities were held, including regular watering gatherings, bibimbap parties, and kimchi-making events.

Lee Dongjin, Mayor of Dobong-gu, stated, “I believe that the idea that we are not alone, that we are connected and linked within our community-when these thoughts come together, the true power of Chadong can be realized. Going forward, Chadong will actively seek ways to form relationships and facilitate communication at the community level in line with the ‘local-tact’ era brought on by COVID-19.”

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