Kim Sam-ho, Gwangsan District Mayor, "We Will Introduce Happiness Impact Assessment into Policies and Projects"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Gwan-woo] Kim Sam-ho, mayor of Gwangsan District, announced on the 19th that “we will introduce the Happiness Impact Assessment System into district administration.”

Mayor Kim made this statement while attending the ‘2021 Korea Happiness Policy Festival’ held at the National Asia Culture Center in Gwangju Metropolitan City, where he presented the process and experience of concretizing the district administration goal of the 7th local government term, ‘Gwangsan where my life is happy.’

At the event, Mayor Kim emphasized that policies based on data must overcome the uncertainty and abstract aspects of happiness.

The data policies he mentioned refer to the ‘Happiness Index’ and the ‘Citizen Happiness Survey.’

In 2019, Gwangsan District developed a Happiness Index in collaboration with a professional institution to serve as a scale for measuring happiness.

The Happiness Index is composed of three major areas?people, community, and environment?12 sub-areas, 27 items, and 100 indicators. Based on this, a preliminary survey was conducted targeting 1,500 citizens, and the Citizen Happiness level was calculated as a result.

Regarding policies based on such data, Mayor Kim evaluated them as “a system equipped to allocate resources and projects to fields, regions, and classes that require policies and budgets.”

He further explained, “Gwangsan District has prepared 52 policies reflecting the results of the Citizen Happiness Survey, including the expansion of national and public daycare centers, ‘Walking for Happiness Gwangsan,’ and installation of security CCTV.”

Mayor Kim stated, “We need to prepare for Gwangsan-style Citizen Happiness Season 2,” and emphasized, “We will introduce the Happiness Impact Assessment System to make happiness policy a definite orientation of public administration.”

The plan is to analyze the impact on community and individual happiness satisfaction when planning policies or projects and use it as a basis for decision-making.

Mayor Kim said, “We will operate the system as soon as the Happiness Impact Assessment research service is completed,” and proposed, “I suggest the legalization of the Happiness Impact Assessment so that citizen happiness becomes the standard and goal in Korean public administration.”

Meanwhile, this event is jointly hosted by the Local Governments for Happiness Realization Council and the National Assembly National Happiness Policy Forum, and is held over two days starting today with Gwangsan, Dong, and Seo Districts of Gwangju and the National Happiness Transition Forum.

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