Kim Byeongnae, Mayor of Gwangju Nam-gu, Receives Excellence Award for 'Governance Local Politics'

Positive Reviews for ‘Haengbokhan Bokji 7979 Center’

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Kim Byeongnae, Mayor of Nam-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, was named a recipient of the Excellence Award in the Resident Life Convenience Expansion category at the ‘2021 Governance Local Politics Awards Ceremony.’

According to Nam-gu on the 3rd, Mayor Kim received the Governance Local Politics Excellence Award for his efforts in implementing the ‘Happy Welfare 7979 Center’ project as a pledge during the 7th local government term, aimed at providing customized integrated welfare services and establishing a dense welfare network.

The Governance Center, a non-profit organization, held a governance local politics contest targeting local government heads and local council members nationwide under the slogan ‘The Future of the Region, The Future of Korea, The Future of Democracy’ to promote innovation in local politics and the spread of the governance paradigm.

The contest themes included seven areas: expanding resident life convenience, improving administrative efficiency, enhancing community capacity, strengthening decentralization and autonomy, increasing regional vitality, pioneering the future, and responding to COVID-19.

Mayor Kim was recognized for promoting residents’ convenience through the Happy Welfare 7979 Center project, which he pursued as a campaign pledge, and for presenting a new role model in the welfare sector to local governments nationwide.

In particular, noting that the government and local governments operate hundreds of types of social security services with each service managed by different departments, the project centralized the guidance of these dispersed welfare services at the Happy Welfare 7979 Center, significantly improving residents’ access to welfare services and drawing considerable attention.

Additionally, by organizing the 7979 Volunteer Group composed of public officials and residents, the center provided high-quality welfare services by addressing various daily inconveniences and supporting socially vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities and elderly living alone.

Mayor Kim said, “With an empathetic approach, we carefully considered what welfare services our neighbors truly need and thus launched the Happy Welfare 7979 Center as a campaign project. We will continue to provide resident-centered welfare services to create a happy welfare Nam-gu.”

Meanwhile, since its opening in 2019, the Happy Welfare 7979 Center has served as a reliable support for vulnerable groups and residents in the district, handling 32,386 phone consultations and 1,315 daily life inconvenience cases over two years.

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