Gwangju Dong-gu 'Basic Welfare Guidelines' First Half Progress Review

Sample Survey of 531 Care Neighbor Households

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Jo Hyung-joo] Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Im Taek) reviewed the progress of the first half of the year on the ‘Dong-gu Basic Welfare Guidelines,’ which are being promoted to guarantee welfare and quality of life above the minimum level for all residents.

According to Dong-gu on the 27th, since the launch of the 7th local government, a task force (TF) team consisting of 18 public and private social welfare experts was formed, and by comprehensively collecting residents’ opinions and suggestions from officials in charge of each sector, the Basic Welfare Guidelines were established in January 2019, the first of its kind among local governments nationwide.

Since then, the guidelines have been improved and supplemented annually through inspections such as surveys.

The Basic Welfare Guidelines present basic standards for 48 items in four areas: ▲basic living standards ▲heatwave and cold wave preparedness standards ▲education and culture standards ▲care target standards, aiming to guarantee residents’ basic quality of life in major areas of daily life.

To check the progress of the project, Dong-gu selected a sample of 531 households receiving care from July to the 17th of this month and conducted on-site inspections. As a result, 41 out of 48 items met the conditions, showing that the welfare environment has generally improved compared to the previous year.

On the other hand, areas such as securing basic medicines (67%), securing study rooms for school-age children (62%), cultural activities once per half-year (31%), having companion plants and animals for single-person households (27%), and hobby activities for the elderly (38%) showed fulfillment rates below 70%.

Based on this inspection result, the district plans to actively discover related policies by focusing on supplementing vulnerable areas in the second half of this year and share them with all departments, including private welfare facilities and organizations, and the Dong community security council.

Each Dong council will prepare alternatives for vulnerable areas through representative meetings and urgently implement customized projects from next month, such as ▲support for study rooms for school-age children ▲self-help groups for companion plants for single-person households ▲support for basic medicines.

Im Taek, Mayor of Dong-gu, said, “Through this first half progress inspection, we will supplement the Basic Welfare Guidelines to be more realistic and tangible for residents,” and added, “We will continue to provide welfare services prioritizing the needs of users and carry out welfare administration that puts residents first.”

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