Gwangju Nam-gu Selected as 'Best Institution' for Welfare Projects for the Disabled

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Nam-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, was selected as the best institution for two consecutive years in the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s “2022 Disability Welfare Project” evaluation.

According to Nam-gu on the 28th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has been conducting annual evaluations of local governments nationwide since 2020 to establish an efficient foundation for promoting disability welfare projects and to improve the welfare level of local people with disabilities.

Nam-gu was the only local government in Gwangju and Jeonnam to be selected as the best institution in this evaluation.

In particular, after winning the grand prize in the first evaluation in 2020, Nam-gu consecutively earned the title of best institution in 2021 and 2022, achieving outstanding results in the field of disability welfare.

The reason for being selected as the best institution is that Nam-gu has efficiently operated a public-private consultative body to deliver the nation’s highest level of disability welfare services, supported the independence of people with disabilities, and stably operated a demand-centered service delivery system.

First, Nam-gu has held Disability Welfare Committee meetings twice a year, composed of 18 private organization representatives including disability welfare facilities and the Open Care Disability Independent Living Center, to carry out customized disability welfare support projects.

In particular, in the effort to discover welfare blind spots, Nam-gu identified 1,509 unregistered people with disabilities through home visits and provided benefits from various support projects such as disability pensions and allowances, and childbirth costs for women with disabilities. It also received favorable reviews for providing braille newsletters and individual postal delivery services to improve accessibility to disability information.

Along with this, Nam-gu earned the honor of being selected as the best institution by establishing a welfare fund to improve mobility rights for people with disabilities, launching the first sign language video interpretation service in Gwangju’s autonomous districts, opening a shelter for the deaf, stably providing demand-centered services, and protecting the rights of people with disabilities through exchange events between Yeongnam and Honam, policy forums, and cultural arts festivals.

A Nam-gu official said, “We have actively discovered new projects and done our best to provide customized services to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities and create a society without discrimination.” He added, “We will join hands with the local community to provide the nation’s highest level of disability welfare services to make Nam-gu a happy welfare district.”

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