Gyeonggi-do Publishes Public Discussion White Paper on Universal Care

Cover of the white paper documenting the public deliberation process involving residents of Gyeonggi-do in the "Anyone Care" project, which has been underway since May of last year.

Gyeonggi Province has published a white paper detailing the public deliberation process of the 'Care for All' project conducted from May to December last year.

The newly released white paper covers the entire process from the design of the public deliberation to the reporting of results. The main text of the white paper is composed of six chapters: overview, preliminary discussion meetings, public opinion surveys, formation and management of the citizen participation group, conduct of deliberative discussions, and pre- and post-surveys of the citizen participation group. Additionally, appendices include expert and project department presentation materials, public opinion survey data, and statistical tables of pre- and post-survey results of the citizen participation group.

This public deliberation is highly regarded for its significance in involving citizens, who are both sovereign and stakeholders in the policy decision-making process, not merely to share opinions but to collaboratively solve community issues through systematic deliberation.

Earlier, Gyeonggi Province conducted the public deliberation to provide information on the 'Care for All' agenda and gather diverse opinions to enhance the general public’s understanding, and to use the findings as supplementary materials for future policy expansion, thereby improving policy completeness.

Through this process, Gyeonggi Province confirmed broad public empathy and support (97.1%) for the 'Care for All' policy.

Through the public deliberation, Gyeonggi Province established various supplementary measures including securing dedicated personnel for the project, obtaining budget for project sustainability, improving treatment of care service providers and managing service quality, devising effective promotional strategies, activating participation of 31 cities and counties, linking existing care systems and establishing inter-regional care systems, and relaxing eligibility criteria for beneficiaries.

Ryu Ho-guk, Director of Communication and Cooperation at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "To create a sustainable Gyeonggi Province, the voices of 14 million residents will continue to play the most important role," adding, "We will strive to contribute to this process through citizen participation and public deliberation."

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