"Residents Manage the Budget: Gwangju Gwangsan-gu Launches Participatory Budget Proposal"

From Solving Daily Inconveniences to Community Development
Proposals Accepted for Projects Worth 450 Million KRW

Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju is inviting proposals for the "Resident Participatory Budget Project" to allow residents to directly address local issues.

'Resident Participation Budget Proposal Project' Web Poster.

On the 13th, Gwangsan-gu announced that it plans to allocate 1.5 billion KRW for the 2026 main budget as a resident participatory budget, an increase of 200 million KRW from this year. Of this, proposals for resident participatory projects totaling 450 million KRW will be accepted.

The call for proposals targets one-year projects to be implemented across Gwangsan-gu, such as resolving inconveniences in daily life, preventing safety accidents, improving resident welfare, and addressing local issues. However, projects that are mid- to long-term, require large-scale budgets, or are intended for the benefit of specific organizations are excluded.

Not only residents of Gwangsan-gu but also employees of institutions, organizations, and businesses within the district can participate. Applications can be submitted until May 30 via the Gwangsan-gu Resident e-Participation website, email, fax, mail, or in person.

Gwangsan-gu plans to review the feasibility of the submitted proposals and make the final selection in October after deliberation by the Resident Participatory Budget Committee. In addition to the resident participatory projects, there will be separate youth participatory (100 million KRW) and adolescent participatory (50 million KRW) projects, while autonomous planning projects totaling 900 million KRW will be developed mainly by the 21 local resident autonomy councils.

Park Byungkyu, Mayor of Gwangsan-gu, stated, "By expanding the resident participatory budget, we will reflect the voices of more citizens in next year's budget," adding, "We will strengthen budget sovereignty so that citizens can become the main agents of local change."

Meanwhile, Gwangsan-gu selected 57 resident participatory budget projects last year and reflected 1.3 billion KRW in this year's main budget.

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