Guri-si, 2024 Welfare Planner Academy Conducted

by Lee jonggu

Pubilshed 16 Oct.2024 12:15(KST)

Operation of Training for Honorary Social Welfare Officers to Strengthen the Capacity of Local Safety Nets

Guri-si, 2024 Welfare Planner Academy Conducted

Guri City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Baek Kyung-hyun) announced on the 16th that it held the 2024 Welfare Planner Academy to strengthen the capabilities of the local safety net for about 80 honorary social welfare officers at the city hall auditorium on the 15th.

A welfare planner consists of 748 honorary social welfare officers who are residents with interest and passion for welfare, and 125 members of the community welfare councils from 8 neighborhoods. They actively lead efforts to identify households in welfare blind spots who are experiencing difficulties but are not receiving welfare support, and to connect them with administrative services.

This academy was conducted in two parts, providing customized education to enhance performance in the field of identifying at-risk households, including roles for discovering socially isolated households and empathetic communication methods.

First, the Part 1 lecture was conducted by instructor Oh Young-sik (current CEO of Umteuda) on the topic of discovering socially isolated households. The lecture covered understanding the characteristics of isolated households and the roles to be performed as discoverers of neighbors in crisis. In Part 2, happiness communication expert instructor Park Sang-hwa (current President of the Korea Fun Leadership Association) was invited to share opinions on empathetic communication methods to engage with neighbors.

Meanwhile, since September, the city has been conducting customized visiting education sessions with instructor Kim Seung-soo (current Director of Ddokddok Library) for members of the community social security councils in 8 neighborhoods. These sessions focus on the necessity of the councils and governance activities to create a sustainable welfare community, aiming to cultivate capabilities to play a pivotal role in public-private cooperation.

Mayor Baek Kyung-hyun of Guri City said, “As the local welfare environment becomes more complex and diverse, organic cooperation between the public and private sectors is more important than ever,” and added, “Let us continue to work together to create a warm Guri City without welfare marginalized groups through active activities as welfare activists.”