A forum from the 15th to 20th for residents to discuss past inconveniences and necessary needs, focusing on discovering 'local agendas'... Operated mainly through a video conferencing app to prevent COVID-19 infection
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Jongno-gu (District Mayor Kim Young-jong) has prepared a public forum to address various increasingly complex and diverse social issues, from the climate crisis to population decline.
Combining online and offline methods, the '2021 Our Neighborhood Empathy Talk' will be held from the 15th to the 20th of this month, aiming to communicate more closely with residents.
Held over six days, this year's Empathy Talk is expected to be a place to openly discuss inconveniences experienced in residents' lives, necessary areas, and things they want to do, thereby discovering 'local agendas.'
To prevent COVID-19 infection, the forum will primarily operate as a non-face-to-face public discussion using video conferencing apps, while also conducting telephone conversations for residents who find online participation difficult.
This public forum is noteworthy as the first step in establishing a community innovation plan to be implemented in 2022 in collaboration with residents.
The 'Community Innovation Plan' is a strategic plan aimed at sustainable development, including solving local problems and establishing a foundation for cooperative governance, created through solid public-private cooperation.
The district plans to actively listen to the proposals gathered from the 2021 Our Neighborhood Empathy Talk by having relevant departments discuss legal reviews, budget scopes, etc., and to concretize implementation plans in sector-specific joint public forums involving both public and private sectors.
Subsequently, in a large public forum, the priority of proposals will be set, and policies to be pursued in 2022 will be decided.
Participation in the Our Neighborhood Empathy Talk is open to any local residents, institutions, or organizations affiliated with Jongno.
Applications can be submitted to the District Office's Autonomous Administration Division by March 12. For more details, inquiries can be made to the Resident Cooperation Team of the Autonomous Administration Division or the Jongno-gu Cooperative Governance Promotion Team.
Meanwhile, Jongno-gu has been dedicated to establishing the '1st Phase Cooperative Governance Public Forum Operation Process' from 2018 to 2020.
As part of this, initiatives such as 'Cooperative Governance Jongno Empathy Talk Talk,' 'Jongno Public-Private Cooperative Governance Academy,' 'Visiting Public Forums,' and 'Visiting Polling Stations' were introduced to exchange opinions with residents and strengthen cooperative governance awareness. Even during the COVID-19 situation, various online approaches such as video conferencing apps and SNS were utilized to support the activation of the public discussion process.
Furthermore, recognizing the need to foster local communication experts capable of leading discussions and meetings to promote sustainable cooperative governance administration, 'Cooperative Governance Facilitators' were selected, and education was provided to enhance their expertise and capabilities.
Going forward, the district plans to listen to various inconveniences felt in daily life, not only to correct them but also to strive in operating public forums and discovering agendas so that residents' needs can be realized.
Kim Young-jong, Mayor of Jongno-gu, stated, "Cooperation between the public and private sectors is essential for fundamentally solving the increasingly complex and diverse local social issues. We will collect various opinions from this open public forum and make efforts so that residents can participate as partners in administration. We ask for much interest and participation in the 2021 Our Neighborhood Empathy Talk."
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