Caregiver-Community Participatory Childcare... Seoul City's 'Dahamtge Childcare Center' Pilot Project Starting in August

Among 109 Applied Childcare Centers, 30 Selected Including Public, Seoul-Type, and Home Childcare Centers

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 12th that it has selected 30 daycare centers as pilot sites for the participatory childcare project "Dahamtgae Daycare," which aims to create a high-quality care environment by uniting daycare centers, caregivers, and the local community into one childcare community. The full-scale pilot project, including individualized consultations, will begin in August.

From June 10 to 17, applications were accepted from daycare centers in 25 autonomous districts. A total of 109 daycare centers applied to participate in the Dahamtgae Daycare pilot project, resulting in a competition rate of 3.6 to 1. After two rounds of review, 30 centers were finally selected.

The 30 selected centers represent a variety of types, including national/public, Seoul-type, private, home-based, workplace, and cooperative daycare centers. In terms of facility size, they range from small facilities with 20 children to large-scale facilities with over 140 children. The selection also included hub-type extended night care facilities and integrated facilities for children with disabilities, aiming to implement diverse forms of participatory daycare centers and to disseminate best practices to similar types of centers.

To realize the participatory childcare model, Seoul identified key areas such as caregiver capacity building, support for childcare teachers' activities, activation of operating committees, and community participation. For the 30 selected daycare centers, customized participatory childcare models tailored to each center's circumstances will be designed, and smooth implementation will be supported.

In July, Seoul will hold an "Online Pre-briefing Session for the Dahamtgae Daycare Pilot Project" for the final selected centers. Starting in August, a preliminary diagnosis will be conducted, followed by customized consultations by professional counselors based on the diagnosis results, tailored to the situations of caregivers and childcare teachers. To design customized tasks suitable for each daycare center among the four main project tasks, the city plans to operate a pool of about 20 professional counselors, including childcare experts.

By the end of the year, a collection of best practices from the pilot project will be produced to spread the participatory model to other daycare centers. Through satisfaction surveys and project evaluations, the city plans to expand the Dahamtgae Daycare project to its second phase in 2022.

Kang Hee-eun, Seoul's childcare officer, said, "The Dahamtgae Daycare pilot project is the starting point for creating a voluntary and continuous participation base among various childcare stakeholders such as daycare centers, caregivers, and the local community." She added, "We will actively support the participating daycare centers in this pilot project to ensure that a high-quality participatory childcare model is established and disseminated."