Seongdong-gu, the secret behind receiving UNICEF's 'Child-Friendly City Advanced Certification'?

[Seoul District News] Seongdong-gu Highlights Safety and Rights Advancement with Play Culture Expansion, Smart Crosswalks, Walking School, Metaverse School Routes... 2022 Gwanak S-Valley Demo Day TOUR Investment Attraction

Children participating in a balloon play event at the 'Wagle Wagle' Children's Day celebration ('22.5.5, Wangsimni Square)

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seongdong-gu announced that it received the ‘Advanced Level Child-Friendly City’ certification from UNICEF on the 10th of this month.

Following the initial ‘Child-Friendly City’ certification four years ago (‘18.2.), Seongdong-gu has consecutively obtained the ‘Advanced Level Child-Friendly City’ certification this time. The advanced level evaluation was swiftly passed in one go without any additional supplementary procedures.

The ‘Child-Friendly City’ certified by UNICEF refers to local governments that fully realize the rights of children as outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and have established a child-friendly environment. This ‘Advanced Level Certification’ officially recognizes the city as a more developed and higher-standard child-friendly city compared to the previous certification.

Since receiving the initial ‘Child-Friendly City’ certification, Seongdong-gu has continuously implemented the relevant principles in various areas such as guaranteeing play and leisure time for children over the past four years, actively working to ensure that children’s rights are respected and a happy culture is fostered.

The ‘Children and Youth Participation Committee,’ a child policy participation organization, was launched to propose and monitor child policies. Additionally, the ‘Child Rights Advocate’ was appointed and operated, and continuous efforts were made to promote child rights and spread play culture through campaigns and contests for child rights promotion, the ‘Play to the Full Festival,’ the creation of the ‘Children’s Dream Park,’ and the enactment of ordinances to enhance the right to play.

Furthermore, Seongdong-gu installed the ‘Seongdong Life Safety Learning Center,’ the first comprehensive safety experience center among Seoul’s autonomous districts, to prepare for daily life and disaster safety. Through the Global Experience Center, 4th Industrial Revolution Experience Center, Career and Job Experience Center, and Seongdong Child Love Complex Cultural Center, a wide range of experiential learning opportunities were provided to children and youth.

In particular, the ‘Seongdong-type Smart Crosswalk,’ which incorporates ICT smart technology, was installed around school routes, and a ‘Walking School Bus’ operating even during vacations was implemented as a community-based policy to create safe school routes. Last year, the district also received the ‘11th Children’s Safety Award (Prime Minister’s Award, ’21.12.)’ from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Previously, to analyze the actual impact and effectiveness of the district’s child policies on children, Seongdong-gu conducted a child-friendly city survey and citizen opinion collection as part of a child impact assessment (’21.10.). Based on the results, the district established a ‘4-Year Roadmap for Child-Friendly City’ (‘22.2.) and selected 34 key projects to be promoted in the future out of more than 130 child-friendly projects.

Accordingly, the district plans to build an ‘Integrated Child Portal System’ to enhance children’s opportunities for policy participation and provide unified information related to children. It will also focus on training its own instructors for stable and continuous child rights education through ‘Child Rights Citizen Instructor Training’ utilizing local resources. New initiatives include operating the ‘Children and Youth Play Planning Group,’ where children directly participate in planning play, and the ‘Creating Safe School Routes through Metaverse’ project, which identifies and improves hazards on school routes from a child’s perspective.

A district official stated, “The efforts to establish and reflect child-friendly policies that respect all children as subjects of rights and allow them to enjoy happiness have led to the excellent result of receiving the ‘Advanced Level Child-Friendly City’ certification.” Seongdong-gu plans to faithfully implement the prepared projects and continue striving to become a city where children can truly be happy.

Gwanak-gu will actively pursue investment attraction for local startup companies, starting with the ‘2022 Gwanak S-Valley Demo Day TOUR’ held on June 8 at the Nakseong Venture Startup Center (2 Nakseong-daero, Gwanak-gu).

The district continues to promote the ‘Gwanak S-Valley’ project, aiming to develop the entire district into a venture and startup city where universities, companies, and the local community coexist, centered around the two major hubs of Nakseong Venture Valley and Sillim Startup Valley.

In particular, this year, six demo days will be held in collaboration with the startup consulting firm ‘Ground Up Ventures Co., Ltd.’ until December, significantly expanding investment attraction opportunities for local venture and startup companies.

Including the Startup Scale-up IR Day hosted by the Seoul Startup Center Gwanak in May and demo days held by related organizations within Gwanak S-Valley, a total of 13 demo days will be held this year.

The ‘2022 Gwanak S-Valley Demo Day TOUR 1,’ scheduled from 2:00 PM to 4:10 PM on June 8, will feature participation from four professional investment firms and Mega Investment Co., Ltd., and will be broadcast live on the official Gwanak-gu Office YouTube channel ‘Live Gwanak’ on the day of the event.

The event will include presentations, Q&A sessions, and judging evaluations by six selected local startup companies. After the event, one-on-one networking between participating companies and investors will take place.

The final winning company will receive the District Mayor’s Award, the right to participate in the Gwanak S-Valley Festival Demo Day, and exemption from the document screening process for the Startup Scale-up project.

Applications for demo day participation are open to venture and startup companies within Gwanak-gu that have been established within the last seven years. Interested parties should check the announcement on the Gwanak-gu Office website (News & Notices → Announcements → Official Notices) and submit the application form and required documents via email to the Ground Up Ventures Co., Ltd. representative by the 19th.

For more details, inquiries can be made to the district’s Job and Venture Division or Ground Up Ventures.

A district official said, “The ‘Gwanak S-Valley Demo Day TOUR’ is expected to provide investment attraction opportunities for startups that need business funds but face difficulties securing them.”