Nowon-gu Wins Grand Prize at the 2023 Korea Healthy City Awards

Awarded Korea Healthy City Award for 5 Consecutive Years Since 2019... This Year Selected as Grand Prize for ‘Health in All Policies - Participation and Cooperation-Based Nowon-Type Healthy City’ Project ▲Nationwide First ‘Nowon-Type Health Impact Assessment’ and ‘Nowon-Type Healthy City Evaluation Model’ Developed and System Established ▲Participation and Cooperation Implemented through Resident Autonomy Council and Children and Youth Assembly with Health Plus, Mobile Physical Activity Equipment Rental, Healthy City Supporters, Contests, and Promotional Events Recognized

Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it has been selected as the grand prize winner in the general policy category of the 2023 Korea Healthy City Awards, earning the honor for the fifth consecutive year.

The "Korea Healthy City Awards" is an award given annually by the Korea Healthy Cities Association to local governments among 102 member cities nationwide that have demonstrated outstanding achievements in improving residents' health and quality of life.

This year, Nowon-gu's project, "Embedding Health in All Policies ? Nowon-type Healthy City Based on Participation and Cooperation," was selected as the grand prize winner, recognizing Nowon's efforts to create a healthy city for all its residents.

While the district focused last year on developing the nation's first "Nowon-type Health Impact Assessment" and establishing institutional and organizational systems, this year it aims to implement health-conscious policies based on the established foundation and foster an environment of participation and cooperation.

The efforts are broadly divided into ▲ system establishment ▲ participation and cooperation implementation ▲ and awareness enhancement.

First, the representative system is the "Nowon-type Health Impact Assessment." This assessment is a health-conscious process that helps determine how policies or projects affect residents' health and supports policy decision-making in a positive health direction.

After a pilot operation from 2021 to 2022, improvements were made to the self-diagnosis tools, operation timing, and monitoring methods. Starting this year, a total of 22 projects from 7 departments and 3 branch offices will undergo a process of health impact self-diagnosis, expert review and feedback, and monitoring, while other projects will conduct simplified evaluations through self-diagnosis.

The district is also developing the nation's first "Nowon-type Healthy City Evaluation Model." While the "Nowon-type Health Impact Assessment" is a system that supports health awareness and policy decision-making in advance, the "Nowon-type Healthy City Evaluation Model" is a system that evaluates the process and outcomes of each project through specific indicators produced. The plan is to secure the sustainability of the healthy city through regular monitoring.

Additionally, to implement participation and cooperation, the district utilizes already secured human resources. Through the "Adding Health to Resident Autonomy" project, health city content has been added to the resident autonomy school curriculum, and a workshop for discovering autonomous council agendas has been developed. Facilitators are trained with the goal of creating healthy villages led by residents, strengthening health promotion capabilities. A "Health Standing Committee" has been newly established in the Children and Youth Council, adding a health perspective. This standing committee develops ordinances and policies considering health.

Alongside this, the district reaches out to neighborhoods to encourage residents' participation in physical activities. It operates the mobile physical activity equipment rental center "Exercise Nowon Store," which increases park utilization as a health resource. A 1-ton truck carrying 325 activity equipment items tours parks to provide rentals and physical activity programs. During the pilot operation from April to June this year, a total of 2,268 people used the service, averaging 61 people per day.

The "Healing Walking" project is also underway, targeting seniors aged 65 and older. Walking courses of 30 minutes per day and 120 minutes per week have been developed for each neighborhood, with plans to expand citywide next year. To encourage more residents' sustained participation, the district plans to diversify reward systems along with small group activities and challenges.

Promotion efforts are also being intensified. The first group of "Healthy City Supporters," consisting of 43 Nowon residents, serves as ambassadors for Healthy City Nowon and as a policy monitoring team. After completing training in January, they have been active monthly through mission-based activities. As of August, they have conducted 85 SNS promotions of health-conscious policies and made 83 policy proposals.

Furthermore, the district is pursuing diversified promotional strategies such as resident contests, symposiums, and online events to expand understanding of the healthy city and attract residents' interest.

The district plans to attend the Korea Healthy Cities Association regular general meeting held on the 14th in Suncheon to receive the grand prize, equivalent to the Minister of Health and Welfare Award. Along with this, Mayor Oh Seung-rok of Nowon-gu will present excellent cases under the theme "A Walkable City, Healthy Nowon," highlighting how the district achieved first place among Seoul's autonomous districts in walking practice rates for three consecutive years.

Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, "We are very pleased that our challenge toward a healthy city has been recognized for five consecutive years and that we have won the grand prize this year. We will continue to do our best to create a healthy Nowon for all residents through a differentiated and systematic approach unique to Nowon."