Gwangju's 8th Term Core Policy 'Gwangju-Daum Integrated Care' Recognized on the International Stage

Guangzhou International Urban Innovation Award 'Top Prize' Winner

Designed by City Councilor Park Mijeong... Service Launching in April

Gwangju-style Integrated Care has been recognized on the international stage.

According to the Gwangju Metropolitan Council on the 10th, Gwangju’s core policy of the 8th term of the elected government, ‘Gwangju-style Integrated Care,’ won the top prize at the 6th Guangzhou International Urban Innovation Awards held on the 7th at the Wushu Convention Center in Guangzhou, China.

‘Gwangju-style Integrated Care’ is a policy designed and led primarily by Park Mijeong (Democratic Party, Dong-gu 2), a member of the Gwangju Metropolitan Council. Any Gwangju citizen can use the care service anytime and anywhere when care is needed.

Since the service launched in April, 8,752 citizens have received care services over seven months, proving its effectiveness as a policy in actual field conditions.

Councilor Park Mijeong said, “Winning the world’s most prestigious Guangzhou International Urban Innovation Award was possible thanks to the collaboration and cooperation of the five district offices of Gwangju, 97 neighborhood administrative welfare centers’ staff, and about 1,000 volunteers from private organizations, as well as the dedication and spirit of service on the ground.” She added, “I dedicate this honor to the policy implementation staff working hard in the field.”

Regarding the significance of the ‘Gwangju-style Integrated Care’ policy, she emphasized, “Gwangju-style Integrated Care has overcome the limitations of existing welfare services, such as selectivism that supports only specific recipients and application-based systems requiring individuals to apply themselves, demonstrating the possibility of realizing universal care democracy.”

She continued, “This policy has brought a fresh breeze to Gwangju’s welfare field, increasing collaboration between departments, institutions, and neighbors, creating synergy effects with existing welfare services, and transforming Gwangju’s welfare services. However, for ‘Gwangju-style Integrated Care,’ which started as a pilot project with limited budget, to be fully established, policy continuity and sustained funding are necessary.”

Meanwhile, the ‘Guangzhou International Urban Innovation Awards’ are jointly hosted by the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), which has over 240,000 member cities worldwide, Metropolis, a global network of 138 major cities with populations over one million, and Guangzhou City, China (co-chair city of Metropolis). Notably, it is an internationally prestigious award where only five cities receive the top prize out of 330 excellent policies from 198 cities in 54 countries worldwide.

Park Mijeong’s ordinance supporting integrated care in Gwangju has previously won the ‘Grand Prize’ at the 19th Korean Local Autonomy Association Excellent Ordinance Awards, the ‘Excellence Award’ at the 2023 5th Governance Local Politics Awards, and the ‘Excellence Award’ at the 2023 National Local Council Best Practices Competition hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.