Gyeongbuk Province announced on the 24th that it received the "Grand Prize" in the 2024 Social Enterprise Promotion Excellent Local Government Evaluation at the "Social Enterprise Commemoration Event" hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor held at Seoul National University Siheung Campus.
This achievement comes two years after Gyeongbuk Province won the "Grand Prize" in the same field in 2022, and the consecutive awards are seen as recognition of the excellence of Gyeongbuk's social enterprise promotion policies.
Gyeongbuk Province employees are taking a commemorative photo after receiving the grand prize in the excellent local government evaluation for social enterprises.
The evaluation areas include five fields: job creation and market support, management of preliminary social enterprises, establishment of support systems and discovery of best practices, participation in the Social Value Indicator (SVI) and efforts to prevent fraudulent claims, realization of the local era, and social service provision performance.
Every year, the Ministry of Employment and Labor evaluates the performance of social enterprise promotion projects by each local government, selects excellent local governments, discovers various best practices, and lays the foundation for creating a regional-based social enterprise ecosystem led by local governments and supported by central ministries.
Gyeongbuk Province was the second in the nation to designate and promote "local government-type social enterprises" in 2010, and has developed and operated many policies that have become benchmarks for other regions, such as fostering the 10-10 Club (achieving 1 billion KRW in sales and 10 employees simultaneously), customized resource linkage including market development connected to large corporations, social contribution donation-type good consumption promotions, comprehensive trading company-type market support, youth job projects in the social economy, and discovering growth support models for excellent social value companies.
According to the government's 4th Basic Plan for Social Enterprises, the policy direction has shifted from direct support to indirect support such as institutional improvements to enhance corporate self-sustainability, but Gyeongbuk Province has continued support for social enterprise growth even in the absence of national funding by establishing an independent intermediary support system.
As a result of applying such self-reliance and market-oriented policies, Gyeongbuk social enterprises achieved record-high sales of 557.4 billion KRW and employment of 4,412 full-time workers last year.
The employment rate of vulnerable groups reached an all-time high of 55% (2,450 people), and free social services such as care and education were provided to over 100,000 local residents, with social purpose reinvestment amounts expanding to nearly 30 billion KRW.
Additionally, the province was recognized for its originality and effectiveness in policy implementation, such as holding special good consumption fairs where part of the proceeds is donated to help single mothers.
As a result, Gyeongbuk Province received the "Grand Prize" again this year in the social enterprise promotion excellent local government evaluation following 2022, while Gyeongsan City received the Minister of Employment and Labor Award in the excellent institution category for social enterprise product market support, and the agricultural corporation Sangha Food Co., Ltd. (located in Mungyeong City) received the Minister of Employment and Labor Award in the private organization category for social enterprise promotion merit.
Kim Young-gyun, CEO of Korea Eco Farm, an agricultural corporation and certified social enterprise in Yecheon, Gyeongbuk, which farms soybeans with about 580 farming households and supplies them to large food factories, said, "I am grateful for the interest and efforts of various institutions that help the growth of good companies," adding, "The achievements of Gyeongbuk social enterprises creating social value in agricultural and fishing villages lacking manpower and resources are truly remarkable."
Yang Geum-hee, Deputy Governor for Economy of Gyeongbuk Province, stated, "Companies that shine during economic downturns are truly valuable companies. We will strive to foster the independence of social enterprises and the environment for social value management so that Gyeongsangbuk-do can truly become the capital of good companies."
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