'Better Welfare, Greater Paju'
Paju City in Gyeonggi Province is set to actively establish the 'Paju City Welfare Foundation' to realize welfare that all citizens can feel and to promote sustainable welfare policies. According to Paju City on the 25th, the foundation aims to launch in the second half of 2027 and will serve as a central hub for welfare policies.
The Welfare Foundation will operate focusing on five core functions: ▲welfare policy research and investigation ▲integrated management of welfare services ▲development of welfare resources and spreading a culture of sharing ▲support for welfare facilities and workers ▲elimination of welfare blind spots.
With rapid population growth, changes in population structure such as aging, low birth rates, and an increase in single-person households have led to increasingly diverse welfare demands. In particular, the need for customized services for vulnerable groups such as the elderly, disabled, and children is growing, but there are concerns that administrative personnel and existing systems alone have limitations in responding.
Paju is a mixed urban-rural city where urban and rural areas coexist, and there is a significant gap in welfare infrastructure between regions. Most of the 1,124 social welfare facilities operate individually, causing overlapping welfare resources and blind spot issues to persist, which act as constraints on policy continuity and securing expertise.
To resolve these structural problems in the welfare field and strengthen expertise, voices calling for the establishment of a welfare foundation within the region have been steadily rising. Through the Welfare Foundation, Paju City plans to research welfare policies suited to local conditions and establish a system where all citizens can benefit without discrimination.
Additionally, the city plans to create a welfare ecosystem involving citizens through a participatory welfare model, including activating donations linked with private welfare resources.
Kim Kyung-il, Mayor of Paju City, said, “The establishment of the Paju City Welfare Foundation is an important step toward improving citizens’ welfare and will be a core foundation for innovatively redesigning the entire welfare system of Paju City. We will do our best to provide practical help especially to citizens in welfare blind spots.”
Meanwhile, in Gyeonggi Province, seven cities and counties including Gyeonggi Welfare Foundation, Siheung, Pyeongtaek, Gimpo, and Hwaseong are already operating welfare foundations, and Goyang City and Seongnam City are preparing to launch foundations in the second half of 2025.
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