Suwon City Village Autonomy Council Best Practices Presentation, Gwanggyo 1-dong Wins 'Grand Prize'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City held the '2019 Community Autonomy Center Best Practices Presentation and Evaluation' at the City Hall auditorium on the 13th, awarding community autonomy councils that were run substantively over the past year.

The event was organized to share and spread each dong's community autonomy projects, community autonomy center programs, and the operation of community autonomy (committee) councils.

At the presentation, eight community autonomy centers—Maetan 4-dong, Yulcheon-dong, Haenggung-dong, Seodun-dong, Songjuk-dong, Hwaseo 1-dong, Ipbuk-dong, and Gwanggyo 1-dong—which were selected as the top two dong per district office through document screening, presented their best practices.

Among them, the Grand Prize went to the Gwanggyo 1-dong Community Autonomy Council. Gwanggyo 1-dong received high marks for continuously expanding business agreements and collaborating with public institutions and local companies, and for building consensus through community activities to identify and resolve village issues.

The Top Excellence Award went to the Ipbuk-dong Community Autonomy Council, which shared its activities involving youth participation through a public-academic specialization program, as well as cultivating and harvesting goosefoot to produce and distribute 'Filial Love Longevity Canes.'

Excellence Awards went to Songjuk-dong and Haenggung-dong. The Songjuk-dong Community Autonomy Council presented as best practices its distinctive projects such as a tool library and goods-sharing station utilizing the 'Village Sharing Station' designed directly by residents, along with the operation of a children's community autonomy council. The Haenggung-dong Community Autonomy Council cited as best practices its car-free street project, now in its seventh year, a bicycle rental project for citizens, and being the first in Suwon City to select a dong head through a resident recommendation system.

The Maetan 4-dong Community Autonomy Council won acclaim by presenting the 'Sandraemi Dreaming School'—where anyone can become an instructor, anything can become a class, and anywhere can become a classroom—and the small village festival 'Sandraemi Chamsaegol Festival,' which has continued for seven years.

Yulcheon-dong, Seodun-dong, and Hwaseo 1-dong received Encouragement Awards.

The Yulcheon-dong Community Autonomy Council introduced projects such as the 'Bambatnurimaru' village revitalization center, which uses idle space within the community center as a communication space for residents. The Seodun-dong Community Autonomy Council presented a case in which it operated a village press corps and published the 'Seodun Newsletter' to foster information sharing and communication among residents. The Hwaseo 1-dong Community Autonomy Council praised itself for achieving 'the value of togetherness' by producing and utilizing a sharing bike so that people with disabilities and migrant youth could sell items they made themselves.

In addition, the Ipbuk-dong nanta club 'Soul' gave the pre-event performance, while the Jowon 2-dong line dance club 'Bella Dance'—which took first place in the group category at the Wonju Asian Cup Championship this past November—gave the congratulatory performance, adding to the richness of the event.

Jo In-sang, head of the city's Planning and Coordination Office, said, "I thank the residents of each dong who have made great efforts to revitalize community autonomy," adding, "We will reflect the best practices in each dong and supplement the shortcomings so that Suwon City's community autonomy can develop further next year."