Yeongjong-gu District (Mayor Son Hwa-jeong) in Incheon will include 15 community-focused projects proposed by residents, worth a combined 785 million won, in its 2027 budget. The district said on Oct. 13 that the projects were approved by the Yeongjong-gu Participatory Budgeting Public-Private Council.
 [The Korean Today] Yeongjong-gu Participatory Budgeting Public-Private Council approving 2027 participatory budget projects © Reporter Kim Mi-hee |
The approved projects were chosen from resident proposals submitted through several online and offline channels. Six are district-wide projects covering all of Yeongjong-gu, and nine are neighborhood projects that address issues in individual dong communities.
The two types of projects went through separate review processes. The district-wide projects were reviewed first by subcommittees and then at a meeting of subcommittee chairs. The neighborhood projects were discussed by each dong's local committee and at residents' general assemblies. The projects that passed these reviews went to the public-private council, which gave final approval at a meeting held in the district office's main conference room on Oct. 8. Because the projects were also discussed at dong-level residents' assemblies, residents had input at several stages, from proposal to final decision.
The 15 approved projects will be included in Yeongjong-gu's main budget proposal for 2027. The budget still requires approval by the Yeongjong-gu Council, and the projects will move forward once the council passes it.
"These participatory budget projects are a valuable result of the dedicated work of the first Participatory Budget Committee and the active interest of our residents," Yeongjong-gu Mayor Son Hwa-jeong said. "We will do our best to make sure these projects proceed without setbacks and lead to the development of the Yeongjong area and a better quality of life for residents." The projects are also notable as the first results produced under the first committee of Yeongjong-gu, a newly established autonomous district.
Under participatory budgeting, residents identify and propose public-interest projects closely tied to their daily lives, and the district includes them in its budget and carries them out. Rather than having residents accept projects chosen by the administration, the system lets residents take part in setting priorities. For this reason, it is regarded as a key mechanism for putting resident-centered "grassroots democracy" into practice.
The district plans to keep running the participatory budgeting program so that a wider range of resident-friendly proposals can be selected. How the approved projects bring about real changes in residents' daily lives after the district council's review is expected to serve as a measure of the program's success.
[ Reporter Kim Mi-hee: incheonsouth@thekoreantoday.com ]
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