Nowon-gu: The Nowon Model: Institutionalizing Youth-Led Participatory Budgeting for Social Integration

The Nowon Youth Policy Governance Center presents a revolutionary model of participatory democracy by institutionalizing a "Virtuous Cycle of Participation-to-Budgeting."

As a district-managed hub, the center sustains a large-scale governance body of over 100 active youth members, ensuring that civic ideas are directly linked to the Youth Autonomous Budgeting system. This robust local infrastructure serves as the engine for national-level initiatives, most notably the Youth Growth Project.

By transforming raw civic voices into professional, high-impact policies, the center successfully supported 336 unique (560 cumulative) "resting" and local youth, achieving 100% of its targets. Due to this administrative excellence, the center was officially selected as the "Best Operating Institution" in the Ministry of Employment and Labor Evaluation.
Ultimately, Nowon-gu has established an agile social safety net that restores institutional trust, turning the district office from a cold bureaucracy into a reliable life partner for the next generation.

For more information:
https://www.nowon.kr
https://www.oidp.net/docs/repo/doc1915.pdf