United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Miryang is an inland city with a population of 110,226. It is about 798.94㎢ in size and located in the southern part of Korea. It possesses a heavenly nature and cultural and historical assets. However, due to its economical infrastructure of which 64% of population works in agriculture, the population of younger generations has been continuously declining.

For the last 10 years, Miryang city proposed several large projects to increase population and boost the local economy. Some of those projects were as follows: waste processing system, moving a university, attracting large manufacturing businesses, etc. However, when the city tried to pursue each project, local residents vigorously opposed the project with a NIMBYISM (Not In My Back Yard attitude). As a result, incoming businesses canceled their construction permits, while existing businesses moved out of the city to expand their factories elsewhere.

It was apparent that local residents were concerned more about individual interests than public interests and no existing project could be sustained without the understanding and cooperation of the people. Consequently, the city recognized the importance of citizen cooperation more than ever. In order to grow the city properly, Miryang needed an innovative policy that could guide citizens to understand the city’s administrative decisions when the city proposes large projects.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
A. Solution Mayor Eom, who was elected by citizens in 2006, quickly recognized that citizen cooperation was one of the major success factors for any city’s project and initiated an innovative new policy called, “One-Day Honorary Mayor Experience.” This policy was to conduct administrative collaboration with citizens by involving citizens in the decision-making process. Mayor Eom believed that in order to transform the small stagnant city into a large city, many future city planning and projects would require collaboration between the city and the local residents. B. Key Benefits The main benefit of this policy is, 1) the reputations of city officials have positively changed. People who experienced the mayor’s role through this policy voluntarily share with others what they have learned from their experience; they genuinely promote city’s current projects and talk about how city officials spend their day; they naturally discuss obstacles with which the city is faced. The typical reputation of government officials as being apathetic is slowly disappearing among Miryang citizens. The second benefit of this policy is, 2) the city is able to develop more projects with citizen consent because honorary mayors’ suggestions and recommendations get incorporated into administrative activities. The last benefit of this policy is, 3) the collaboration between city officials and citizens create hope in everyone that Miryang can accomplish anything and everything. More and more residents support city’s long-term development projects such as “Korea’s second largest international airport development” and “Large customized factory land development,” etc.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
(1) Solution provider: Eom Yong-su, the Mayor of Miryang City (2) Implementer: Citizens of Miryang(Honorary Mayors), Deputy Director of Administration (3) Concerned parties: Honorary Mayor, Other respective officials

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The Korean surnames of “Milsung Park” and “Milsung Son” originated in Miryang city. 70~80% of Park’s family (Milsung branch) reside in Miryang (approx. 3,030,000 people nationwide). Also, the city has a 1,500 year-old ancient history and tradition. Because of surname-based village structure, bonding among local residents is relatively stronger than other cities. However, this strong bond sometimes works against the city when local residents oppose the city’s projects. Therefore, the city was determined to develop a strategy that would take advantage of genuine citizen collaboration. The city thought that if more citizens understood and actively supported the city’s projects, the supporters would persuade other citizens, in turn, to collaborate. So, the city studied a method to involve more citizens. The city invited a citizen, who was interested in the city’s work, to be honorary mayor for one day. Then, the honorary mayor worked with city officials and local residents from the mayor’s perspective. From an ordinary citizen’s point of view, people commonly thought that the city was making decisions easily. But, the honorary mayors were able to truly understand the city’s complicated decision-making process, which requires reviewing and analyzing the city’s budget and other consequences of any initiative. Also, they were able to hear about various obstacles directly from the city officials. Thus, the government regained confidence from the people. Additionally, the honorary mayors gained a sense of pride and responsibility, which they contributed to the city’s work by partaking in discussions to improve policies. Citizens showed continued interest and support for the city after experiencing the mayor’s role.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
(1) One-day honorary mayor selection: twice annually (2) Promotion method: Miryang city homepage, banner, newspaper advertisement (3) Job period: two business days per honorary mayor (4) Job description • Monday Meet with Mayor of Miryang for an hour; Receive orientation for Thursday agenda. • Thursday Meet with deputy directors in the mayor’s office in the morning; Visit city buildings and/or project development sites with secretaries; Make a written opinion and suggestions and mail this report to respective departments within a week. (5) Work flow Apply for honorary mayor experience (online, twice a year) → Notify a working date to a selected citizen → Submit a report on suggestions and recommendations after the experience → Review a report in a respective department → Report the result of a report to a respective honorary mayor within two weeks → Hold an honorary mayor’s meeting every three months → Officials: Report the progress of projects that were initiated by an honorary mayor → Honorary Mayor: Report public opinions and administrative improvement suggestions. (6) Results • Start date: September 7, 2006 • Honorary mayors: 147 citizens • Policy improvement: 93 cases

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Some opponents of this policy were concerned that accompanying an ordinary citizen for a day might not be efficient time management for government officials. Also, opponents thought that discussing sensitive issues with people who do not have any public service administrative experience was inappropriate. Regardless, Mayor Eom persuasively convinced opponents that the city needed better collaboration with citizens. Since the implementation of this policy, there have been no major obstacles, thanks to the policy’s many positive accomplishments.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The greatest advantage of this policy is the fact that it does not require any special resources.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
A. Sustainability Since the beginning of this policy in 2006, candidates for the One-Day Honorary Mayor position are continuously increasing. This policy is a sustainable new public service landmark that has room for future growth. B. Transferability The government cannot simply overrule citizens in the current era of more sophisticated civil society. Through the success of this policy, Miryang city realized that citizen support was dramatically amplified when the city considered the citizen as an administrative decision-making partner and discussed issues with them. Miryang city officials have incorporated the “Listen to the Public Voice in Advance” program into all of the city’s projects after witnessing the positive results of the One-Day Honorary Mayor policy. Also, an increasing number of other cities and counties use this policy as their benchmark.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
This policy is great for local governments that frequently experience citizen resistance to public policies or projects and consequently experience policy failures and project cancelations. Local governments should remember that even the best policy in theory means nothing if the people cannot understand and appreciate it. The lesson from this policy is that a local government has a higher chance of accomplishing better results when including citizen participation in the establishment of new policies.


Institution Name:		Major of Miryang
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		Ju Hyung Ryu
Title:		staff
Telephone/ Fax:		82-55-359-6534
Institution's / Project's Website:		82-55-359-6998
E-mail:		because@korea.kr
Address:		Hanam-eup Susan-ri 469-13 Hanam Office
Postal Code:		627-894
City:		Miryang
State/Province:		Gyeongsangnam-do
Country:

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information