Capacity building as the basis for a sustainable tourism partnership
Capacity building for members of the village association
Haenggung Village Cooperative
The Suwon Cultural Foundation established an objective of increasing local community participation in tourism initiatives, in order to build a sustainable tourism environment. Starting from 2013, local residents were consulted and engaged in various activities such as Sotdae making (village folk poles), Suwon Love Lantern Festivals, King Jeongjo Royal Tomb Procession events, which slowly built the knowledge of how local resident collaboration could happen.
As the content and festivities based on Hwaseong as World Heritage expanded, such as the Suwon Heritage Night Walks and World Heritage Festival, the level of community participation widened in its scope and depth. A local destination management organization has been established that could provide capacity building to showcase the example of creating a sustainable tourism ecosystem.
The increased engagement of local residents in World Heritage festivals was crucial so that they could start benefitting from World Heritage. In the past local residents had to continuously endure all the negative impacts from tourism but did not receive any benefits. In this partnership, local residents are active participants creating content, managing events and actively participating in the management and utilization of World Heritage.
As the city government tried to change its way of operation in an attempt to build a sustainable tourism ecosystem, the local residents trusted the governance and started the collaboration in good faith and effort. The local government placed importance on the process of engaging the local community rather than only focusing on the immediate results and supported on a long-term basis to enhance the capacities of the residents in their role as the content creators of the local festivities.
The engagement of the local community was pursued to create a sustainable tourism environment. The relationship was built on mutual trust as the city government focused on a cumulative build-up of local capacity, rather than arbitrarily contracting them for certain tasks that could be posed as a testbed. The local government provided continued technical assistance in building up the capacities of the local residents and advised them to formulate a legal entity to become independent partners to the destination management organization.
Haenggung Village Cooperative Founders’ General Assembly
Haenggung Village Cooperative
The local residents who were previously excluded from the various cultural tourism activities and festivals centering on the World Heritage property started to independently host village activities and built up their capacities for delivering and managing events.
The initial residents group started to participate in the operations of the Suwon Heritage Night Walks in 2017 as traffic control staff. As the number of festivals that were hosted to celebrate Suwon Hwaseong as World Heritage increased, such as the Hwaseong by Night, World Heritage Festival, and Media Art Shows, the number of jobs available for the residents also increased.
The Haenggung Village Cooperative Association was established on 31 May 2021 and it consists of 46 members. The main line of work is creating content and activities for visitors. The association is composed of 4 sub-groups each named “jigi”, which in the Korean language means friends:
Haenggungjigi, who focuses on providing event support, information, sanitation and the operation of activities;
Donghaengjigi, a group that creates the content and stories of the village tours;
Surajigi that promotes and shares research and education on food;
Cheongnyeonjigi, the group that monitors and conducts evaluations of activities.
It was key to create jobs that could best optimize the capacities of the local residents. The division of work between members of Haenggungjigi, Donghaengjigi, Surajigi and Cheongnyeonjigi was fundamental to organize the work.
Lastly, all residents participating in these activities had to complete a mandatory training.
Through the cooperative association that based itself on the experience of creating village activities, diverse jobs that could be directly linked to the capacities of the local residents were set up. These included positions such as event operation staff, information officers, cooks, and conducting baseline research. This made a big transition as the residents who were previously neither part of nor benefitting from the festivals could now directly be involved and be paid for their contributions.
The mandatory training for the residents who wanted to participate increased the overall capacities of the local residents and boosted their understanding of World Heritage, local values and the importance of local participation.
Haenggung Village Cooperative Founders’ General Assembly
Haenggung Village Cooperative
Haenggungjigi
Haenggung Village Cooperative
Surajigi
Haenggung Village Cooperative
Cheongnyeonjigi
Haenggung Village Cooperative
Donghaengjigi
Haenggung Village Cooperative
The local residents who were previously excluded from the various cultural tourism activities and festivals centering on the World Heritage property started to independently host village activities and built up their capacities for delivering and managing events.
The initial residents group started to participate in the operations of the Suwon Heritage Night Walks in 2017 as traffic control staff. As the number of festivals that were hosted to celebrate Suwon Hwaseong as World Heritage increased, such as the Hwaseong by Night, World Heritage Festival, and Media Art Shows, the number of jobs available for the residents also increased.
The Haenggung Village Cooperative Association was established on 31 May 2021 and it consists of 46 members. The main line of work is creating content and activities for visitors. The association is composed of 4 sub-groups each named “jigi”, which in the Korean language means friends:
Haenggungjigi, who focuses on providing event support, information, sanitation and the operation of activities;
Donghaengjigi, a group that creates the content and stories of the village tours;
Surajigi that promotes and shares research and education on food;
Cheongnyeonjigi, the group that monitors and conducts evaluations of activities.
It was key to create jobs that could best optimize the capacities of the local residents. The division of work between members of Haenggungjigi, Donghaengjigi, Surajigi and Cheongnyeonjigi was fundamental to organize the work.
Lastly, all residents participating in these activities had to complete a mandatory training.
Through the cooperative association that based itself on the experience of creating village activities, diverse jobs that could be directly linked to the capacities of the local residents were set up. These included positions such as event operation staff, information officers, cooks, and conducting baseline research. This made a big transition as the residents who were previously neither part of nor benefitting from the festivals could now directly be involved and be paid for their contributions.
The mandatory training for the residents who wanted to participate increased the overall capacities of the local residents and boosted their understanding of World Heritage, local values and the importance of local participation.
The local residents who were previously excluded from the various cultural tourism activities and festivals centering on the World Heritage property started to independently host village activities and built up their capacities for delivering and managing events.
The initial residents group started to participate in the operations of the Suwon Heritage Night Walks in 2017 as traffic control staff. As the number of festivals that were hosted to celebrate Suwon Hwaseong as World Heritage increased, such as the Hwaseong by Night, World Heritage Festival, and Media Art Shows, the number of jobs available for the residents also increased.
The Haenggung Village Cooperative Association was established on 31 May 2021 and it consists of 46 members. The main line of work is creating content and activities for visitors. The association is composed of 4 sub-groups each named “jigi”, which in the Korean language means friends:
Haenggungjigi, who focuses on providing event support, information, sanitation and the operation of activities;
Donghaengjigi, a group that creates the content and stories of the village tours;
Surajigi that promotes and shares research and education on food;
Cheongnyeonjigi, the group that monitors and conducts evaluations of activities.
It was key to create jobs that could best optimize the capacities of the local residents. The division of work between members of Haenggungjigi, Donghaengjigi, Surajigi and Cheongnyeonjigi was fundamental to organize the work.
Lastly, all residents participating in these activities had to complete a mandatory training.
Through the cooperative association that based itself on the experience of creating village activities, diverse jobs that could be directly linked to the capacities of the local residents were set up. These included positions such as event operation staff, information officers, cooks, and conducting baseline research. This made a big transition as the residents who were previously neither part of nor benefitting from the festivals could now directly be involved and be paid for their contributions.
The mandatory training for the residents who wanted to participate increased the overall capacities of the local residents and boosted their understanding of World Heritage, local values and the importance of local participation.
