Main office of Regional Revitalization Counseling Center of Southern Area (RCS) of the National Development Council, overtaken by National Sun Yat-sen University to help promote regional revitalization in southern Taiwan, has been officially opened. According to NSYSU, besides the main office, the Center has also offices established in Chiayi, Tainan, and Pingtung County, and a satellite point in Penghu. The offices provide consulting services to regional teams to effectively respond to regional needs.
Host of the Regional Revitalization Counseling Center of Southern Area project – Senior Vice President of NSYSU I-Yu Huang (in the middle), Co-Host Associate Dean of the College of Management Jui-Kun Kuo (second from the right), Executive Director Han-Yu Wu (first from the right), Regional Co-Host Kevin Yang – the Executive Director of 5% Design Action – Social Design Platform (second from the left), Assistant Professor of the Institute of Public Affairs Management Cheng-Hsun Hsieh (first from the right)
According to the University, the services of the RCS span across six counties and cities: Chiayi County, Chiayi City, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, and Penghu, and connect the resources of the industry, youth, and the government to assist the regional revitalization teams in the south of Taiwan by providing consulting and coaching for business proposals, as well as training.
Team of the Regional Revitalization Counseling Center of Southern Area
Meeting of the regional revitalization project in Cigu District
Since the office’s establishment in August, in just two months, the RCS has visited towns and villages in the six administrative regions, and collaborated with five youth training stations in the region, encouraging more young people to participate in regional revitalization. At present, the Center has successfully assisted four regional revitalization proposals, has been steadily expanding counseling and youth training projects. Also, many teams have been contacting the Center. The Center collaborates with National Pingtung University, PwC Taiwan, and 5% Design Action – Social Design Platform, providing diversified, professional, and complete counseling and exchange mechanism. It has also been getting involved in over ten projects of the Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Council of Agriculture, Council of Indigenous Peoples, which will serve as important guidance for revitalization teams.
Executive Director of the RCS Han-Yu Wu said that the Center has been able to grasp the current situation in the southern region thanks to contacting and observing local authorities and creative youth and has planned various response strategies. The principal investigator of the project, NSYSU Senior Vice President I-Yu Huang hopes to motivate partners and colleagues to integrate ideas of the central and local governments and provide practical assistance to local teams. “This is not an easy task, but it is crucial for national development, and is also NSYSU’s social responsibility.” He hopes for each member of staff to achieve excellent results.
Training workshop
Training workshop
The RCS will continue to organize experience exchange and events related to regional revitalization in various ways, engage in online promotion and new media, promote information on regional revitalization, and, with the current achievements, encourage more young people and non-governmental organizations to open up more possibilities and bring vitality to regional revitalization in southern Taiwan.