In the increasingly aging society, it is true that it's becoming more difficult to meet the local need for welfare services for seniors solely through the supply from local governments or from the market. While there are some ideas in the midst of dis...
In the increasingly aging society, it is true that it's becoming more difficult to meet the local need for welfare services for seniors solely through the supply from local governments or from the market. While there are some ideas in the midst of discussion on the governance for welfare supply, an alternative in overcoming the limitations revealed by welfare supply models led by the state or the market, most of them remain in an abstract stage and need to be more specific to be implemented.
The study is about seeking the ways of reaching the equilibrium of welfare demand and supply through the efficient design of the relations in a proposed network that consists of local government which is the main provider of welfare service to local seniors, the market which provides paid-services, and such non-governmental organizations as senior advocacy groups and volunteer worker groups. In the process, it is the network that is considered as the ultimate unit of governance paradigm and the mechanism of problem-solving in the practical sense.
The study proceeds in two ways: First, the study identifies the governance by a research on related literature, both from home and overseas, and based on the research, establishes a theoretical framework for the network. From the normative and theoretical perspective, the study figures the structure and the problems with the regional welfare service network for seniors.
Second, a theoretical model of thus established network is put into the real supply situation of regional welfare service for seniors in Nam-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City for a positive analysis. The case analysis was performed with its focus on the study of such part of the network structure as the characteristics of the suppliers, the operating program, the linkage structure among the subjects, the referral by the clients, the fund exchange and inter-organizational contacts as well as on the effectiveness of the network.
From the research, the study found the following: First, in the theoretical aspect, the study resulted in a cognitive system through which it can have a look at the service supply network in the dimension of local governance. It finds the local governance is a system, a way of reigning the community and a network run on the premise that the borders of the heterogeneous and competing actors, i.e. such constituents as the local government, market, NGOs, have permeated to one another.
Along with that, the study finds the impact that such local governance has on the welfare service paradigm, that is, the cognitive system of welfare service governance with its center on new public management(NPM), urban regime theory and welfare pluralism. Here, NPM was found to be working as a principle of promoting competition in welfare service as in privatization and marketization, while the urban regime theory was working as a mechanism principle of cooperation between public sector and private sector in the level of local community, and while the welfare pluralism as the principle by which the complex ideas of various subjects - responsible for welfare service of the community such as local governments, market, families, citizens, and NGOs - are reflected.
Second, in practical sense, the relations among local government, market and NGO society are in a quite unbalanced situation. While it is the ultimate purpose of local governance that local subjects will solve the problems of their own as de-centralization proceeds, the reality is far from that. The dependence on the local government is disproportionately high while few of the pros with the subjects are kept up. Such dependence on the local government could work as an aggravating factor on the burden of the local government in its human and fiscal resource dimensions and could be a stumbling block to the formation of a sound network.
When it comes to the welfare market, it has been surprisingly undeveloped despite there is solid need for paid-service. Also, the establishing the safety net out of public responsibility to replace it remains insufficient. In the non-governmental community, volunteer activities are not carried out as much they are supposed and the fiscal aid to them is confined to few organizations, marking the support to NGOs which actually fill the structural gaps left by the government and the market is not plenty enough.
A look into the analysis of local welfare service for seniors from the outlook of supply network, client referral is being done relatively actively while the fund exchange or the inter-organizational contact remain really poor. Only a few organizations are involved in the fund exchange, with it centered on such public institutions as social welfare office and public health center. The situation with inter-organizational contact is no exception. It has not grown. As for the network effectiveness, the service providers share the perceived necessity for concerted efforts by participating institutions, but have not been able to specifically do so.
With the results, the study presents some methods of realizing local governance through an effective network of local senior welfare service as follow:
First, there needs to be some understanding on the conditions under which a network could form. As a condition for local senior welfare service network, knowledge is necessary on the local situation, the condition and the identity of the locality. The scope of actors and their interests need to be figured out in advance. The direction for forming a network needs to be decided beforehand. In other words, it must be decided whether it will focus on cutting the transaction cost of the welfare service or on maximizing the service.
Second, the local characters and the factors of the infrastructure under the regional context need to be adequately counted in the formation of the network, since the local context has the potential of causing similar networks to have quite different effects afterward.
Finally, efforts need to be exerted to keep up the participants' capability so that each subjects in the network can play their role unsparingly. The local government should be capable of mobilizing important resources in the process of local governance and continue to keep the strategy for enhancing seniors' self-supporting capability, uplifting the role and the responsibility of the senior welfare institutions and the policy efforts to motivate active participation from citizens to bolster volunteer activity.