2013 농어촌서비스기준 이행실태 점검‧평가 : 농어업인 삶의 질 향상 위원회 전문지원기관 업무위탁

Abstract

농어촌서비스기준은 ‘농어촌 주민들이 일상생활을 영위하는 데 요구되는 최소한의 공공서비스 항목과 수준’을 대통령령으로 정한 국가적 기준이다. 정부는 농어촌서비스기준이 본격적으로 시행된 2011년부터 한국농촌경제연구원으로 하여금 업무위탁을 통해 그 이행실태를 매년 점검·평가하도록 하고 있다. 본 연구는 동 업무위탁에 의해 농어촌서비스기준의 이행실태를 점검·평가하고, 제도 운영의 성과를 평가하여 중‧장기 운영 방향 및 정책 개선과제를 제시하는 것을 목적으로 한다.

농어촌서비스기준은 2013년에 일부 개정되어 9개 부문 32개 기준 항목으로 개편되었다. 이 중 주거 부문의 하수도와 교육 부문의 방과후학교 등 4개 기준 항목만이 현재 목표를 달성하였다. 비록 목표를 달성한 항목 수가 적지만, 농어촌서비스기준이 시행된 2011년과 비교할 때 2013년 현재 이행실태가 향상된 항목이 21개 항목에 달하고 있다. 설문조사 결과를 살펴보면 농어촌 주민들 역시 농어촌서비스기준 제도 운영 전후를 기준으로 관련 공공서비스 수준이 다소 향상된 것으로 인식하고 있다.

그러나 지난 3년 간 농어촌서비스기준 제도가 운영되면서 다양한 문제점이 제기되었다. 이러한 문제들을 검토하고 정책 수요를 분석한 결과, 농어촌서비스기준 제도는 중·장기적으로 다음과 같은 방향으로 개선되어야 한다. 첫째, 농어촌서비스기준의 정책적 기능이 정립되어야 한다. 둘째, 농어촌서비스기준과 삶의 질 향상 계획 간 연계가 강화되어야 한다. 셋째, 농어촌서비스기준 이행 촉진을 위한 예산과 사업을 정비해 나갈 필요가 있다. 넷째, 농어촌서비스기준 이행 촉진을 위한 추진조직을 중앙정부와 지방정부 모두에서 정비해야 한다. 다섯째, 농어촌서비스기준 항목을 축소하고 목표를 수정하는 등 기준 자체의 내용을 정비해야 한다.

The rural services standard as an advanced system was established in 2011 to improve the quality of life in the rural areas. The rural services standard as defined by the President’s decree is to mean the criteria and level of minimum public services needed for people to live daily life in the rural areas, and is operated for improving the quality of life in the rural areas. The rural services standard is composed of 32 items from the 9 service sectors including housing, transportation, education, public healthcare, welfare, emergency, culture, and information & communication. Their detailed items and level of goal are publicly published by notification of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The rural services standard system has been operated for 3 years. During the time, Korea Rural Economic Institute(KREI) has annually monitored the level of achievement for the standard. KREI has reported the monitoring results to the central and local governments to provoke more active political competition for accomplishing the standard. As a result, the level of accomplishment for the standard in part has been continuously improved for the past 3 years. This implies that not only the political effect has been great but also the quality of life in the rural areas has been gradually improved after the enforcement of the standard system. On the other hand, the standard system has brought up various problems during its operation. Problems related to the implementation system of rural services standard such as policy programs, budget, regulations, plan, and so forth have been pointed out. The adequacy of the detailed contents of the standard has been also brought up as a main problem. Thus at this point of time, it is needed to cool over the problems looking back the past years of the operation of the standard system. Under this background, this study is to review and evaluate the results of implementation of rural services standard in each rural Sis and Guns, and in overall rural areas. Another study purpose is to analyse the problems of the standard system which have occurred in the past 3 years and to propose relevant improvement measures. The major findings of the study are as follows. First, supply of public services have been increased by operation of the standard system. However, it is also found that the policy effect on the quality of life in the rural areas is not relatively significant since duration of the standard system has not been long enough. Moreover, majority of rural residents are not aware of the standard system so active promotion is required for the future. Second, policy function of the standard system needs to be established from the medium and long term perspective. In other words, the standard system shall play a role as not only for 5 year mid-term policy goal but also as an ultimate standard as a long-term policy direction. Third, the relevant regulations are to be amended for the standard system as not recommended but mandatory, and to be reflected in planning scheme in more concrete and detailed form. Fourth, a separate budget is needed to induce interests and active participation from the local governments in order to achieve the goal of the standard. Fifth, an independent organization is needed and reorganized not only from the central government but also from the local governments in order to promote policy efforts in achieving the standard. Lastly, the items and level of achievement are to be revised for reasonable operation of rural services standard.

Researchers: Kwang-Sun Kim, Seung-Chul Noh, and Byeong-Seok Yoon. Research Period: 2013. 4～2013. 12 E-mail Address: yeskskim@krei.re.kr