농촌 지역사회기반(community-based) 복지시스템 구축 방안 연구

Abstract

인적·물적 자원의 부족, 불리한 서비스 접근성 등 농촌 지역이 안고 있는 문제는 여전히 개선되지 않고, 노인, 장애인, 다문화가족 등 복지 욕구를 가진 취약계층은 증가하고 있다. 하지만 이들에게 사회안전망 역할이 필요하다는 것에는 공감하더라도 규모의 경제 논리에 따라 배제되고 있다.

지역사회기반 복지시스템은 농촌주민이 지역사회를 떠나지 않고 거주할 수 있도록 지원하는 것이다. 주민이 발견한 욕구나 문제를 지역사회보호라는 차원에서 마을단위에서부터 해결하기 위한 방안을 주민 스스로 찾아보고, 해결이 어려운 경우 읍·면사무소 등 공공기관에 도움을 요청하면, 공공기관이나 사회서비스기관에서는 지역사회 상황에 맞춰 서비스를 이용할 수 있도록 전달체계를 구축하는 것이다.

본 연구는 농촌 지역의 전반적인 사회복지 수요와 공급 현황, 지역사회복지 전달체계의 문제점을 파악함으로써 농촌에 적합한 지역사회기반 복지시스템의 구축 방안을 제시하고자 추진되었다.

Background of Research In the fast-changing social welfare environment, rural areas’ issues have not been improved as ever. In spite of the need to strengthen the social safety net, rural areas are excluded by the logic of economy of scale. The community-based welfare system refers to a sustainable delivery system that rural residents can utilize necessary services or resources living in their community. Locals try to find ways to solve problems on community-care at the level of their village, and ask public institutions including eup (town) and myeon (township) offices for help if problem-solving is difficult by themselves. Public agencies or social service organizations should establish the delivery system that prevents residents from leaving their community and provides them with needed services.

Method of Research This study reviewed the domestic and foreign literature related to rural social welfare; collected and analyzed statistical data on welfare of basic local governments; conducted 3 Focus Group Interviews targeting social workers in rural areas, in-depth interviews and case research at home and abroad; and drew plans to establish the community-based welfare system in rural areas.

Research Results and Implications According to the current state of demand for social welfare in rural regions, urban-rural complex cities show more similar aspects to cities than gun (county). Gun areas have many people with demand for welfare, but still lack social welfare facilities in a community. Case management of Hope Welfare Supporters temporarily solves simple problems through service connection. However, in case of some of the beneficiaries professional services are not available so problems reoccur. Additionally, we discovered Hope Welfare Supporters’ operational problems of output-oriented management or inconsistency with the evaluation system in social work of public administration. Private welfare centers also have an issue that they provide services centered on users of their programs, not encompassing all residents. The biggest difficulty in running welfare service centers is securing experts in the region, and the centers’ role should be established reflecting the community’s demand and changes in the environment of the social welfare system. We proposed measures to create the community-based welfare system in rural areas on the basis of the above research results. First, the community-based welfare system centered on eup-myeon units should be established as the primary support system. For this, eup-myeon offices’ social welfare officials’ role needs to be shifted from administration support to the organization of welfare coordinators. Second, si-gun should play a role of the secondary support system for needs and problems that eup-myeon cannot solve, and for the rest, the tertiary support system at the province level (si-do) is necessary. It is required to support care functions including day care and the connection with nearby cities or at the metropolitan level is needed for professional services such as therapy and rehabilitation. Given rural regions’ features, the movement for using services should be recognized as the independent service. Third, it is required to review plans to connect economic activities and welfare services for the community’s sustainable welfare system in the long term, and public and private social welfare organizations should provide education to increase residents’ capabilities to recover the community. The central government and provinces should improve the institution and policies and support enhancing capacities by strengthening training and supervision.

Researchers: Cho Mihyoung, Park Dae-shik and Nam Seung-hee Research Period: 2014. 1. ～ 2014. 10. E-mail address: mihyoung@krei.re.kr