Abstract
Study on Methods to Enhance Effectiveness of GIAA and Strengthen PPP(II)
Kyung-Hee Kim
Dool-Soon Kim
Yun-Young Namgung
Eun-Kyoung Lee
Ji-Young Kim
Since the introduction of the Gender Impact Assessment and Analysis(GIAA) Act of the Republic of Korea(ROK) in 2012, the range of policies targeted for GIAA has been expanded from programmes to include acts and basic plans of government. Also, following revision in 2015, foundational rules were established to vitalize Public-Private Partnerships(PPP), and accordingly there has been growing attention paid to gender governance at a local level. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family(MOGEF) has established a Central GIAA Centre and sixteen local GIAA centres nationwide, in order to meet the increased demands for GIAA following the extension in the range of targeted policies. As a result, governance forums which include bureaucrats, gender experts and activists in civil organizations have been regenerated. Given such developments, this study aims to examine the outcomes of GIAA and seek ways to enhance the effectiveness of GIAA based upon case studies of the current situation of institutional operation of GIAA and of PPP.
Research methods include a review of the literature on GIAA, a questionnaire survey, and Focus Group Interviews(FGI) with researchers of GIAA and users of GIAA consultancy. The current institutional operation and ways for its improvement are identified as follows. Firstly, it appears that in less than ten percent of public bodies is the civil servant position in charge of GIAA filled by someone with expertise in gender issues, and there is a lack of a system to allow the civil servant in charge of GIAA to continue to work in that field for longer than four years. More than 70 percent of all civil servant respondents have said that there is a need to have a civil servant who can take full responsibility for the institutional operation of GIAA. Secondly, those civil servants in charge of GIAA seem to be content with the consulting service provided by consultants affiliated to GIAA. There is a high demand for advice from gender experts, with the survey of civil servants returning a score of 3.84 on a five point scale. Thirdly, asked what they consider as the primary outcomes of GIAA, civil servants have responded as follows: "it helps them consider the policy from the perspective of the policy recipients" (3.63/5); "it makes them responsible for the achievement of gender equality of the policy"(3.61/5); and, "that they can produce and make use of gender-disaggregated statistics "(3.38/5). Fourthly, concerning the extent to which the institutional operation of GIAA has contributed to achieving gender equality in our society, respondents scored the options as follows: "it has contributed to enhancing women's representation in the decision-making process"(3.54/5); "it has contributed to strengthening socio-economic empowerment for the safety of women and children"(3.31/5); and, “it has contributed to lessening gender bias"(3.39/5).
Methods to improve the effectiveness of GIAA, identified by this study through the analysis of GIAA ordinances, the questionnaire survey with civil servants, and interviews with researchers, can be categorized into three overall strategies. Firstly, the accountability systems which ensure that government bodies implementing GIAA set up gender equality goals and that public bodies get involved in the implementation of GIAA need to be strengthened. Secondly, the analyses of ordinances, plans and programmes covered since the introduction of the GIAA Act reveals a need to improve the implementation of GIAA at each stage of its institutional operation, including selection of the targeted policy, the writing of reports such as the analysis and assessment paper, the drawing of suggestions for policy improvement, the making of policy feedback, and the monitoring of performance. Lastly, a position responsible for gender equality needs to be created in each relevant organization and greater budgetary support for PPP needs to be provided, so that the institutional operation of GIAA can be strengthened through PPP and intra-governmental cooperation.
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