Providing Customized Services (KR0018)

In order to provide customized services that adres diferent public neds, the Korean government has divided public services with a high demand into four groups: general services (public safety, etc.), target group-specific services (for mothers/newborn babies, elementary/secondary schol students, colege students/job sekers, and the elderly), services for vulnerable groups (people with disabilties, rural residents, and other underprivileged people), and busines-specific services (for smal busineses, SMEs, and other general busineses). In 2014, the Korean government wil select 50 flagship service projects for the central and local governments based on private-sector expert groups’ opinions and promote them in earnest. In doing so, in order to ensure transparency and acountabilty through public participation, an advisory commite, a national survey, and the private-public task force for public service design wil help make sure that hose selected service projects are in line with the public’s demand. In 2015, those flagship projects wil be adjusted and further developed to adres the public neds. Also, by holding multiple consultations and workshops intended for civil communites and citzens, the Korean government wil reach out o people in ned, and wil come up with new public services that they need.

I. Improving Public Services

Commitment 1b. Providing Customized Services

Commitment Text: In order to provide customized services that address different public needs, the Korean government has divided public services with a high demand into four groups: general services (public safety, etc.), target group specific services (for mothers/newborn babies, elementary/secondary school students, college students/job seekers, and the elderly), services for vulnerable groups (people with disabilities, rural residents, and other underprivileged people), and business specific services (for small businesses, SMEs, and other general businesses). In 2014, the Korean government will select 50 flagship service projects for the central and local governments based on private sector expert groups’ opinions and promote them in earnest. In doing so, in order to ensure transparency and accountability through public participation, an advisory committee, a national survey, and the private public task force for public service design will help make sure that hose selected service projects are in line with the public’s demand. In 2015, those flagship projects will be adjusted and further developed to address the public needs. Also, by holding multiple consultations and workshops intended for civil communities and citizens, the Korean government will reach out to people in need, and will come up with new public services that they need.

Editorial Note: Three milestones were derived from this commitment:
 

1. By 2014, select and promote 50 flagship service projects for the central government and local governments based a consultation with "private-sector experts' groups."

2. By 2015, develop these flagship projects in line with public needs.

3. The Korean government will come up with new public services by holding multiple consultations and workshops.

Responsible institution: Ministry of the Interior (MOI)

Supporting institution(s): Several ministries and government bodies, according to June 2016 government briefing to IRM

Start date:  N/A | End date: N/A

Commitment Aim:

The commitment aimed at holding consultations and workshops to select and develop what MOI calls 50 “flagship service products,” such as public services for the vulnerable, disabled, students, elderly and others, aiming to advance the OGP value of public accountability. At the time this commitment was adopted, the government already had a strong set of public services, but was expanding on these successes in a more inclusive manner. More specifically, the commitment sets out to:

1.   Select 50 flagship products through consultation with private stakeholders

2.   Organize workshops, forums and a task force to improve those services throughout the implementation period

3.   Expand these flagship products by 2015 in line with public needs

Status

Mid-term: Limited

According to the action plan, the government was already overseeing a large number of public services before the research period. These could be divided into four groups: general services like public safety; target group services aimed at new mothers, students, job seekers, and the elderly; services for vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, rural residents, and underprivileged people; and business-specific services for small businesses, small and medium enterprises, and large businesses.

The progress on this commitment was limited at the time of mid-term report. During first half of the implementation period, the government selected twenty out of fifty planned flagship projects and published these online (1.b.1). This activity’s completion is limited as fewer than half of the flagship projects have been selected and promoted. As such, development of flagship projects (1.b.2) did not begin on time. The government’s plan to create new public services based on the outcome of consultations and workshops (1.b.3) had limited completion. Searches of MOI’s online bulletin board, Google, and Naver (in Korean) revealed no public plans or meeting minutes of public-private collaboration for 2014, and the self-assessment did not shed significant light on the overall status of implementation.^{[Note 18: Open Government Partnership. “South Korea 2014-2015 IRM Progress Report,” pp. 19-23.]}

End of term: Substantial

1.b.1. Select and promote fifty flagship projects (Complete)
According to a June 2016 summary report from the Ministry of Interior, the government made progress throughout the implementation period in engaging in public fact-finding and media monitoring to select the 50 flagship products in 2014. MOI provided a list of these 50 flagship projects^{[Note 19: List of 50 Flagship projects included in Government Self-Assessment Report, September 2016, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/South-Korea_End-of-Term_Self-Assessment_Report_2014-2016.pdf.]}; interviewed stakeholders agreed the list was accurate. MOI continued to develop public information services in pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, crime and many others throughout the implementation period. All of these projects together stretch across multiple ministries and require sophisticated levels of inter-ministry cooperation and communication.^{[Note 20: Ministry of Interior, Republic of Korea. “}열린정부파트너십자체평가보고서,” (Translation: Open Government Partnership Self-Assessment Report), June 2016, pp. 13-19.]

1.b.2. Develop flagship projects in line with public needs (Substantial)
According to the self assessment report, “The government sought to improve the public perception and understanding of new services by organizing workshops and seminars with expert guests and lay citizens…participants were able to improve their understanding of the customized services. In addition, these occasions allowed the civil servants responsible for providing these services to have their voices heard.” Based on this description of implementation activities, consultation took place among and between various government departments and agencies, but activities involving citizens were primarily information sharing. The commitment text is vague in regard to how public needs were to be determined. Open government-focused stakeholders, such as OpenNet Korea, initially reported an improvement in the government’s willingness to meet and discuss related public data services during the implementation period.^{[Note 21: Correspondence with Kyung-sin Park, Professor of Law at Korea University and Director at Open Net Korea, September 13, 2016.]} However, the same stakeholders later said that after meetings with the government in June 2016, they were concerned MOI is still using civic participation commitments to promote information-sharing policies.

1.b.3. Develop new public services by holding multiple consultations and workshops (Substantial)

While the government has been holding public discussions related to public service design, not all have been open and inclusive. According to the self-assessment report, 40 of these flagship projects were implemented with consultation from groups such as an advisory board consisting of private citizens, pregnant women, local residents, a panel of three professors, and through online surveys. The only participants identified were the panel of three professors^{[Note 22: Three professors were identified in the self-assessment report along with the dates of their consultation workshops: Prof. Kim, Youn -Sung of Inha University (February 27, 2014), Prof. Kim, Sang-Wook of Chungbuk National University (June 13, 2014), and Prof. Lee, Won-Suk of Yonsei University (June 27, 2014)]}, whom the IRM researcher contacted in June 2016, and again in December, but received no response to questions regarding how the projects were carried out. The self-assessment report lists several specific examples of workshops carried out, but provides no details other than the date and hosting organization (eg: a workshop with pregnant women, hosted by Cheil General Hospital and the Women’s Healthcare Center, September 21, 2015). Meeting agendas, lists of participants, minutes, and outcomes from discussions were not recorded or made available to the public, so it is impossible to verify how citizen’s input was used to develop new services. Until a stronger systematic effort is made to include more voices and document progress online, implementation of this commitment as written is considered “substantial” based on the available evidence of 50 new projects, but not “complete” as it is unclear how citizen’s views were included.

Did it open government?

Civic Participation: Did not Change

Flagship projects were selected based on the government’s information-gathering.  However, the IRM researcher could not identify any stakeholders that took part in the consultation process, and therefore could not find any significant improvement in civic participation as a result.  The same view was reflected by stakeholders interviewed during the implementation of the action plan. Many key decisions to select flagship projects, according to the government’s June 2016 report, came from a three-person panel of academic experts, which is in line with past government practice. The government wrote that citizen petitions and media reports were included in the decision-making process led by these panels, but did not demonstrate how these activities improved civic participation or were a change from past practice. Since minutes, participant lists, video, and summaries are not available for the consultations the government carried out in designing flagship projects, changes in civic participation are unverifiable. The government has pledged to be more inclusive of the public in the future, although specific plans were not mentioned in its June 2016 report.^{[Note 23: Ministry of Interior, Republic of Korea. “}열린정부파트너십자체평가보고서,” (Translation: Open Government Partnership Self-Assessment Report), June 2016, pp. 15-19.]

Carried forward?

This commitment has not been carried forward to the third action plan. Similar to commitment 1a, the government can improve completion by expanding the scope of civil society actors and independent citizens in the decision-making process, and being specific about how their opinions are making an impact.