基于发展的贫穷观:东西部社会救助基层服务能力比较研究

Development-based Poverty Perspective:A Comparative Study on Service Capacity of Basic Level Organizations for Social Assistance in the East and West Regions

在新贫穷理论视角下,政府保障弱势社群基本生活的责任底线也在提高,社会救助制度的内容不断扩展。然而,作为政策执行者的基层部门,其服务能力与日益完善的社会救助制度相比,还存在一定的不适应,处于明显的"福利非均衡"状态。本研究基于东西部4县调查资料的对比分析,发现东部地区虽然在救助对象人数上少于西部,但是反常识的是在供给层面的实际工作经费(非项目经费)、工作人员工作荷载(每一个工作人员对应的低保对象)、工资待遇等方面的服务能力却低于西部。然而,东部地区较低的基层服务能力却被社会救助制度创新与发展所掩盖。本研究综合量化与质化的研究结果,揭示了东部地区制度发展与人力资源、组织机制等支撑体系之间的矛盾,特别是处于县区级与村/社区级之间的镇/街道级组织的服务能力最为薄弱。因此,要想加强社会救助服务能力建设,一方面需要优化地区间资源配置,依据能级对应理论改革基层组织;另一方面需要整合外部社会资源,依托社区能力建设,发挥社会力量参与的"借力"功能,以缓解政府为建构责任底线而产生的压力。

In the perspective of New Poverty Theory,it has been re -emphasized of governments’primary responsibilities of the basic living protection for vulnerable groups,and the content of social assistance institution being expanded as well. However, the service capacity of basic level organizations of policy practitioners, developed slowly than the increasingly improved social assistance institutions, resulting in ‘ welfare disequilibrium ’. This study demonstrated that although there are fewer recipients of social assistance benefits in the East Provinces,some anti -common -sense phenomena are revealed that working funds,staff work -load and salary are even worse in the East Regions than its counterparts by comparison of data collected from four counties in the East and West areas. These weaknesses are concealed by the better development of innovation of social assistance system in the East Regions. This article employed a mixed method to find the contradiction between institution developments and their supporting systems( e. g. human resource and organizational mechanism)in the East Areas. Particularly,town/street level organizations have the lowest service capability for social assistance,if compared with that in county/district level governments and the grassroots community-level organizations. As a result,on the one hand,we need to optimize the allocation of resources between different parts of China,reforming the basic level organizations according to the theory of Capacity-level Corresponding principle;on the other hand, the external social resources are necessary to be mobilized and integrated,encouraging social participation of NGOs to improve Community Capacity Building,in order to alleviate the government ’s pressure on constructing its primary responsibilities.