Challenges and Obstacles in Driving Local Government Development: A Reflection on Public Service Provision by Sub-district Administrative Organizations in the Thai Social Context

Abstract

This academic consists purposes to present an analysis of the mission and standards of public service provision of Subdistrict Administrative Organizations (SAOs) as per the Public Service Provision Report based on indicators and minimum standards from the Office of the Decentralization Commission (ODC) for 2022-2024. This report reflects the operational potential of SAOs which in turn are indicators of success in local public service provision. This in-depth analysis of SAOs' public service provision reveals that some SAOs lack the importance and cooperation in recording data in the system or that some SAO databases are incomplete and outdated, resulting in a lack of accurate and complete data. While some SAOs performed well on some indicators, several areas experienced high failure rates or non-compliance. These include, for example, performance in urban planning services, public health literacy regarding emerging and re-emerging diseases, and a low gap in local digital skills and learning technologies. Overall, scores in each criterion reflect varying levels of SAO performance. Strength in financial management and project implementation. however, are inconsistent in local health and welfare development or requiring continuous improvement and development to achieve better and more consistent results. Furthermore, budgetary and personnel constraints in some missions may limit SAOs' ability to fully implement public services. While these indicators are effective as a tool for guiding local development and evaluating overall performance, they remain problematic in SAOs' ability to ensure comprehensive and quality implementation in accordance with minimum standards. Furthermore, the indicators themselves are limited in their ability to adequately address the root causes of problems.