An assessment of service delivery of a government agency dealing with vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in Perak

Abstract

Recently, good governance, which is translated to high quality performance service delivery, has appeared to be an element in promoting social inclusion for developing countries, including Malaysia. In the realm of service delivery, the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups need special alternatives but the assistance or services are still few or far from their expectation. Hence, this research focuses on the assessment of service delivery performances of a government agency namely the Social Welfare Department (SWD) in Perak, Malaysia, that offers services to the special category of community known as the vulnerable and the disadvantaged. As people begin to have an increased awareness of their rights and expectations, the provision of physical facilities and their surrounding activities also contribute to the achievement of high quality performance service delivery. A mixed method approach of combination of quantitative and qualitative research methodology is applied for this research and a total of four hundred respondents participated in the questionnaire survey and eight respondents in an interview session. The observatory checklist study was done from selected government bodies and non-government organizations that have experienced dealing with the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in Perak through access audit analysis. The results revealed that a majority of the respondents had low monthly household income between RM500-1000 and received little financial assistance. It is also found that 53.8% (215) did not own a vehicle which resulted in difficulty in mobility, compounding to the problem of lack of accessibility to the services. In addition, findings from observatory checklist study also revealed that most of the facilities provided did not follow the Universal Design Manual Guideline. The interviews also acknowledged that the facilities provided by the SWD have significantly improved the rehabilitation and quality of life of the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, especially in Perak. The outcomes assisted with strong justifications from this research, will offer a set of alternatives to help in the betterment of the delivery system of related government agencies and physical facilities provision dealing with the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in Perak.