1. Study Objectives and Method 

￮ On the basis of “the 3rd Basic Plan for Creating a Saeng Saeng Village”, which implemented from 2022, newly set the 'independence phases,' Jeollabuk-do has established and supported rural communities that are able to search and resolve their own current issues. 

￮ To date, because of the lack of opportunities to diagnose rural communities' condition and independence competency, there has been a limited understanding of the level of independence competency of rural communities in Jeollabuk-do.

￮ This study is to develop the objective and standardized-quantitative indicators to measure the extent of rural communities' independence competency. 

￮ In order to conduct this study, a literature survey, statistical and administrative data review, focus group interview, expert survey, expert advisory meeting, etc. were carried out. 

2. Conclusion and Policy Suggestion 

￮ In this study, the rural communities' competency indicators consist of three parts as follows. 

￮ 'Human competency,' the first part of the independence competency. refers to a rural community's demographic stability, growth potential, and sustainability. 

￮ Secondly, 'Community competency' is defined as rural community's organizational stability, growth potential, and sustainability and measures the leaders' and residents' competency, opportunities of residents' participation, democratic decision-making, and a sense of community. 

￮ Finally, 'Economic competency' refers to the community's economic stability, independence, and sustainability and is composed as factors measuring the community economic condition, economic stability, and growth potential. 

￮ For the indicators' completion, this study suggests four-staged plans to increase the quality of the indicators: preparation, pilot operation, revision and supplementation, and implementation. 

￮ The preparation stage, in which research conducts to develop indicators, creates guidelines the suggest evaluation targets, organizations, methods, and result analysis to measure communities' independence competency and then establishes a system to continuously and stably evaluate the independence competency. 

￮ The second stage, pilot operation, is a process of conducting a pilot project, which could affect communities' independence competency, and analyzing the project outcomes. 

￮ In the revision and supplementation stage, based on the pilot project's outcomes, the indicators, measurement methods and interpretation, etc. are revised and redeemed to deal with the limitations and challenges of measuring the independence competency. 

￮ Using the revised and supplemented indicators, the final manual a guide to — measure communities’ independence competency will be prepared. 

￮ The implementation stage sets a stable ground for operating the evaluation system. At this stage, it is to develop the cooperative relationship between the department and the related departments, to establish the governance with private-public institutions, and to monitor evaluation, interpretation, and feedback. 

￮ The community independence competency indicators will be used as basic data for establishing and implementing policies that can strengthen the independence competency of village communities in the rural areas of Jeollabuk-do by examining and diagnosing their competencies to resolve their own issues and problems.