(VOVWORLD) - The 2020 Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI Report) was released on Wednesday. It showed an incremental improvement in governance and public administration performance during the 2016-2021 term. It also showed that Control of Corruption in the Public Sector has improved significantly each year since 2016.
 Provincial governance, public administration improve, says PAPI Report 2020 (Photo: nhandan.com.vn) |
Since 2018, PAPI has been co-funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Embassy of Ireland and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam.
The report assesses public perception of national and local government performance in governance, public administration, and public service delivery.
The dimension on Vertical Accountability Towards Citizens also steadily improved during the 2016-2021 term, mainly because an increasing number of citizens contacted local officials, in particular village heads and People’s Council delegates.
“New features of the 2020 PAPI Report include insightful findings on the performance of local governments across two terms (2011-2016 and 2016-2021); experience of internal migrants with accessing services in receiving provinces; and voter perception of women in leadership roles,” UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen said in her opening remark at the report launch.
“As the Government embarks on a new term, PAPI provides rich and deep datasets on citizens’ perceptions of local government achievement in each of the 63 provinces and important metrics to review and further improve their performance across eight key dimensions of governance,” she noted.
The 2020 PAPI Report shows that citizen engagement and anti-corruption efforts have had a positive correlation with Vietnam’s ability to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Robyn Mudie noted an improvement in provincial governance and public administration performance, which may have contributed to Vietnam’s successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report shows a correlation between good governance and effective pandemic responses, she said, adding that good governance will enable Vietnam to respond effectively to other emergencies.
Released ahead of this year’s elections, the PAPI 2020 report analyses voters’ selection of candidates for the NA and People’s Councils at all levels. The report says women’s concerns which differ from ‘s concerns show the need to have both male and female representatives in elected positions.
More than 14,700 citizens were interviewed for the 2020 PAPI Report. This is the largest number of citizens to participate since the survey was first conducted nationwide in 2011. For the first time, the survey gathered responses from citizens with temporary residence registration. Nearly 300 relocated citizens were surveyed in six centrally governed municipalities and provinces (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Ninh, Da Nang, Dong Nai and Binh Duong).
Data on these migrants helps the administration better understand how domestic migration affects the province’s governance and public administration. The data is of great importance for making inclusive governance solutions that don’t leave anyone behind. Ms. Wiesen said building national population database and digitizing ID cards will help narrow the gap between migrants and non-migrants. A unified ID code will give all citizens equal access to governance and public administration.
The PAPI 2020 report assesses performance of provinces in 8 dimensions: participation at local levels, transparency, vertical accountability, control of corruption, public administrative procedures, public service delivery, environmental governance, and e-governance. It provides important and reliable data on the management and public service delivery of administrations, promotes accountability, and helps change attitude toward modern public governance.