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Viet Nam’s first index measuring the performance of governance
and public administration which was compiled from interviews with the public was
released yesterday, March 31.
“The Viet Nam
Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) 2010 is
the output of a policy research project which engaged over 5,500 residents in 30
provinces and cities from February 2010 to January 2011 by the Centre for
Community Support and Development Studies (CECODES), the Viet Nam Fatherland
Front and the United Nations Development Programme.
PAPI captured
performance levels in six dimensions including participation at local levels,
transparency, vertical accountability, control of corruption, public
administration procedures and public service delivery, CECODES vice director
Dang Hoang Giang said.
Each dimension
consisted of several sub-dimensions relevant to the contemporary context in Viet
Nam such as civic knowledge, democratic participation opportunities, and
transparency in commune budgets and land-use plans.
Overall, PAPI 2010
findings show that while the dimension-level analysis highlights varying degrees
of performance, the 30 provinces and cities are divided into four basic tiers.
(See box)
According to a
composite index that helps identify good performing provinces and learn from
their good practices, HCM City, Ha Tinh, Da Nang, Binh Dinh, Thua Thien-Hue city are
at the top of the aggregate level while Lai Chau, Kon Tum and others fall in at
the bottom.
PAPI also shows the
strength and shortcomings of the provinces in certain areas which could help
local authorities improve or adjust their policies and enforcement of policies.
For example, northern
Hai Duong Province takes the highest scores in the local level participation
dimension, implying that local citizens have their say in decision making more
than those in other provinces.
HCM City, Da Nang and
Thua Thien-Hue are top performers in terms of transparency, as a high percentage
of citizens had access to publications such as poor household lists, commune
budgets and land-use plans. Dak Lak, Quang Tri, Lai Chau and Kon Tum provinces
came in at the bottom of this dimension.
In the sub-dimension
of public notary services, which shows the level respondents agree with service
quality, Ca Mau got the lowest score of 1.80, Hau Giang and Quang Tri provinces
each scored 6.81 while Ha Noi obtained the highest score of 7.59 (on scale of 1
to 10).
Former Deputy
Minister of Home Affairs and PAPI National Advisory Board chairman Thang Van
Phuc said that PAPI was a quantitative approach to the implementation of the
country’s administrative reform during the 2001-10 period.
Provinces’ overall performance levels
– Top performing provinces: HCM
City, Ha Tinh, Da Nang, Binh Dinh, Thua Thien-Hue. – Good performing provinces:
Long An, Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Hau Giang, Hai Phong, Phu Yen, Ca Mau. – Average performing provinces:
Ha Nam, Phu Tho, Vinh Long, Bac Giang, Ha Noi, Quang Tri, Hung Yen, Tien
Giang, Nam Dinh. – Lowest performing provinces:
Kien Giang, Cao Bang, Dak Lak, Dien Bien, yen Bai, Lang Son, Lai Chau, Kon
Tum. | During the last four
years in particular, the country set a goal to build a public administration
system for citizens and enterprises, the main service users. Their assessment
played an important role, he said.
UNDP policy advisor
Jairo Acuna Alfaro said that governance and public administration referred to
three mutually reinforcing processes including policy making, policy
implementation and policy monitoring. Two ways to measure the performance were
from the perspective of service providers and from the assessment of end-users
or citizens.
“PAPI evaluates
outputs and outcomes of governance and public administration that are directly
experienced by citizens in order to present objective information,” he said.
“It therefore
provides useful information for policy makers at national and local levels to
examine their policy impact and withdraw lessons to improve the effectiveness
and the efficiency of the State and Government apparatuses.”
Vice chairwoman of
the National Assembly Justice Committee Le Thi Nga affirmed the effects of the
findings to policy makers, hoping that its questionnaire and scale would be
improved and extended to provide more comprehensive data in future surveys.
CECODES director Dang
Ngoc Dinh said that the research was first piloted in three provinces in 2009
and carried out in the 30 provinces last year. In upcoming years the survey
could reach all 63 provinces and cities thanks to its proven advantages.
Detailed findings are
available www.papi.vn.
VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News |
