Gov’t reforms offer historic ppportunity to enhance local governance for all: New PAPI Report
VGP - The newly released 2024 Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) reveals encouraging progress across several dimensions of local governance.
In 2024, citizens reported greater satisfaction with governance and public administration, highlighting improvements in transparency in local decision-making, control of corruption in the public sector, environmental governance, and e-governance.
As Viet Nam undertakes historic governance reforms—transitioning to a two-tier local government system and preparing for provincial mergers—it has a critical opportunity to enhance inclusive governance and policy implementation to address the challenges identified in the 2024 PAPI Report.
This includes prioritizing digital literacy and infrastructure investment through the implementation of Resolution 57 to improve citizens' access to online public services and bridge the existing digital divide.
The implementation of the 2024 Social Insurance Law in 2025 also presents a timely chance to expand social protection and improve access for vulnerable populations, ensuring that no one is left behind.
Australia highly appreciates the efforts of the UNDP and national partners in implementing PAPI, said Chargé d'Affaires of the Australian Embassy in Viet Nam, Ms. Renée Deschamps, adding that this is a trusted tool that supports evidence-based policy making, a platform for citizens to engage with provincial authorities to improve their performance. PAPI has become even more relevant to support the Government of Viet Nam's effective re-structuring of the provinces.
The PAPI is a policy monitoring tool that assesses citizen experiences and satisfaction with government performance at the national and sub-national levels in governance, public administration and public service delivery.
Following the initial pilot in 2009 and a larger survey in 2010, the PAPI survey has been implemented nationwide each year since 2011. For the 2024 PAPI Report, 18,894 randomly selected citizens were surveyed. In total, 216,673 Vietnamese citizens nationwide have been directly interviewed for PAPI since 2009.
PAPI measures eight dimensions: Participation at Local Levels, Transparency in Local Decision-making, Vertical Accountability Towards Citizens, Control of Corruption in the Public Sector, Public Administrative Procedures, Public Service Delivery, Environmental Governance and E-Government.
PAPI is the result of collaboration between the Centre for Community Support and Development Studies (CECODES), Real-Time Analytics and the UNDP, with the support for fieldwork coordination from the Viet Nam Fatherland Front's central agencies and its provincial to grassroots chapters since 2009./.
