Binh Duong PAPI in 2021 ranked 2nd in the country

On May 10, a conference was held in Hanoi to announce the provincial governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) 2021. According to the announced results, Binh Duong province gained 47,178 out of 80 points to be ranked 2nd among 63 provinces and cities nationwide.

The PAPI is an important research program on governance initiated by the United Nations Development Program in Vietnam since 2009. The PAPI measures and compares people's experiences and perceptions of efficiency and quality policy implementation and public service delivery by local authorities in 63 provinces and cities in Vietnam to promote effective governance and proactively respond to people's needs.

7 out of 8 features in the highest score group

Mr. Ly Van Dep, Deputy Director of the Department of Home Affairs, said that according to the results of the PAPI Index in 2021, Binh Duong province achieved a total score of 47,178/80 points, ranking 2nd among 63 provinces and cities nationwide. Thua Thien Hue province leads with a score of 48,059 points. The published results show that, out of 8 contents, Binh Duong province has 7 items in the highest score group, and 1 content in the high average score group. Specifically, for the score of public service delivery, Binh Duong gained 8,073 out of 10 points; controlling corruption in the public sector 8,146 out of 10 points; public administrative procedures 7,631 out of 10 points; publicity in decision-making in the locality 6,251 out of 10 points; participation of people at grassroots level 5,285 out of 10 points; accountability to the people 4,722 out of 10 points; environmental governance 3,674 out of 10 points; and e-administration 3,396 out of 10 points.

In order to contribute to the improvement and raise of the score of the PAPI, over the past time, officials who directly handle administrative procedures for the people have always strived for integrity, friendliness and ready to guide people when needed. Photo: Ho Van

Mr. Ly Van Dep said that the result was beyond expectations as a recognition and encouragement from the people with the efforts of the political system, especially at grassroots level during the 4th epidemic in 2021. The scores are published along with the PAPI were meaningful not only for collecting timely information on what is happening in governance and public administration in general but also for paying attention to the what people are experiencing when using services of the state administration.

“The PAPI not only provides objective information about people's experiences and relationships with local government agencies, but also is a tool to assess the actual effectiveness of different levels of government by creating conditions for people to fulfill their obligations and rights," said Mr. Ly Van Dep.

After the information was published directly at papi.org.vn, many officials, leaders and people in the province expressed their joy at Binh Duong's significant improvement in the PAPI. If, in 2020, the province's PAPI achieved a total score of 40.76 in the lowest group, in 2021, it was in the top of the country. Therefore, cadres and party members highly appreciate the determination of the whole political system in improving the index.

To keep on improving the PAPI

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, Head of the Legal Department of the provincial People's Council, from the published results, it can be seen that in 2021, Binh Duong province has succeeded in disease control and promptly implemented many activities to take care of the affected population. Since then, people have paid more attention to, grasped and participated in the implementation of local guidelines and policies, and many resources have been focused on the grassroots health system, which has contributed to improving internal health indicators of "providing public services". The drastic guidelines on administrative procedure reform have brought about clear results. The rate of Binh Duong people accessing the national online public service portal to learn about administrative procedures is among the highest in the country.

Overview of the announcement ceremony of PAPI in 2021 in Hanoi. After efforts to improve the PAPI Index, Binh Duong has 7 items in the highest score group, rising to the 2nd in the country regarding the index.

In addition, in order to maintain the high score, the PAPI program also recommends many issues that Binh Duong province should pay attention and focus on such as spending a separate chapter assessing the perception of importers and recommended that the authorities of the provinces and cities including Binh Duong with more attention to the propagation and dissemination of laws, policies and administrative procedures so that temporary residents can access more information equivalent to a permanent resident; propaganda should be promoted to guide people to implement online public services at levels 3 and 4.

In addition, from the PAPI report, it was also shown that the authorities of the provinces and cities also need to pay attention to the implementation of the provisions of the new Law on Access to Information, especially accessing information about land, focusing on improving the quality of land and the quality of the Community Investment Supervision Board as well as performing well in collecting people's opinions for new construction or remodeling projects of public works.

Reported by Ho Van – Translated by Vi Bao