PAPI 2021 – the reflection of efforts of all-level authorities of the province

The Central Committee of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam have just announced the provincial governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) in Vietnam in 2021. Binh Duong reached out and was ranked 2nd in the country in terms of PAPI 2021.

Each cadre and civil servant at the grassroots needs to be responsible for explaining and advising people on the information they need to know, helping them to easily carry out administrative procedures. In the photo: A "one-stop shop" officer in Hung Dinh ward of Thuan An city instructs people on the information they need to know when making documents and procedures.

 Enjoyment after efforts made

Morning of May 11 at the building of the provincial Administration Center, officials and civil servants from all departments and agencies were excited to hear that Binh Duong province had risen dramatically in the PAPI ranking in 2021 with a total score of 47,178 out of 80 points to be ranked 2nd among 63 provinces and cities nationwide. Compared with the results in 2020, the scores of content indicators of “controlling corruption in the public sector”, “public administrative procedures”, “openness in local decision-making”, “civil participation at the grassroots level", "accountability to the people", "environmental governance", and "electronic governance" all increased with many leading the country or among the top in the country.

Mr. Thai Hoang Quoc Dung, Head of the Division of Government Construction and Youth Work of the Department of Home Affairs, said that he and the leaders of the Department of Home Affairs directly attended the conference in Hanoi. “Once inside the conference and when it was time to announce the results, we were also surprised and happy about the results of the province's PAPI. As professionals, we always strive to well fulfill the assigned tasks. The result is a great encouragement for the authorities at all levels in Binh Duong, especially the local authorities, to maintain the ranking in 2022 when we will do our best, especially advising on implementation solutions to maintain the ranking in the coming time," Mr. Dung said.

Public officials were excited while people in the province were more confident in the government at all levels, especially the accountability to people of the government at all levels, the disclosure of information at the grassroots according to the goal of letting "people know, people discuss, people do, and people check". Mr. Nguyen Toan Khoa, a resident of Phu Tho ward in Thu Dau Mot city, said that in 2021, Binh Duong province along with Ho Chi Minh City has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the time of social distancing, people were always concerned about their health, health insurance, vaccinations with 1st, 2nd, 3rd doses, information on making citizen cards and other policies such as amounts of support for people in the post-COVID-19 era etc. “All the people need to know, and we were promptly informed by local authorities on the media and daily loudspeakers of the ward,” Mr. Khoa said.

Many people believe that the transparency of central and local directives, accountability at the grassroots level of governments at all levels, especially policies on health, education, planning, and and use has been done quickly and promptly in the past time. They also recommend that the authorities at all levels in the province continue to promote these good practices, especially the implementation of level 3 and level 4 online public services in order to contribute to maintaining the PAPI ranking in the region for the time to come.

The provincial People's Committee requested the departments, branches and localities to review, update, simplify, and fully publicize the administrative procedures under their handling competence. It also requested to implement the interconnection between the receiving and returning departments of the State administrative agencies from the provincial level to the grassroots in order to facilitate individuals and organizations to contact and handle the related work. The quality of essential grassroots public services such as public health care, education, and basic infrastructure is improved to meet the requirements of better people's quality of life in terms of electricity, clean water, traffic, waste management, security and order, serious environmental management, and synchronously deployed solutions towards sustainable development.

The results of consensus

Mr. Ly Van Dep, Deputy Director of the Department of Home Affairs, said the result was thanks to the consensus of the whole people. In 2021, the standing provincial Party Committee and provincial People's Committee were very interested in improving the PAPI and have given drastic directions. The Department of Home Affairs has advised solutions for the provincial People's Committee to have documents directing all levels and sectors to synchronously and effectively implement. In which, there was a very important role of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front Committee of the province and the mass organizations at all levels in the province. The result has clearly demonstrated the efforts and great political determination of the province, the consensus of all levels, sectors, the provincial Vietnamese Fatherland Front Committee, socio-political organizations and the whole public.

In fact, the PAPI has helped promote accountability to the people of authorities at all levels, contributing to the process of innovation and creativity in the public sector for the goal of "beneficiaries". In addition to the goals of letting "people know, people discuss, people do, and people check" in implementing democracy at grassroots, the PAPI also shows that helping people understand the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the effectiveness of democracy, public governance with the active participation of the people. Authorities at all levels in the province have done very well their responsibilities to the people in terms of information disclosure, information what people need to know and the accountability to the people.

Ms. Dang Thi Hoang Nhi, a resident of Phu Hoa ward, Thu Dau Mot city, said that people highly appreciate the responsibility of authorities at all levels in Binh Duong in public and transparent information. People's daily life to administrative procedures are all public and transparent through social networks, Zalo, electronic portals, mass media agencies.

According to Mr. Nguyen Huynh Dinh, Vice Chairman of the Provincial Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, the results of Binh Duong PAPI 2021 have comprehensively reflected the efforts of the authorities at all levels in the province, especially the accountability and the disclosure of information from the grassroots to the residential areas. In 2021, the contents of accountability to the people and publicity when making decisions at the local level and participation of people at the grassroots level had been significantly improved, showing that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the local government in Binh Duong has done a very good job of publicity, transparency and responsibility to the people. Neighborhoods, hamlets to commune-level People's Committees have publicized the information people need to know, people need to discuss and comment on as a reason to help people trust the grassroots more and more with a firm belief among the people.

Binh Duong province's PAPI index in 2021 has improved all points by 8 aspects. In 2022, the Provincial People's Committee has a plan to improve and raise the PAPI. Accordingly, the provincial People's Committee requires the State agencies to step up the propaganda widely in the political system and the whole society to well fulfill the requirements set forth; at the same time, it asks for understanding, sharing and promptly solving problems and pressing concerns of people, organizations and individuals in the settlement of administrative procedures. Along with that, it is necessary to promote the participation of all classes of people in the process of formulating, implementing and monitoring the implementation of policies and improving the responsibilities of the heads of State agencies and each cadre, civil servant, official and person in an effort to maintain and continue to improve the PAPI.

The provincial People's Committee requested all levels and branches to especially promote the exploitation of modern forms of propaganda and the application of information technology to each target group and each population area that need to propagate such as electronic newspapers, social networks, applications on smart electronic devices via Zalo, Facebook, specialized applications, local electronic portals, etc. For the work of information and propaganda, focus is on being proactive and timely - timely, accurate, practical, public opinion orientation in propaganda work, to make it easier for for people to access information. In which, it is necessary to strengthen the way of two-way communication and interaction with the people, instructions on how, where and when to access information, and guidance for people to process such information.

Reported by Ho Van – Translated by Vi Bao