According to Chairman Nguyen Van Phuong, this result demonstrates the continuous innovative efforts in administrative reform, breakthrough thoughts in management and administration of the authorities at all levels from the Province to the grassroots; thereby, firmly consolidating the trust of people and businesses in the direction and administration of the Province. At the same time, this contributes to creating motivation for Thua Thien Hue to affirm its position in administrative reform.
Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Phuong
Could you further explain why the Province first ranked high on this indicator?
The Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (referred to as PAPI) is a tool to measure people's experiences and feelings about administrative activities and public service provision of local governments at all levels.
The goal of the PAPI program is to improve service efficiency of local governments, improve service spirit, and increase publicity, transparency and accountability of public organizations to better respond to the increasing demands of people.
With many efforts, Thua Thien Hue Province has the PAPI index of 45.86 and 44.53/80 points in 2019 and 2020 respectively, hence belonging to the group of 10 provinces and cities with the highest scores throughout the country (5th place in 2019, 10th place in 2020)
Specifically, Thua Thien Hue Province is honored to be ranked first at the conference to announce the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index 2021 hosted by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Vietnam in Hanoi on the morning of May 10th, 2022.
In 2021, the composite score of the PAPI index of Thua Thien Hue reached 48,059 points. All 8 component indicators of the Province, including people's participation at the grassroots level, openness and transparency in decision-making; accountability to the people, control of corruption in the public sector; public administrative procedures, public service provision, environmental governance and e-governance, are in the group of 5 provinces and cities with the highest scores within the country, in which the index of Public service provision has the highest score in the country with 8,464 points.
This represents the sharing of people's experiences about the convenience of using public service delivery, as well as the continuing maintenance of the quality and availability of basic public services from the commune, district, to provincial levels.
So, what is the key solution for the Province to reach the top position, sir?
Many solutions have been proposed, of which the key group of solutions is still to direct political organizations at the grassroots to participate in the implementation of grassroots democracy regulations actively and responsibly so as to ensure the full and real implementation of the motto "People know, discuss, do, monitor, and benefit".
Besides, it is essential to promote the participation of all classes of people in the process of formulating, implementing and monitoring the implementation of policies, improving the quality of administration, governance and public administration of the government apparatus at all levels from the Province to the grassroots, building a transparent, effective, efficient, professional, unifying administration, and improving the service quality and reputation of the authorities at all levels to the People.
It is also necessary to strictly and fully implement regulations on publicity and transparency on recruitment of civil servants and public employees in State agencies, in socio-economic development planning, in investment projects and works, in land-use planning, in compensation structures, in local budget revenues and expenditures and in contents of people's regimes and policies, etc.
In addition, it is important to synchronously and effectively reform administrative procedures related to people, to organizations, and to internal work settlement processes among State administrative agencies, as well as to review and recommend reducing and simplifying administrative procedures to reduce time and costs of people and organizations.
Furthermore, it is crucial to promote the implementation of administrative procedures in the electronic environment, helping people and organizations to perform online services anytime, anywhere, and via different means.
People taking part in carrying out administrative procedures at the Provincial Public Administration Center
In your opinion, what does the Province need to do to maintain the ranking?
The Provincial People's Committee will issue an annual plan to maintain and improve the PAPI Index, in which specific tasks to focus on effectively and synchronously implementing 8 evaluation contents of PAPI will be assigned to sectors and localities, especially communes, wards and towns.
According to their functions and tasks, departments, branches, and People's Committees of districts and communes will be requested to take measures and solutions to direct and improve the weak criteria and contents related to the management sectors and fields being assigned, especially at the commune and ward level which is directly in contact with the people.
For the PAPI component index content groups, the Province will focus on enhancing publicity, transparency and accountability of public organizations, creating opportunities for people to participate in evaluating the performance of the government, mobilizing the government to improve the way it serves the people, and promoting self-assessment to innovate and create the culture of healthy competitiveness and learning among local governments.
On top of that, it is vital to further improve the operational quality of modern public administration centers, commune-level receiving and returning departments, and strengthen the provision of online public services at levels 3 and 4. At the same time, it is pivotal to soon deploy widely the mechanism to handle administrative procedures regardless of administrative boundaries and speed up the development of e-government and digital government to better serve people and businesses.
What is the challenge for Thua Thien Hue in maintaining the ranking, sir?
Reaching the top is hard, but maintaining the ranking is even harder. As a result, being constantly creative and proposing many solutions to improve the operational efficiency of the government apparatus to better serve the people, as well as improve the environment to attract business investment are prime targets of provinces and cities across the country, and Thua Thien Hue is not out of that race.
Although the Province is honored to rank first of the country in 2021, there is still a lot of work for the Province to do, focusing on directing and implementing.
Could you share the Province's viewpoints and goals in the coming time?
Provincial leaders have always been steadfast in striving for the stable maintenance of the Province’s Public Administration Reform (PAR) Index, Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI), Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), Development Readiness Index and application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Digital Transformation Index (DTI) among the top 10 leading localities in the country.
Therefore, it is critical to always be decisive in leading and directing administrative reform. This process runs through provincial leaders as well as at all levels and sectors, and needs the active participation of the business community and society.
Thank you very much for this exchange!
By Hai Thuan
Photos: Ngoc Minh, Thai Binh