The Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) has increasingly become a valuable and reliable tool for supervising the implementation of policies, Dr Pham Thi Hong, Deputy Director of the Centre for Fostering Personnel and Scientific Research (CFOSR), announced at a conference in central Quang Nam province on May 28.

The conference on improving the PAPI was organised by CFOSR, which is an affiliate of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF).

PAPI data has been used to assess the performance of governance at central and provincial levels as well as for tracking changes in governance and public administration in Vietnam each year, she said.

Participants in the conference agreed that the PAPI Index is now seen as a measure of good governance at the central Government level and the quality of public administration in local Government at all levels.

Since 2009, almost 61,000 individuals have responded to interview questions and provided feedback on their experiences and measures that are applied effectively, thus contributing to improving the PAPI Index.

VFF chapters at all levels coordinated with relevant units to implement the PAPI research project to hear from citizens about their satisfaction with leadership, management and governance capabilities in each locality.

A number of other reports were presented at the conference, such as the PAPI Index 2014 report on trends at the national level from 2011-2014 or a report on the Southern Central provinces’ PAPI Index from 2011-2014.

Participants also discussed achievements and limitations, focusing on the PAPI Index that measures the ‘right to know’ about Government policies that direct impact on residents’ rights, responsibilities and livelihoods.

Participants said there was room for improvement in a number of fields, including transparency in planning and land-use plans, disadvantaged households and poverty, and military servicemen and veterans.-VNA