Improve PAPI Index, build a service-oriented administrative foundation

BHG - Identifying the "bottleneck" that caused the Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) to decline sharply in both score and ranking, our province has taken drastic actions to restore governance strength from the root. This is not only an urgent requirement to regain the growth momentum of the PAPI Index on the national rankings but also a prerequisite for building a service-oriented, creative and sustainable administrative system.

BHG - Identifying the "bottleneck" that caused the Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) to decline sharply in both score and ranking, our province has taken drastic actions to restore governance strength from the root. This is not only an urgent requirement to regain the growth momentum of the PAPI Index on the national rankings but also a prerequisite for building a service-oriented, creative and sustainable administrative system.

Last April, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam coordinated with relevant agencies to announce the results of the 2024 Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) of 63 provinces and cities across the country. As a result, our province's PAPI index only reached 43.7 points, down 0.5 points and 19 places compared to 2023, from 11th to 30th place out of 63 provinces and cities. In the Northern Midlands and Mountains region, our province ranked 5th out of 14 provinces and 3rd out of 7 provinces in the Northern mountainous and border regions.

People are served quickly and conveniently at the Provincial Public Administration Service Center.

PAPI consists of 8 content axes, measuring the effectiveness of governance and public administration based on the actual experience of people when interacting with authorities at all levels. According to the assessment results, our province has 2/8 content axes that have increased in points compared to 2023, including: E-governance and environmental governance. Of which, the environmental governance content reached 4.04 points (up 0.07 points), among the highest in the country, becoming a clear demonstration of efforts to improve air quality and protect resources in the province.

However, up to 6/8 content axes decreased in score (ranging from 0.03 - 0.33 points) and were in the lowest to high average group compared to the whole country. The score gap between the 8 content axes is still relatively large, ranging from 3.27 (lowest) to 7.22 (highest)/10 points. In particular, the province's public service provision content index recorded 7.07/10 points, a slight decrease of 0.09 points compared to 2023 but still in the low group compared to the whole country. Of the 4 component contents, 2 contents increased in score (public primaryeducation and security and order); however, the increase was still very modest. On the contrary, the 2 component contents of basic infrastructure and public health both decreased in score, with public health alone decreasing by 0.123 points.

On the other hand, the province's public sector corruption control index reached 7.14/10 points, ranking in the High Average group compared to the whole country, but still decreased slightly by 0.03 points compared to 2023. In the four components, fairness in recruitment to the public sector and the determination to fight corruption of authorities at all levels have both improved. However, the other two key indicators, corruption control in government and public service provision, have decreased in points, showing that corruption prevention and control still faces many challenges.

In addition to the above two content axes, the other four content axes also suffered from a decrease in scores, including: Participation of people at the grassroots level; publicity and transparency in decision-making; accountability to people; public administrative procedures. According to the assessment of professional agencies, one of the main reasons leading to the above situation is the limited effectiveness of propaganda and dissemination of policies and laws to people. Although the interaction between the government and the people has improved, the quality is still low. The culture of administrative communication at the grassroots level still has many limitations, not really taking people's satisfaction as the center of service.

In the field of preventing and combating corruption and waste, although the province has made many efforts, the survey results show that: The percentage of people saying they did not have to pay extra money when using public services such as granting land use right certificates, applying for construction permits, certifications, etc. has decreased compared to the previous year, with the decrease ranging from 1.96% - 10.20%. This reality shows that the phenomenon of "bribery" and "greasing" when accessing public services still exists, seriously affecting social trust and reducing the effectiveness of corruption prevention and combat.

Along with the above limitations, the quality of public service provision is still a "bottleneck" that needs to be resolved. The lack of modern equipment, the thin medical workforce at the district level, along with limitations in the quality of basic education, reduce people's satisfaction. In particular, administrative procedure reform, although being promoted, has not yet made a breakthrough. A number of officials still lack a sense of responsibility, even showing signs of harassment in handling land records, causing people's satisfaction in some localities to decrease significantly...

PAPI is not only a "mirror" reflecting strengths that need to be promoted and weaknesses that need to be overcome, but also a "compass" guiding the process of innovation in governance and public administration towards democracy, efficiency and transparency. Therefore, based on the analysis of the results of the PAPI Index in 2024, the Provincial People's Committee promptly issued a plan to maintain, improve and enhance the PAPI Index in 2025. In particular, focusing on regenerating governance strength from the root, rectifying from within the system, from people, mechanisms, and thinking; focusing on improving the quality of service to the people, taking the satisfaction of people and businesses as a measure of the government's prestige. In particular, to improve the quality of service to people and businesses, the results of the task of improving the PAPI Index are included in the criteria for assessing the level of task completion, emulation and annual rewards for relevant collectives and individuals.

With the strong determination of the entire political system and specific solutions being implemented synchronously, our province aims to improve the PAPI score in 2025, striving to reach the group of provinces and cities with the highest results in the country, and at the same time achieving the top position in the Northern Midlands and Mountains region. Thereby, creating a strong driving force to realize the goal of improving the quality of management and administration of authorities at all levels; building a professional, transparent, honest, effective and efficient administration, serving the people.

Article and photos: THU PHUONG

Source: https://baohagiang.vn/chuyen-muc-cai-cach-hanh-chinh/202505/cai-thien-chi-so-papi-xay-nen-hanh-chinh-phuc-vu-6f55ae3/