Sustainably upgrading PAPI index

BHG - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam announced the 2023 Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) of 63 provinces and cities nationwide in early April. Accordingly, the PAPI index of Ha Giang Province reached 44.24 points, marking an increase of 3.1 points and 29 places compared to 2022 index. This great stride brought Ha Giang to 11th place in the ranking of 63 provinces and cities, listing in the group of 15 localities with the highest scores in the country.

Bac Quang General Hospital applies many modern techniques in medical examination and treatment.

The year 2023 marked significant efforts of the province in sustainably upgrading the PAPI index. Specifically, the Provincial People’s Committee established delegations to inspect discipline and administrative reform in five departments and sectors; 13 communes, wards, and towns; and five districts and city. In which, the province conducted thorough inspection of the planning and implementation of solutions to enhance the PAPI index.

In particular, the chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee also held direct dialogue with farmers, young people, and service and tourism businesses in the province to promptly address the problems and recommendations of people and businesses, thus creating high consensus in society.

In addition, the Department of Internal Affairs also coordinated with UNDP to successfully implement the project on “Improving accessibility to public administrative services for people in remote and ethnic minority areas” in four communes in the districts of Bac Quang and Xin Man.

According to the Department of Internal Affairs, Ha Giang saw increases in all eight dimensions evaluating the PAPI index in 2023. Sociological surveys showed that the proportion of people who did not have to spend extra money to receive land use rights certificates, construction permits, and authentication certificates rose to 14% from 11% in 2022. The percentage of people who did not have to pay a bribe to get a job in a state agency soared to 52.25% in 2023 from 39.69% in 2022.

Although eight dimensions of Ha Giang’s PAPI index in 2023 advanced compared to 2022, there were still two dimensions in the low average group compared to the national average, including public service delivery and e-governance.

The main reason is due to the limited information technology level held by the majority of people in the province. The online public service software is in the testing phase, which has not been completed nor optimised, and people still have to go through many stages to fulfil procedures, causing inconvenience for people.

Amid the above reality, the Provincial People’s Committee has developed specific solutions for the eight dimensions of the PAPI index in 2024 to maintain and improve the dimensions in the high-score group while upgrading the dimensions in the low-score group compared to the national average.

THU PHUONG