The information was announcedduring the launch of findings from the 2016 Vietnam Provincial Governance andPublic Administration Performance Index (PAPI) Report in Hanoi on April 4.
Over 14,000 citizensrandomly selected from all 63 provinces interviewed for the 2016 PAPI, whichassesses citizen experiences with national and local government performance ingovernance, public administration and public service delivery.
The results also showthat voter turnout for the National Assembly elections increased by 2 percentto 69 percent compared to the most recent elections in 2011.
About 6.8 percent ofthe respondents reported having land taken in 2016, indicating that landseizures remained at the same general levels as in 2015 (7.4 percent) and 2014(5.7 percent), far less than the average of 9 percent for each year prior topassage of the 2013 revised Land Law.
In terms of citizenparticipation at local levels, the best five performing provinces were Ha Tinh,Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Thai Binh and Thai Nguyen while the five poorest includeTra Vinh, Binh Duong, An Giang, Kien Giang and Ca Mau.
In respect oftransparency in local decision-making, of the 16 best performers in thedimension, 14 were northern and central provinces. The poorest performers werefound more often in the south, with the poorest performing provinces of SocTrang, Tra Vinh, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu.
The decline in overallprovincial performance continued in 2016 in the control of corruption in thepublic sector dimension. Among the top 16 best performers, eight are MekongDelta provinces and five are from the central coast region.
PAPI measures sixdimensions: participation at local levels, transparency, verticalaccountability, control of corruption, public administrative procedures andpublic service delivery.
It is a collaborationbetween the Centre for Community Support and Development Studies (CECODES), theCentre for Research and Training of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF-CRT) andthe United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Speaking at the event,Kamal Malhotra, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative inVietnam, said “the 2016 PAPI results paint a mixed picture. On the one hand,there has been steady improvement in the performance of public service deliveryover the past six years. However, most provinces can do more to improve thecompetence and attitude of civil servants and public employees and enhance thetransparency, responsiveness, and accountability of their institutions.”
The survey has beenimplemented nationwide each year since 2011.-VNA