Robyn Mudie, Australian Ambassador to Việt Nam (centre, left) and UNDP Resident Representative in Việt Nam Caitlin Wiesen (centre, right) at the signing ceremony on Monday. — Photo courtesy of UNDP Việt Nam

HÀ NỘI — A total of AUD$9.7 million (US$6.7 million) has been funded by Australia’s Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for the ongoing “Việt Nam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index” (PAPI) programme implemented through the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Robyn Mudie, Australian Ambassador to Việt Nam, reiterated Australia’s strong support for the country to promote better governance and public administration at the provincial level, especially in response to COVID-19. 

“We are very impressed that PAPI has evolved as Việt Nam has changed over the years. PAPI now includes e-government and environment indicators, showing that it is responding to the situation in the country,” Ambassador Mudie said.  

PAPI is a policy monitoring tool that reflects citizen experiences with central to local governments in performing their governance, public administration and public service delivery functions.

Since its debut in 2009, PAPI has collected the voices of 131,501 citizens, 52 per cent of those are women and 16 per cent ethnic minorities. Every year since 2011, around 14,000 citizens from different demographic backgrounds have provided their feedback about their local governance performance. 

UNDP Resident Representative in Việt Nam Caitlin Wiesen highlighted that “the significant financial contribution from Australia will help the PAPI programme increase support for better governance and public administration in Việt Nam.” 

She added that “the funding comes at a critical time for Viet Nam as the country gears up for recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. UNDP will work with our national partners to support provinces in improving governance and promote more accountable and responsive institutions in Việt Nam."

Australia has been the main donor for PAPI since 2018. Thanks to this support, PAPI has continued to make substantial impact at various levels. All 63 provinces across Việt Nam have organised PAPI diagnostic workshops to track how their local government agencies have been doing on governance and public administration. Nearly all provinces have issued resolutions, action plans or directives to directly respond to PAPI findings. 

The index helps Việt Nam gauge how the country moves towards realising its commitment to the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, especially in the areas of democratic governance and inclusive institutions. — VNS