Australia to Grant AUD9.7M More for Vietnam Governance Performance Index

Australia, the main sponsor of the Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) in Vietnam since 2018, will provide AUD9.7 million ($6.76 million) more for the Vietnam Provincial Governance and PAPI research program in 2021-2025, state media reported. The information was released from a signing ceremony of a co-sponsor agreement between Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Hanoi on July 13. Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Robyn Mudie said that she was impressed to see PAPI continually renewing itself as Vietnam changes and affirmed that her country strongly supports efficiency in provincial governance and public administration, especially amid the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP resident representative in Vietnam, said that Australia’s contribution would help PAPI further promote public administration in Vietnam. PAPI is a governance program initiated by UNDP in Vietnam in 2009 to measure and benchmark citizens’ experiences and perception about the performance and quality of policy implementation and services delivery of provincial governments to advocate for effective and responsive governance. Since its launch, PAPI has garnered opinions from over 131,500 citizens, with around 14,000 being interviewed each year since 2011. The 2019 survey, announced in May, said that corruption in public administration had decreased the most over the past nine years, with improvements seen in all aspects that make up the corruption indicator: limits on public sector corruption, limits on corruption in public services, equity in employment, and willingness to fight corruption. (CAND, Kinh Te Do Thi)