Vietnamlawmagazine

Jairo Acuña-Alfaro, Đặng Ngọc Dinh, Đặng Hoàng Giang,

Edmund J. Malesky, Đỗ Thanh Huyền[1]

Vietnam, as a middle-income country, is beginning to realize the potentials and benefits of modern policy monitoring tools. As societies develop and become more complex, more sophisticated tools are necessary to enable them to continue on their growth trajectories. The Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) is one of such policy tools aimed at helping Vietnam achieve its continued development. PAPI is a pioneering initiative that provides objective, evidence-based measures of provincial performance in terms of policy implementation and service delivery in the areas where citizens are supposed to “know, discuss, participate and verify”. Since 2010 it has collected responses from more than 32,500 citizens across all 63 provinces, making it the largest governance and public administration performance survey in the country. PAPI contributes to governance and public administration reforms in two distinct ways. First, its state-of-the-art methodology provides a model for others to follow. The PAPI methodology has been made available for others to replicate and improve upon[2]. Second, PAPI provides original data and information on the standards of governance and public administration drawn from citizens’ experiences in their interactions with governmental authorities.

PAPI provides a bottom-up perspective that complements traditional state management monitoring tools, which in Vietnam largely includes self assessments. As such, the time-series data provided by PAPI provides an opportunity for policy makers and implementers to understand the performance of the state and public service delivery agencies. It will also provide an insight into citizen preferences, which will help policymakers more effectively tailor new policies and reforms to the needs of citizens.

PAPI: A Reference tool for policy making

PAPI has provided national and provincial policymakers substantial, concrete evidence regarding governance and administrative performance. For example, the Government Inspectorate has used findings from PAPI to complement its own anticorruption monitoring efforts.

At the provincial level, PAPI is also emerging as a critical reference tool. An increasing number of provinces are incorporating PAPI data into their overall framework for analyzing their performance. Provinces such as Kon Tum, Quang Ngai and Dak Lak have been particularly active in employing PAPI indicators to improve their performance.

Monitoring change in provincial governance

As a nationally representative survey, PAPI provides an overview of performance across all 63 provinces. In terms of change in performance, on the positive side, four out of six dimensions experienced some level of improvement. The dimensions with improvements in overall scores are control of corruption, transparency, public service delivery and vertical accountability (see graph 1).

In another positive sign, the distribution of performance has edged higher. The median scoring province signals the actual distribution of provinces and symbolizes where half of the provinces will score in either direction from this point. On every dimension, the median score increased in 2012.

At the aggregated national level, the findings reveal a great deal of consistency across time in many indicators. There are areas of progress, but also important gaps in policy implementation.

Similar to the 2011 findings, citizens remain optimistic about their own economic situation and the situation of the country as a whole. However, their level of awareness and information about institutions and transparency in local decision making remains limited. The findings suggest that citizens continue to demand more accountability from local authorities, better control of corruption in the public sector, and better quality administrative and public services.

Provincial performance

PAPI details provincial performance in six dimensions and 22 sub-dimensions. This disaggregation allows policymakers at the local levels to identify not only good versus poor performers, but also allows provincial leaders to identify other provinces with similar conditions that are performing well. In this way, these provinces can adopt some of the successful techniques and policies from their neighbors.

The presentation of provincial variation not only provides the ability for provinces to share information, but also for top-performers to learn what is necessary to maintain their higher standards. An encouraging and positive development in 2012 as compared with 2011 is that the best performing provinces have improved. In 2011 only three provinces scored higher than 40 points on the weighted PAPI index (Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Quang Binh and Long An, respectively). In 2012, the number of provinces surpassing this mark increased to eight, including Quang Binh, Da Nang, Quang Tri, Nam Dinh, Ba Ria Vung Tau, Binh Dinh, Thai Binh and Long An.

There are also positive developments at the bottom end of the scale. While in 2011 eleven poor performing provinces below the 25^th percentile had scores below 35 points (Lai Chau, Binh Thuan, Quang Ngai, Ninh Binh, Hung Yen, Lam Dong, Phu Yen, Cao Bang, Tay Ninh, Tra Vinh, and Ha Giang), in 2012 only five provinces had an overall weighted score below that threshold (Dak Lak, Tra Vinh, Ca Mau, Tay Ninh, and Khanh Hoa).

Dimension level performance

PAPI measures overall governance and public administration performance as a total index comprised of six dimensions. This is a brief overview of developments in the performance along these dimensions in 2012.

Dimension 1: Participation at local levels

Overall, the dimension on participa-tion at local levels fell slightly with a 2.66% decline in the mean score. A closer look reveals that at the sub-dimension level issues of civic knowledge, opportunities for participation and voluntary contributions dropped 4.78%, 4.69% and 3.23%, respectively.

Similar to 2011 findings, there are significant gaps between the best performing and the bottom groups. In terms of the top performers, Binh Dinh, Thai Binh, Binh Phuoc, Ha Nam and Ha Tinh were the top five. This represents significant turnover from 2011. Of these only Binh Dinh had a top position, the other four have moved up significantly. At the other end, Dak Lak, Dong Thap, Phu Yen, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau form the bottom five. This group is consistent with 2011, as all five were previously in the bottom third.

About half of the provinces experienced an overall improvement compared to 2011. On the positive side, Thai Binh and Binh Thuan each improved by at least 15%. Son La, Dak Lak, Dong Thap and Lang Son were those with the steepest declines.

Dimension 2: Transparency

This dimension improved 2.54% over 2011. Key to its improvement was the publication and dissemination of poverty lists as well as greater transparency in land use plans and prices. However, this is from a low base. In 2012, eight out of ten citizens were not aware of land use plans in their localities. In addition, consistent with previous years, among those citizens who are aware of these land use plans, the main source of information comes from local government officials (17%), as opposed to other sources (3%) (see graph 2a). From the 19% of citizens who are aware of these land use plans, there seems to be a tendency to have more opportunities to comment on such plans. In 2010 only 8% of citizens said they had any opportunity, in 2011 the number dramatically increased to 31%, and in 2012 33% of informed citizens expressed to have had opportunities to comment on those plans (see graph 2b).

The top five performing provinces are in North Central and North Vietnam, including Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thai Binh, Ha Nam and Nam Dinh. Among them, Ha Nam and Nam Dinh have made a big improvement since 2011. The bottom five includes Tra Vinh, Binh Thuan, Bac Lieu, Kien Giang, and Dak Lak, mostly southern provinces. Of these, Tra Vinh, Binh Thuan, Bac Lieu and Kien Giang were already in the bottom third last year, while Dak Lak performance has declined.

Compared to 2011, 19 provinces improved their scores by more than 10%. The large number of improving provinces represents a positive development. In particular Tien Giang, Phu Tho, Phu Yen, Lam Dong and Ha Nam, and have improved the most. However, at the other end, one-third of provinces experienced declines. The biggest declines occurred in Son La, Khanh Hoa, Tra Vinh and Dak Lak.

Dimension 3: Vertical accountability

On vertical accountability, results show an overall increase of 1.41% from 2011. The main driver seems to be slight improvements on the knowledge and effectiveness of local level accountability institutions. Consistency is also observed in terms of interactions with local authorities.

The top five provinces in terms of vertical accountability are Thai Binh, Quang Binh, Hai Duong, Nam Dinh and Quang Tri. Of those, Hai Duong is the only province that was not among the top in 2011. At the other end of the scale, Kien Giang, Khanh Hoa, Bac Lieu, An Giang and Tay Ninh are the bottom five. Each of them was also in the bottom third in 2011 year. The year-to-year changes of the provinces in the dimension show that four provinces improved by 12% or more. Cao Bang, Soc Trang, Hung Yen, Hai Phong and Hau Giang are the five with the largest improvement. On the other side, two provinces worsened their performance with declines greater than 11%: Kien Giang and Khanh Hoa. Also, other seven provinces declined by more than 5%, including Hoa Binh, Quang Tri, Long An, Ha Tinh, Bac Lieu, Dong Thap and Thanh Hoa.

Dimension 4: Control of corruption

On control of corruption, results show an overall increase of 2.59% from 2011, including a large 5.72% improvement in the willingness to fight corruption. This improvement is notable in a year of national discussions about the amendment of the anticorruption law, which contains a great number of provisions related to transparency. At the same time, improvements in terms of limiting corruption in both public sector (including issues of equity in employment) and service delivery were negligible.

Of all the dimensions, control of corruption has the highest variation in scores across provinces. Tien Giang, Binh Dinh, Long An and Da Nang are the top performers. Consistent with 2010 and 2011, most of the top performers are in the south and south central regions. About 45 provinces have smaller differences in scores. Among the 10 poorest performers, Hai Phong, and Ninh Thuan repeated their low scores from 2011. Meanwhile, Dien Bien replaces Cao Bang at the bottom of the scale.

A year-on-year comparison of provincial scores shows interesting developments in citizens’ assessment of anticorruption efforts at the provincial level. Top performer Tien Giang improved from 2011. Bac Giang, Ninh Binh and Phu Yen improved dramatically by more than 20%. Meanwhile, Dien Bien saw the biggest and statistically significant drop by 16.9%, followed by Khanh Hoa and Bac Lieu.

Dimension 5: Public administrative procedures

As a whole, the aggregate performance of all provinces regarding the provision of public administrative services has not significantly changed over the past two years. Public administrative procedures experienced a very minor reduction in its overall score of 0.17%. At the national level, there is a high concentration of all 63 provinces around the mean score, similar to 2011.

The difference between the highest provincial score of Yen Bai and the lowest provincial score of Quang Ninh is the smallest of all six dimensions. The low variance suggests the uniformity across provinces in terms of the performance in dealing with public administrative procedures in all four measured services, similar to findings in the first two rounds of PAPI surveys.

In addition, citizens perceive the importance of personal connections rather than merit in obtaining employment in five public sector positions. In 2012, 26% of citizens think connections are not important for a public sector job in a people’s committee, as opposed to 47% who think connections are important. The trend is replicated for jobs such as for land registrar, primary school teacher, justice officer or commune policeperson (see graph 3).

In 2012, PAPI reports a high level of satisfaction by citizens when dealing with public administrative procedures. Overall, for citizens who have dealt with a certification procedure, a construction permit or another administrative procedure, there seems to be a high degree of satisfaction. Yet, there are also areas of concern. For instance, the lack of respect and professionalism shown by civil servants stands out prominently. For citizens who have applied for land use rights certificates, their overall satisfaction has declined due to lower perceptions of the skill and attitude of the officials. Those who felt the officials were incompetent were 65% less satisfied with their overall experience. Similarly, those who perceived a lack of respect were 62% less satisfied. For citizens who applied for construction permits, overall satisfaction decreased by 60% when no clear information was available and 57% when officials were abusive toward applicants. For applicants of construction permits, the two major drivers of satisfaction are the absence of clear deadlines (47% decline in satisfaction) and when abuse or lack of respect is experienced (decline of 36%). For citizens who applied for other types of administrative procedures at commune people’s committees, the major drivers of satisfaction were excessive waiting times (decline of 39%) and lack of respect from officials (26% lower levels of satisfaction) (see graph 4).

Dimension 6: Public service delivery

On the whole, there is some improvement in provincial performance in public service delivery in 2012. On public service delivery, there is an overall increase of 2.29% in the dimensional scores. From this increase, it is important to note a significant increase of 5.83% on infrastructure.

The best performing provinces are not concentrated in a single region, with centrally governed municipalities maintaining their top marks. In addition to the cities, other top performers include Quang Binh, Ninh Thuan, Quang Tri, Binh Dinh and Thanh Hoa. Quang Binh in particular sees a lot of improvement in terms of the quality of public health services at the district level and basic infrastructure availability. The poorest performers are scattered in northern mountainous, central highlands, south central, and southern provinces, including Tay Ninh, Dak Nong, Ca Mau, Gia Lai, Yen Bai, Binh Phuoc, Cao Bang and Son La. There is some year-on-year decline in the mean scores of this group. In terms of progress, citizens in two-thirds of provinces have seen some improvement in public service delivery. As many as 17 provinces made progress from 2011. The largest improvements are seen in Ha Giang, followed by Thua Thien-Hue, Nam Dinh and Binh Thuan. Notable declines are seen in the cases of Tay Ninh, Tra Vinh and Son La.

In the previous year, PAPI reported a relatively high degree of satisfaction with district public hospitals, both in terms of infrastructure and human resource capacities of healthcare providers. That pattern was maintained in 2012 where overall citizens remain fairly satisfied with these services. The two main drivers of satisfaction are the treatment patients experience and attention received from health care providers. When patients experience low levels of regular visits by nurses or doctors, their satisfaction levels declines by 51%, and when patients experience lack of respect, their satisfaction diminishes by 44%. A third driver of satisfaction is unreasonable health expenses. When patients experience abnormal requests for expensive treatments, satisfaction declines by 37%. Other drivers include lack of adequate facilities in these health centers, including for example no electric fans in rooms (decrease of 36%) and unclean restrooms (decrease of 23%). A second public service assessed by PAPI is levels of satisfaction in public primary schooling. The findings for 2012 are consistent with findings from 2011. An important driver of satisfaction is about the skills and qualifications of teachers. When parents feel that their children’s teachers are not qualified, the number of those responding that their level of overall satisfaction was “very good” drops by 54% (see graph 5).

Informal payments in Vietnam

In addition to looking at the dimensions, this year’s report also provides a special focus on informal fees. PAPI applies a cutting-edge survey technique to estimate the frequency and size of bribe requests in three areas that are critical to the lives of Vietnamese citizens: i) land access; ii) access to medical services; and iii) access to primary education. In all three cases, there is evidence that bribe requests impact a significant portion of citizens and that the amounts paid are substantial when compared to the costs of other activities related to accessing those services. Conservatively, 17% of citizens pay bribes of about VND 123,000 per application to obtain a land use rights certificate, 10% of citizens pay VND 37,000 per patient per visit at a district public hospital, and the average cost of bribes in primary education is about VND 98,000 per student per semester. These estimates constitute the lower bound of bribery.

A more speculative statistical approach estimates an upper bound of 57% of citizens paying bribes of VND 818,000 on average for a land use rights certificate, 48% of citizens pay bribes of VND 146,000 at a district public hospital, and bribery affects about 18% of citizens who pay VND 572,000 for better quality of primary educational services. Even these upper bounds do not capture the true cost of corruption to society, because they do not take into consideration the impact of corruption on those who refuse or cannot afford to pay bribes. These unfortunate citizens: i) are less likely to have adequate title to their property, which affects their ability to start and grow small businesses; ii) receive inadequate health care, which influences their livelihoods and the health prospects of their children; and iii) are shut out of educational opportunities after primary education, which will affect downstream career advancement and wealth. It is these indirect effects of activities that should be more important to the country’s policymakers, as they are evidence of an unfair playing field that will have far reaching consequences for the country’s economic growth and political development. On the willingness of citizens to report corruption, two key conclusions are reached. First, a significant amount of corruption goes unreported, either because denunciation is too costly or citizens do not trust the procedures that are in place to protect them. Secondly, there is a high level of societal tolerance for small amounts of bribery, which may indicate that citizens are initiating the practice in order to circumvent burdensome procedures and under the expectation to improve their access to public services.-

Graph 1. Overall Progress: Improvement in Four Dimensions from 2011 to 2012

Graph 2a: Awareness of Land Use Plans

Graph 2b: Opportunities to Comment on Land Use Plans

Graph 3. Nepotism: Importance of Personal Connections in Getting Public Jobs

Graph 4. Satisfaction Towards Public Administrative Procedures

(% change from overall satisfaction)

Graph 5. Drivers of satisfaction towards public services

5a. Satisfaction with District Public Hospital Services

(Impact on overall satisfaction – percentage)

5b. Satisfaction towards public primary schools

(% change from “very good” opinions on quality)