Viet Nam
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Public Administration Reform
Public administration reform (PAR) today is at the heart of Vietnam’s efforts to move further towards a socialist market economy. The reforms are a vital condition for the achievement of economic growth and poverty reduction targets, and for the country’s further integration into regional and international markets.
The PAR Master Programme (2001 - 2010), adopted by the Prime Minister in 2001, marked Viet Nam’s strong commitment to systematically push for reforms to serve that end. Covering four reform areas, institutional, organizational, human resource and financial, the Programme aims to build a robust and effective public administrative system operating in the principles of state of rule-of-law.
In the first five years of this programme (2001-2005) great progress was made including, a legal framework for reform, the initiation of legal frameworks for combating corruption and provisions for people’s participation and improvements in the personnel management and compensation systems. However, the transition of policies and laws into action is generally slow and the PAR process was perceived to be isolated from other key processes of chance. The central bureaucracy remains large and the decentralization process is at its beginning stages with many procedures remaining cumbersome and complicated.
UNDP: Supporting Efficient, Responsive and Transparent Public Service
The overall objective of UNDP’s involvement the PAR process in Viet Nam is to support the development of more accountable, transparent and participatory government systems and processes that contribute to the achievement of the national socio-economic development targets.
A strong administrative capacity can offer Viet Nam much-needed clarity and coherence for the implementation of national priorities, including those connected with MDG targets. UNDP helps to build public services that are cost-efficient and results-oriented, transparent, responsive and accountable to the needs of citizens.
Towards this end, UNDP seeks to support a more effective implementation of the second phase of the PAR Master Programme and the continued piloting and scaling up of local-level PAR initiatives, via the following key groups of action:
1. Strengthening PAR planning, steering and overall management capacities, focusing on financial policy analysis, formulation and review from a human development perspective
2. Further developing and improving alternative mechanisms for public service delivery and orienting such mechanisms towards meeting local level needs
3. Effectively applying strategic performance management systems and quality standards in selected ministries and provinces
