The Viet Nam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) is the country’s largest annual citizen-centric, nationwide policy monitoring tool. Over the years PAPI has collected the views of 117,363 randomly selected citizens about the country’s performance in governance and public administration in various sectors, based on their direct interactions with local governments. In 2018 alone, 14,304 respondents shared their reflections based on interactions with public authorities over the past year.

PAPI generates information about the actual performance of local authorities in meeting the expanding needs and expectations of citizens. By doing so, PAPI promotes self-reflection for improvement, creates constructive competition, and promotes learning among local authorities. In addition, PAPI acts as a rigorous and objective “open platform” that allows citizens to benchmark their local government’s performance and advocate for improvements in different aspects of governance and public administration; aspects that are evolving as Viet Nam further develops economically and socially. PAPI also contributes to expectations that the governments at all levels will be more open and responsive to the feedback and expectations of citizens.

The 2018 PAPI Report, officially launched on 2 April 2019 in Ha Noi, contains three chapters. Chapter 1 covers overall national performance in the areas of governance and public administration in 2018, and includes a comparison with national trends in previous years (2011-2017). Chapter 2 takes a close look at what citizens viewed as important issues in 2018 and the policy implications of these views. Chapter 3 presents disaggregated findings for provinces in 2018 at the dimensional, sub-dimensional, and indicator levels, as well as time series comparisons for 2016-2018 for indicators that have remained the same over time. Chapter 3 closes with a dashboard summarizing provincial performance in all dimensions, providing provincial leaders and practitioners with a clear overview of what they have achieved and areas where they can improve more to further satisfy their citizens’ expectations in the short and medium terms.

The report is accompanied by the website www.papi.org.vn, which includes up-to-date and detailed provincial profiles, case studies, and policy responses.