On April 15, 2025, in Ha Noi, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Viet Nam, in collaboration with its partners, held the launch ceremony for the 2024 Viet Nam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) report, unveiling several noteworthy results. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Duong Trung Y, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics (HCMA), delivered the opening remarks at the ceremony.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Duong Trung Y, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics (HCMA), delivered the opening remarks at the ceremony.
On behalf of HCMA, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Duong Trung Y congratulated the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the team of experts from various involved institutions, as well as the practical contributors and provincial governments nationwide, for completing the 2024 data collection, analysis, and report.
Over the years, the PAPI Index has played an important role as a vital tool for measuring the effectiveness of governance, state management, and public service delivery at the local level. It also provides valuable evidence to inform policy formulation and implementation monitoring at all levels of government in Viet Nam. The PAPI report serve as a highly useful source of data and information, helping local governments assess the effectiveness of their operations and the quality of public services, thereby guiding the development of policies and action plans to enhance their performance.
PAPI has played a significant role in transforming the awareness and actions of the leadership, management teams, and civil servants within the political system, aiming to better meet the legitimate needs of the people, enhance public satisfaction, and contribute to the sustainable development of the country. This can be considered one of PAPI’s most outstanding achievements. As a strategic partner of UNDP, HCMA is pleased to have contributed to this success through various collaborative projects between the two institutions over the years.
Ms. Ramla Khalidi, UNDP Resident Representative in Viet Nam, spoke at the event.
The year 2024 marked a period of steady recovery and growth for Viet Nam’s economy following global upheavals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and international geopolitical tensions. Under the determined leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, the proactive and flexible governance of the Government, the efforts of the business community, and the consensus of the people, Viet Nam has achieved remarkable socio-economic accomplishments.
As of 2025, the country has completed one-quarter of the year amid numerous challenges and complex global developments. Nevertheless, Viet Nam remains committed to pursuing its development vision in the New Era. The Party and the State of Viet Nam are undertaking a sweeping administrative reform to streamline the political apparatus and build a system that is “streamlined – lean – strong – performant – effective,” in line with the strategic orientation set forth by Party General Secretary To Lam. This round of reform represents a historic transformation aimed at addressing the most critical institutional bottlenecks that have been identified by the Party—namely, the elimination of district-level administration and redundant intermediaries—to establish a governance model that is closer to the people and more responsive to their needs. With the overarching goal of turning Viet Nam into a high-income developed country by 2045, this reform will fundamentally reshape the structure and operational methods of government at all levels. In the time ahead, PAPI, as a mirror reflecting government performance, will need to be reviewed, updated, and adjusted in both its indicators and methodology to remain relevant in this new context.
Participants of the ceremony.
Over the past 16 years of active collaboration, HCMA, a strategic partner of UNDP, has affirmed its unwavering support and readiness to accompany and closely coordinate with UNDP and relevant agencies in researching and renewing PAPI in the near future. HCMA also commits to continuing its cooperation with UNDP on in-depth research, offering practical and feasible policy recommendations to localities, as well as disseminating annual PAPI results to leaders and managers at all levels—contributing to enhancing the performance of local governments and playing a positive role in Viet Nam’s development journey as the country enters a new era.
Based on feedback from 18,894 citizens across 61 provinces and cities, the 2024 PAPI report assesses the effectiveness of governance and public administration, identifies exemplary practices for localities to learn from, and highlights areas in need of improvement. With more than 120 measurable indicators, the PAPI Index provides data and evidence reflecting citizens’ perspectives on the performance of government institutions across eight key dimensions: (1) Citizen participation at local levels; (2) Transparency in local decision-making; (3) Vertical accountability towards citizens; (4) Control of corruption in the public sector; (5) Public administrative procedures; (6) Public service delivery; (7) Environmental governance; (8) E-governance.
At the ceremony.
The 2024 PAPI Report, once released, demonstrated that governments at various levels made encouraging progress in certain areas of local governance and public service delivery. Grounded in these “numbers that speak,” government bodies and sectors will continue to refine or develop action plans to enhance public service quality, foster innovation, and meet the growing demands of the citizenry.
