The Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index, as it is fully known, assesses citizen experiences with national and sub-national government performance in governance, public administration and public service delivery.
The most substantial drop was seen in the transparency index, partly due to less public awareness of local lists of poor households and less confidence in the accuracy of the information provided.
According to the report, almost half of those surveyed believe that truly poor households are not included in the lists.
The indicator on corruption also saw a drop with citizens expressing more concern about corruption in the public sector and in public service delivery, and more worry about corruption and nepotism in public sector employment.
The people are also less confident about the government’s willingness to control corruption with just 37% saying their local administration is serious about fighting corruption.
The report finds that the number of respondents who paid bribes to get a land use rights certificate spiked to over 44% from 24% in the previous year.
At the same time, there were significant declines in the indicators that measure participation at local levels and accountability, and a slight decrease in the indicator measuring four public administrative services.
Public service delivery is the only dimension to have its scores increase, albeit modestly. Respondents, however, are still concerned about the quality of district hospitals and unhappy with the quality of primary education.
Pratibha Mehta, UN Resident Coordinator, said the report provides an effective tool for the new administration to assess administrative reforms over the next five year and benchmark future performance, given the general elections are scheduled to take place next month.
According to the PAPI report, poverty and hunger was identified as the most pressing issue facing the country, followed by employment, roads, corruption, and law and order.
The four provinces of Nam Dinh, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Long An and the city of Da Nang have been in the top performing group in overall performance every year since 2011.
