About PAPI

The Viet Nam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) is a joint collaboration between the Centre for Community Support Development Studies (CECODES) under the Viet Nam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Viet Nam since 2009, with the close partnership and support of the Centre for Theory Work of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front from 2009-2010, the Front Review from 2010-2012, the Commission for People’s Petitions under the National Assembly Steering Committee in 2012, and the Centre for Research and Training of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front—VFF-CRT from 2013. The Real-Time Analytics joined the implementation consortium in 2015 to provide technical platforms for real-time PAPI data collection and fieldwork monitoring. Since 2012, the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy (HCMA) has been partnering with UNDP Viet Nam in conducting action-based research using PAPI data and providing PAPI findings to political leaders and executives through high-level training programmes.

The Viet Nam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) is the country’s largest annual time-series, PAPI assesses three mutually reinforcing processes: policy making, policy implementation and the monitoring of public service delivery. The dimensions are specifically tailored to Viet Nam’s national and local level contexts. The philosophy behind PAPI’s innovative policy monitoring approach is that citizens are seen as “end-users of public administrative services” capable of assessing governance and public administration in their localities. From 2009 to 2020, PAPI has captured and reflected the experiences of 146.233 citizens with diversified demographic features.

The end result is Viet Nam’s first publicly available dataset providing an objective evaluation of governance from the perspective of citizens. Based on this citizen input, PAPI provides a set of objective indicators that help assess the performance in governance and public administration, while at the same time providing an incentive for provinces to improve their performance over the long term. PAPI is supported substantively and technically by a national advisory board and a group of international governance measurement experts.

Special thanks go to the Government of Spain for their funding for PAPI in its initial stage between 2009 and 2010; to the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for their generous funding from 2011 to November 2017; to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) of Australia for stepping in to fund PAPI from December 2017 to June 2021; to the Embassy of Ireland for their additional funding for the 2018-2021 period; as well as to UNDP in Viet Nam for their funding support since 2009.