Jay Wysocki

Jay Wysocki talks about civil service reforms in Vietnam.  The main impetus for the reforms was the Thai Binh riots involving corrupt government officials and land appropriation.  Other factors included the inflow of foreign direct investment that required political and administrative changes, the need for a growing economy to absorb the rising number of people in the job market, and the improvement of public services.  The reforms focused on institutions, performance, staffing and organizational structure.  Wysocki explains the capacity-building programs at the National Academy of Public Administration.  He also discusses decentralization and the privatization or “socialization” of services like education and healthcare.  The reform process was affected by corruption and lack of empirical data, which complicated program evaluations.