provincial government

Measuring Citizen Experiences: Conducting a Social Audit in Vietnam, 2009-2013

Type
Case Studies
Author
Rachel Jackson
Keywords
social accountability
provincial government
local government
citizen monitoring
social audit
governance
survey methodology
sampling
Focus Area(s)
Anti-Corruption
Core Challenge
Devolution
Transparency
Country of Reform
Vietnam
Full Publication
Measuring Citizen Experience_Vietnam TOU.pdf
Rachel_Jackson_PAPI_Vietnam_8Dec14 final.txt
Abstract

In late 2009, following three decades of gradual economic and governance reform by Vietnam’s one-party government, three organizations came together to implement a social audit across the country. The Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI)—a joint policy project of the United Nations Development Programme, the Vietnamese nongovernmental organization the Center for Community Support and Development Studies, and the Communist Party–affiliated Vietnam Fatherland Front—aimed to draw information about citizen perspectives into decision making in Vietnam. It also sought to formulate quantitative measures of provincial performance and governance. Based on public surveys, PAPI aimed to provide a reliable picture of citizen experiences with provincial government along six dimensions: participation in government at local levels, transparency, vertical accountability, control of corruption, implementation of and adherence to public administrative procedures, and public service delivery. By 2011, PAPI was able to measure governance quality in all 63 provinces in Vietnam. The survey project represented the nation’s first large-scale effort to systematically gather information about citizens’ experiences with their local and provincial governments. It also led some provincial governments to create action plans that would improve the services citizens received and boost the rankings of those provincial governments in the index.

Rachel Jackson drafted this case study based on interviews conducted in Hanoi in July 2014. Case published December 2014.

Associated Interview:  Jairo Acuña-Alfaro

Charles Lepani

Ref Batch
P
Focus Area(s)
Balancing the Central and Local
Ref Batch Number
2
Country of Reform
Papua New Guinea
Interviewers
Matthew Devlin
Name
Charles Lepani
Interviewee's Position
High Commissioner to Australia
Interviewee's Organization
Papua New Guinea
Nationality of Interviewee
Papua New Guinean
Town/City
Canberra
Country
Australia
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Keywords
secession
civil service reform
financial decentralization
provincial government
decentralization
Abstract

Charles Lepani recalls his experience as one of Papua New Guinea’s highest-ranked civil servants during the country’s decentralization process in the mid-1970s. He highlights the challenges the central government faced in attempting to decentralize power to newly formed and ethnically distinct provincial governments while maintaining a sense of common national identity. He identifies the various parties involved in the debate over decentralization and details the struggle between the central government and provinces that pushed for a greater devolution of powers, most notably the island of Bougainville. He also explains how financial powers were divided between the national and provincial governments and how he dealt with the opposition he encountered among civil servants accustomed to the formerly centralized system.   

Case Study:  Decentralization Without Disintegration: Provincial Government in Papua New Guinea, 1972-1985

Transcript
Charles_Lepani.pdf
P2_GT_MD_Lepani_web2.txt
Headshot
charles_lepani.jpg
Profile

At the time of this interview, Charles Lepani was Papua New Guinea's High Commissioner to Australia.  Previously, he worked as an economic and public policy consultant. He was a member of the Aid Review team for the governments of Papua New Guinea and Australia. As director of the PNG National Planning Office from 1975 to 1980, he was involved in the formulation of PNG’s post-independence macroeconomic policy and public sector planning system, including aid coordination. Lepani served as PNG’s ambassador to the European Union from 1991 to 1994. He was managing director of Minerals Resources Development Co. from 1994 to 1996, leading the partial privatization of the state’s mining and petroleum assets and subsequently heading Orogen Minerals Ltd.  He earned a master's degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.  

Full Audio File Location
Full Audio File Size
94MB
Full Audio Title
Charles Lepani Interview

John Momis

Ref Batch
P
Focus Area(s)
Balancing the Central and Local
Ref Batch Number
3
Country of Reform
Papua New Guinea
Interviewers
Matthew Devlin
Name
John Momis
Interviewee's Position
Career Politician
Interviewee's Organization
Papua New Guinea
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
Papua New Guinean
Town/City
Buka
Country
Papua New Guinea
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Keywords
decentralization
provincial government
financial decentralization
secession
intergovernmental relations
Papua New Guinea
Bougainville
Abstract
John Momis talks about his experience as one of the leading politicians from Papua New Guinea’s island province of Bougainville. He recalls the debate over decentralization in the 1970s and explains why Bougainvilleans emerged as the most vocal advocates of a sweeping devolution of powers away from the central government. He recounts the sense of frustration that led to Bougainville’s 1975 secession and the subsequent negotiations that brought the island back into PNG and led to the 1977 law establishing provincial governments. He talks about the problems that began to emerge under the decentralized system during the late 1970s and early 1980s, such as strained intergovernmental relations and an ill-coordinated transfer of administrative responsibilities.
 
Transcript
John_Momis.pdf
John_Momis.txt
Profile

 

John Momis was one of the leading politicians representing the island province of Bougainville during the first decades of Papua New Guinea’s independence and has regularly been credited as the central ideologue of decentralization in the country. A Catholic priest at the time, he was elected to the national Parliament for Bougainville in 1972 and was appointed chairman of parliamentary committees and de facto chair of the Constitutional Planning Committee by then-Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare. From his position on the committee, he exercised great influence over the formulation of PNG’s constitution and was a fervent proponent of a decentralized system of government. He broke with the national government in 1975 as Bougainville, dissatisfied with the degree of autonomy granted it, issued a unilateral declaration of independence. However, in 1976 he played an instrumental role in reconciling the island with the Port Moresby government. In 1977 he was appointed minister for decentralization. Except for a brief hiatus as minister for minerals and energy in 1980, he held the decentralization portfolio until 1982. As minister for decentralization, he was responsible for increasing governmental capacity at the provincial level and overseeing the central ministries’ implementation of the decentralization policy. In 1985 he served as deputy prime minister and in 1988 he was appointed minister for provincial affairs. At the time of this interview, he had just returned from his position as Papua New Guinea’s ambassador to China and was running for president of Bougainville in the 2010 elections. He won that vote.

 

Full Audio File Location
Full Audio File Size
89MB
Full Audio Title
John Momis

Michael Sutcliffe

Ref Batch
O
Focus Area(s)
Balancing the Central and Local
Ref Batch Number
4
Country of Reform
South Africa
Interviewers
Daniel Scher
Name
Michael Sutcliffe
Interviewee's Position
City Manager
Interviewee's Organization
eThekwini municipality
Language
English
Nationality of Interviewee
South African
Place (Building/Street)
City Hall
Town/City
Durban
Country
South Africa
Date of Interview
Reform Profile
No
Keywords
boundary delimination
local democracy
local government
service delivery
provincial government
government transition
Abstract
Michael Sutcliffe discusses the process of transitioning local and provincial government with the end of apartheid in South Africa. He explains the process through which the different provinces were delineated and sub-national government was built by the African National Congress party. Sutcliffe discusses efforts to strengthen local democracy and the troubles of attempts to use boundary changes to solve service delivery problems. He also touches on the challenges of working with the Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal province. Sutcliffe also discusses why he believes provincial level government is unnecessary and why the focus should be on national and municipal government.
 
Transcript
Michael_Sutcliffe.pdf
Michael_Sutcliffe.txt
Headshot
michael_sutcliffe.jpg
Profile
At the time of this interview, Michael Sutcliffe was city manager of eThekwini municipality, which incorporated the city of Durban, South Africa. Sutcliffe also served as African National Congress member of the legislature of KwaZulu-Natal province from 1994 to 1999 and was chairman of the Municipal Demarcation Board.  Sutcliffe was an anti-apartheid activist and member of the United Democratic Front prior to the end of apartheid in South Africa. From 1982 to 1991, he was an associate professor at the University of Natal in town and regional planning. He earned a master’s from the University of Natal and a doctorate from Ohio State University. 
Full Audio File Location
Full Audio File Size
43MB
Full Audio Title
Michael Sutcliffe Interview