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Нго Тхань Кан
Реформа государственной службы во Вьетнаме: постепенное развитие как путь к успеху
Нго Тхань Кан — доктор наук, зам. декана, факультет Управления Организациями и Персоналом, Национальная Академия Государственного Управления, Вьетнам. E-mail: hoangstd10@Yahoo.com
Аннотация
В статье обсуждаются вопросы возможности противостояния разрушительным кризисным ситуациям на основе дельного осмысления опыта взаимоотношений человека с недружественными проявлениями природы. Рассматриваются основные черты антикризисной управленческой культуры, формирование которой позволит более успешно противостоять природным катастрофам, снижать их негативные последствия на человеческое общество.
За последние несколько десятилетий глобализация изменила экономическую и социальную жизнь Вьетнама до неузнаваемости. Существующая система Государственной администрации и гражданская служба не вполне соответствуют изменившейся обстановке.
Реформа гражданской службы продолжается уже больше десяти лет. Её главные цели:
1) создать демократичную, эффективную, современную администрацию и
2) подготовить новое поколение государственных служащих — образованных, эффективных и высокоморальных.
Предполагалось, что административная реформа позволит постепенно преобразовать устаревшую систему администрации в новую, динамичную и эффективную. На практике реформа оказалась не столь эффективна. Успешному проведению реформы помешали существующие администрация и государственный аппарат. Анализ причин неудачного проведения реформы позволит в дальнейшем усоврешенствовать процесс реформирования администрации. Главный вывод, сделанный автором — для достижения успеха реформа должна проводится постепенно, шаг за шагом.
Административная реформа во Вьетнам продолжается. Следующий её этап определен Программой Административной Реформы 2011-2020. Основные цели и необходимые меры, обозначенные этой программой также рассмотрены в статье.
Ключевые слова
Вьетнам, государственная администрация, реформа, кадровые работники, гражданские служащие, гражданская служба.
1. The Civil Service in Vietnam
During the last century, four Civil Service (CS) systems existed in Vietnam. The first was the CS of Vietnam feudal state, the second was the French colonial CS system, which was replaced by the CS system of the South of Vietnam during the Vietnam War and the fourth is the current CS system. This paper’s goal is to examine the history and functioning of the currently existing CS system. The paper focuses mostly on three main aspects of this system
— civil service, public administration (PA) machinery and public institutions.
1.1. Vietnam PA machinery
According to the Vietnamese Constitution of 19921, Vietnamese political system consists of three 3 parts: The Vietnam communist party, the State and socio-political associations.
The Communist party is the leading force for both the state and the society in general. Every public institution, every government agency, has a communist party unit. Its task is to lead the organization towards the goals set by the Party. The existing socio-political there are:
- Vietnamese Fatherland Front;
- Vietnamese trade unions;
- Vietnamese youth unions;
- Vietnamese women unions;
- Vietnamese farmer association;
- Vietnamese veterans association.
The Vietnamese State is divided into three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Legislative bodies are organized in four levels:
- National Assembly;
- Provincial People’s Council;
- District People’s Council;
- Commune People’s Council.
For the judicial bodies, there are three levels:
- Supreme People’s Court;
- Provincial People’s court;
- District People’s court.
The executive bodies, as the legislative ones, are organized in four levels2: Central, Provincial, District and Commune.
On the central level, the executive power is the Vietnamese Council of Ministers, which consists of:
- Ministries (18 ministries);
- Ministerial equivalents (4 Agencies);
- Under Government Agencies (8 Agencies);
1.2. Vietnam PA institutions
The Vietnamese CS is regulated by several laws, including:
1 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1992). URL: htto://www.na.gov.vn/htx/English/C1479/#2M g8VTtE0TkT (19.02.2014).
2 Organization Machinery of Public Administration System / National Academy of Public administration. 2010.
- The Constitution;
- The law of Organization of People’s Council and People’s Committee;
- The Law of legal documents issue;
- The law of anti-corruption;
- The law of Cadres, Civil servants;
- The law of Public servants.
The main principles the state follows in running the CS to insure its efficiency, are:
I. The leadership of the Party in CS management;
II. Democracy, decentralization and individual responsibility;
III. Civil servants should be hired, promoted and rewarded according to their competence, morality and political qualities;
IV. Gender equality;
V. Fairness and transparence.
1.3. Vietnamese civil servants Civil servants
There are several distinct groups within the Vietnamese Civil Service. To understand how the CS system works it’s important to define those groups (such as cadre, civil servant, public servant) clearly.
- The term «cadre» refers to a person elected to any position in the party, the government (central or local) or any of the socio-political associations. For example, the President, the Ministers, Chairperson of People’s council, Chairperson of People’s committee are all considered cadre workers.
- Civil servant is a person who is employed by a party organization, an executive or judicial body or by socio-political associations. Vice-Minister, Director of Department in a Ministry, a staff member working for District People’s Committee are civil servants.
- Public servant is a person who works for a public school, a public university, a public hospital, a research institute. Teachers, lecturers, doctors, researchers are public servants.
CS classification
Vietnamese CS is divided into 5 grades3 as follows:
i. Senior expert;
ii. Principle expert;
3 Law on Cadres and Civil Servants No 22/2008/QH12. November 13th 2008. URL: http://luatsukinhte.com/en/law-dissemination/legal-documents/administrative-law/1295-law-on-cadres-and-civil-servants-no-222008qh12-dated-november-13th-2008.html (19.02.2014).
iii. Expert;
iv. Clerk, Technical;
v. Worker.
The main criteria used to determine the CS grade are:
- Education and training in political theory and / or state management;
- Working experience;
- Efficiency, productivity;
- Ability to speak a foreign language.
Nowadays, the number of state officials is 2,8 million, of which about 388 480 are cadres and civil servants. For the cadres and civil servants at the commune level, the number is about 257 670. The proportions of grades among cadres and civil servants are:
- Senior expert: 0,74%;
- Principle expert: 9,88%;
- Expert: 57,48%;
- Clerk, Technical: 22,63%;
- Worker: 9,27%.
To be promoted to a higher grade a civil servant must meet the grade’s standards and pass the examination.
1.4. The reasons for public administration reform in Vietnam
From the late 1980s, Vietnamese government has carried out a number of reforms in political, economical and social areas. The Public Administration Reform (PAR) was developed during that period and implemented on a step-by-step basis. Three main reasons for the PAR are:
1) Public Administration (PA) system is an important part of the country’s political system. PA it’s a dynamic part of the state machinery which embodies both the positive and negative aspects of the existing government system in general. As a large part of the political system, which also probably the closest to the people — on all levels, from the central government, to district- and commune-level — it’s improvement is perhaps the most important of all the government’s measures to improve the quality of life for the people.
2) The existing PA system is extensive, but far from effective. The functions of its many subdivisions often overlap, the apparatus itself is far too large to be truly effective, the procedures are often too slow and complicated, and the average civil servant is barely
competent. Research shows that almost 30% of the civil servants do not meet the requirements of the positions they occupy4.
3) The existing PA systems often can’t satisfy the people’s needs. Its characteristic procedural mistakes make even the most pressing matters needlessly complicated and the most basic issues barely solvable. As a result, the people are not satisfied with the existing system and the public demand for an administrative reform is high.
In 2001, Vietnam implemented the PAR Master Programme for 2001-2010.
2. The PAR Master Programme for 2001-2010
The PAR Master Programme for 2001-2010 was implemented by the Prime Minister5. The overall goal of the PAR Master Programme was «to build a strong, clean, professional, modern, effective and efficient public administration system based on the principles of the socialist ruled-by-law State under the leadership of the Party; to create the contingent of cadres and civil servants both competent and ethical, according to the requirements of the national building and development. Up to 2010, the public administration system will be fundamentally reformed to satisfy the requirements of managing a socialism-oriented market economy».
The PAR MP defines 4 main areas of implementation of PAR, 7 plans of action and 5 solutions. The areas of implementation are:
- Institutional reform;
- Organizational structure reform;
- Improvement of the civil service’s efficiency and competence;
- Public finance reform.
The 7 plans are:
- National Plan of Action (NPA) No 1: The Action Plan to renovate the development and issuance of legal normative documents;
- NPA No 2: The Action Plan to study and define the roles, functions and organizational
structure of agencies in the state administrative system;
- NPA No 3: The Action Plan on staff downsizing;
- NPA No 4: The Action Plan to improve the quality of the contingent of public officials and
civil servants;
- NPA No5: The Action Plan on salary reform;
4 Vietnamnet [Официальный сайт]. URL: www.vietnamnet.vn (18.07.2013).
5 Decision of The Prime Minister No 136/2001/QB-TTg of September 17, 2001, approving the overall program on State administrative reform, the 2001-2010 period.
URL: http://www.moi.gov.vn/vbpq/en/Lists/Vn%20bn%20php%20lut/View Detail.aspx?ItemID=9380 (19.02.2014).
- NPA No 6: The Action Plan on renovation of financial management mechanism for administrative and public service agencies;
- NPA No 7: The Action Plan on modernization of the administrative system.
The 5 solutions are:
- To improve the leadership in the PA system;
- To implement the PAR in line with the renovation of the political system;
- To implement the PAR comprehensively from local to central level;
- To provide both financial and human resources necessary for the reform;
- To improve the communications within the PA system.
3. Some Results of the implementation of the PAR, 2001-2010 At the end of 2010, Vietnamese Government published a report on the progress of the PAR, stating that the reform was partially successful, though some issues still remain unsolved6.
3.1. Institutional reform
By July 2010, the Government has submitted over 100 law drafts to the National Assembly. Every year, the Government issues on about 200 decrees. Among the laws issued are: the Law on Enterprises, the Law on cadre and civil service, the Law on Investment, the Competition Law, the Law on Bankruptcy, the Labor Code, the Law on Construction, Land administration Law, the Customs Law, the Commerce Law and Electricity Law etc. Local People’s Council at all levels have also strengthened institutional reform, promulgated normative legal documents in conformity with their mandate to implement the laws issued by the central-level authorities in line with specific conditions of each locality.
The reform of administrative procedures and the implementation of «One Stop Shop» and Inter-agency OSS were carried out well. In 2007-2010, the Government had simplified the administrative procedures (AP). This reform was carried out in three phases, the first being the identification of administrative procedures, legal regulations and statistic forms. For the 2nd phase, ministries and local institutions had completed self-review and reached the target of simplifying at least 30% of AP. In the third phase of the reform, over 5 500 APs have been checked. As a result, 453 AP are to be abolished completely, 3 749 will be amended and improved to create more favorable conditions for people and enterprises, and 288 AP will be replaced by the newly developed ones.
The reform in general, however, was not altogether successful. The quality of the legal documents is still low. Legal documents have not been comprehensively issued due to
6 Report on Implementation of The Master Programme for Public Administration Reform in Period 2001-2010 / Ministry of Home Affairs. Hanoi, 2011.
lack of strategic and scientific forecast. When laws are issued, their implementation is often delayed or slowed down, since the actual implementation of the new law depends on various circulars and decrees, which aren’t usually ready at the time the law is issued. The institutional structure is still weak, since a large number of institutions have not been reviewed, and the implementation of the reform largely goes unchecked and unsupervised.
While the inter-agency OSS mechanism was created, there is still no unified procedure for settling administrative dossiers from central to local level, which hinders the system considerably and makes it far from convenient for organizations and citizens to deal with. Certain progress was made in terms of communication and cooperation between the levels and various branches of the PA, but the communication system in general is still weak, mostly due to the lack of sense of mutual responsibility in the PA.
3.2. Restructuring of the PA
First and foremost, the PA reform has successfully accomplished fn important task of clearly defining the functions of each PA agency to avoid the overlapping responsibilities. One of the important results of defining clearly the functions of the state administrative agencies is a clear distinction between state administrative agencies and non-business, public service agency.
The management decentralization and the delegation of powers from central level to local administrations have improved the efficiency between of the PA. The implementing decentralization has contributed to positive movement in terms of executing tasks, power of ministries, central branches towards decreasing at maximum specific operations by decentralizing to local governments, non-business agencies and enterprises.
The third is to set organizing structure of government, organize cross-sector and multi-disciplinary ministries and adjust organizing structure inside of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government’s attached agencies.
Like the institutional reform the restructuring of the PA was not completely successful. While the number of ministries was reduced, the number of departments within a ministry increased significantly. The management decentralization of non-business agencies went slowly. Procedures and mechanisms of task assigning, ordering and business registration are particularly slow, which means the renovation of management process as a whole is less effective and takes more time than expected.
3.3. Improving quality of cadres and civil servants
Three main, broad measures were developed to improve the quality of civil service personnel: the civil service management renovation, the salary system reform and the new training and incentive policy.
The public service management has been decentralized, the responsibilities of central and local administrations (including the Prime Minister, the ministries and their branches and the local governments) have been clearly defined. The higher salary and better social insurance policy stabilized the lives of civil servants. The salary reform project has adjusted the «roadmap» of the salary reform, which was originally designed to reform change the salary regime for civil servants completely and fundamentally. The civil service training system was renovated, both the curriculum and the training regime. Task division among training institutions for civil servants has also been promulgated. Training results for 20012010 show that 4 884 506 civil servants have been trained in the past ten years7; of which:
883 718 have been trained in political theory;
1 230 536 in state management;
2 122 702 in specialized areas;
97 858 in foreign languages;
224 254 in informatics.
From 2006 to 2008, 42 800 state officials, 27 180 leading specialists, experts and source cadres have been sent for abroad training. The number of cadres, civil servants and public servants sent abroad for training increased 4,2 times against that in 2001-2003.
The quality of the contingent of civil servants still does not, however, meet the requirements set by the reform. Management and administrative skills of the civil servants are still low. The number of degrees and certificates received by the civil servants increased, but professional quality of cadres and civil servants, even this who received said degrees and certificates, improved insignificantly.
The training system itself is not professional, partly due to the planning, which is especially inefficient. Not only do training programmes often overlap due to the lack of planning, they are often too theoretical with no emphasis of practical aspects and applications of the programme’s subject in civil service. The measures designed to further improve the civil service training have not been implemented yet.
Corruption in the civil service is still high, and the level of personal responsibility of an average civil servant is still low, which results in civil services often ignoring the needs and requests of the people, or being ineffective.
The Director of the PAR department said to a reporter of a newspaper: «According to some evaluation of leaders in PA agencies, only 30% civil servants are competent and perform
7 Report on Implementation of The Master Program for Public Administration Reform in Period 2001-2010 / Ministry of Home Affairs. Hanoi, 2011.
satisfactory, another 30% achieve limited results, and the rest have no results at all». Recently, a member of the National Assembly said in a famous e-newspaper: «For the success of the new salary policy, it is necessary to cut off about 30-40% of the civil servants».
3.5. Public Administration modernization
Reform of working style is carried out. Local Authorities have issues working regulations of ministries, people committees of different levels. These working regulations have clearly assigned power, responsibility of collective, working relationship aimed at fulfilling the tasks of ministries, people committees of all levels. Working principles and coordination in administrative machinery have been defined more clearly.
PA Modernization is dealing with Administrative discipline and rules, Computerization of administrative management and Modernization of public facilities, offices.
4. General evaluation of the PAR implementation
4.1. Some results of the PAR implementation.
In the past 10 years, PAR has changed the public administration and has been considered an important measure to realize the socio-economic strategy (2001-2010). The PAR implementation resulted in economical improvements, democratization of society, international economic integration, and political stability. Despite its shortcomings, the PAR has achieved some significant improvements, such as:
1) The institutions of the public administration have been basically reformed and perfected in accordance with the process of democratization, and the establishment of public, transparent policy and market economy. Administrative procedure reform has improved the relationships both between the State and the people and among state agencies. The PAR in general attracted the attention of the people to the possibilities of state employment and career options in the public administration.
2) Administrative apparatus was improved significantly over the last ten years. The number of responsibility overlaps and duplications was reduced, and the internal structure of state and public service agencies was clearly defined. The organizational structure of administrative agencies from central to local levels was gradually reworked on a more rational basis. The overall efficiency of the administrative system improved, it became more transparent, more democratic and more responsible.
3) Roles, functions and tasks of state administrative agencies were adjusted to provide better service to the society. Macro-management functions of the Government have been improved and have been more appropriate.
4) Administrative procedures, specifically procedures related to the interactions between state administrative agencies and the people and enterprises have been improved substantially. Administrative procedures have been simplified and made more transparent, creating favorable conditions for people and enterprises. A series of measures, such as a «one-stop-shop» mechanism and acceleration in civil service examination and inspection created a basis for future intensive changes in the whole civil service system.
5) The quality of civil service improved significantly. While it is still not entirely adequate, public service became more competent and efficient thanks to the new training system and the new set of standards for recruitment, promotion and grading of civil servants and cadre workers.
6) Public finance reform had a profound positive effect on the budgetary policy and financial management. The expenditure supervision by using internal expenditure regulations also had a positive impact on the PA system in general.
4.2. Some weaknesses and shortcomings of the PAR implementation
The PAR implementation process in the last ten years was steady, yet it was also consistently slow and rarely thorough. The overall effect of the PAR was not as significant as it was hoped to be, and the overall goal of «building a strong, clean, professional, democratic administration by 2010» still is not accomplished. The achievements of the past 10 years, while spectacular in their own right, are nevertheless limited and, more importantly, asymmetrical — while some parts of the administrative system are sufficiently developed, most of it is still lacking, which limits the effectiveness of the more developed parts of the system significantly. The stated goal of the whole PAR programme was slow, gradual but universal reform, which would allow to avoid such inconsistencies. Thus far, the reform is not complete and, as a result, the improvements which are achieved are large not sustainable.
Institutional system is still incomprehensive and lacks unity or uniformity. The number of laws needed to transfer to market economy has not been defined clearly. The quality of the laws themselves is also lacking.
The administrative apparatus is immense, but lacks stability, especially at the local level. The administrative structure of the country itself is also developing without any comprehensive planning — over the past ten years, the number of provinces increased from 53 to 63 due to separation, and the supervision after the decentralization has been and still is loose.
The criteria for building structure of cadres and civil servants is not developed enough, the training programmes are inefficient, and the appointed officials have almost no personal responsibility for the results of their work. Overall quality of the civil servants and cadre
workers after the implementation of the new training regime and grading system has not been evaluated. The salary reform has been deployed very slowly.
4.3. Why the PAR is not as successful as it was designed to be
There are several reasons for the fact that the PAR was not as effective as it was supposed to be.
1) Despite the fact that PAR is considered a top priority, however, its implementation was carried out inefficiently. At the central level, the establishment of Steering Committee turned out to hinder the reform, rather than promote it. The information provided to the agencies in charge of implementing the PAR was often ignored, or at least didn’t receive the attention it deserved. As a result the political system in general — and, by extension, the public — remained largely ignorant of the purpose of the PAR in general or any of the specific measures it included.
2) While the PAR by its very nature is connected to the judiciary reform, the legislative reform and the political system as a whole, no attempt was made to integrate it to the development of that system in general or to consciously interconnect it with any of the reforms carried out simultaneously.
3) The PAR itself was planned on a massive scale, with little attention to the practical details. The standards and objectives stated by the programme are often difficult to evaluate objectively, the responsibilities of certain agencies are defined so broadly, that the practical application of such definitions is unclear. Many important issues have not been defined clearly, nor was any consensus reached in terms of their practical realization (this issues include, for example, the structure of the government’s organizational apparatus in accordance with model of cross-sector and multi-area management ministries; decentralization and power assignments, etc.)
Certain aspects of the reform were only defined as broad, generalized goals, with no practical solutions suggested at all, without even any suggestions on what agencies might be responsible for these parts of the reform. In most area, the piloting model is widespread and abused — without any comprehensive evaluation mechanism the model is largely useless, and said mechanism is yet to be developed.
4) Resources provided for the programme, both financial and human, were inadequate. The existing problems, native to the current administrative system, such as authoritarianism, red-tape and corruption in civil service also made their inevitable impact on the PAR, the very reform designed to eradicate them. The existing system is neither open nor transparent, and the widespread corruption and incompetence caused indignation among the people.
5) The administrative skill of public officials and civil servants — including those charged with implementing the PAR measures — remains consistently low and most of the civil servants do not meet the requirements of the modernized administration the PAR was designed to create.
4.4. Some results of the implementation of the PAR
1) First and foremost, it is necessary to provide adequate information to the administrative staff and civil servants on all levels — from central to commune — on the PAR? It’s goals and objectives and it’s importance to the continuing successful development of the country in general. Informing the administration and the people in general on the PAR must be a top priority.
Further implementation of the PAR is a continuing task, in which all the government organizations and agencies must take part for it to be successful. Therefore, it must be synchronized with the gradual renovation of political system in general — the economic, judicial and legislative reforms.
2) The programme itself should define its objectives more clearly, include more comprehensive plans and suggest specific realistic practical measures. It should be more accessible both for the civil servants and the members of the public. The objectives set by the PAR programme should be more realistic. The implementation of national plan of action was not well-known to everyone, because it is not linked with the performance of main tasks of ministries, branches. There is confusion in the organization mechanism of national plan of action and in task division and coordination among relevant ministries, which is timeconsuming and has affected the implementation progress.
3) It is very important to pilot the PAR initiatives. The transformation into a socialist-oriented market economy and into a service-oriented public administration will bring up many initiatives that cannot be implemented immediately. Evaluation pilot will help identify problems to be further addressed or replicate successful initiatives. Innovative mechanisms such as «One-stop-shop», block staffing and block grants, etc., have been established by piloting mode.
4) The key element which will ensure the success of the PAR must be the determination and individual responsibility of heads of government agencies. Government documents so far have clearly promulgated this spirit, but lacked specific measures to insure its practical application. So far, it is difficult to find any cases of ministers or other officials even being criticized, not to mention discharged, for failing to implement the PAR measures.
5) CS competence plays an important role in the implementation of the PAR. It is
particularly important for the civil servants working in the PAR units. CS nraining system needs further improvement.
6) One of the main obstacle on the way of doth the PAR and the political renovation in general is the «old paradigm» thinking which characterizes many of civil servants, both the high-ranking officials and the rank-and-file functionaries. It’s important to promote new attitudes among the CS and the people in general — a shift from «agency-centered» to «citizen-oriented», from «tradition-oriented status quo» to «change, innovation, adaptation», from «risk avoidance» to «risk-taking». This change is a process that needs time, effort and resources8.
5. The Civil Service Reform trends in other Countries
Civil service reform is to change intentionally part or whole civil service system such as, state machinery, legal framework, civil servants or administrative procedures, in order to make State management effectiveness and efficiency9. At some point in their history most countries in the world carried out some sort of civil service reform. United State, for example, had «Government reorganization», Germany had «the development of new public management», Thailand had «Good Governance», Singapore had «Excellent Civil service for the XXI Century»10, and so on. The goal of most modern civil services is to shift from «ruling» to «serving» the people, so the Government apparatus tends to become «smaller», shifting from «traditional public Administrative system» to the «new public management» — people-centered, outsourcing, participatory, transparent, accountable11.
Most of CS reforms tend to follow this trend12:
- Result-Based control;
- Privatization;
- Adjusting relationship between the Central and Local;
- State machinery tends to be «flatter»;
- Reform civil servants regime;
- Public financial management reform;
- Modernization of public administrative system.
8 Report on Implementation of The Master Program for Public Administration Reform in Period 2001-2010 / Ministry of Home Affairs. Hanoi, 2011.
9 Public Administration System and Administrative Technology for the Principle Civil Servant Grade / National Academy of Public Administration of Vietnam. 2007.
10 Thang V.P., Nguyen M.P., Nguyen T.H. Civil Service and the Trend of Civil Service Reform in Some Countries. Hanoi, 2004.
11 Good Governance B.E. 2543. Office of the Civil service Commission. Bangkok, 1999.
12 Osborne D., Gaebler T. Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector. New York: Plume, 1993.
Researches show that administrative reforms in Western countries are based on following ideas13:
1) Government becomes smaller, thus reducing the financial burden of supporting it.
2) Government’s executive functions are enhanced. Ministries become multisectors. Function-specific government management is reduced. Scope of administrative jobs in the Government becomes larger. Certain government functions are transferred from central to local level.
3) Administrative consultant system is developed. The government sets up and uses a system of consultants, highly professional in different areas.
Vietnamese CS reform is partly based on the past experience of other countries. Vietnam has carried out CS reform in a typical context14:
- transition from the centralized planned economy to the market economy with socialistic orientation;
- current public administration system has a lot of shortcomings: large government apparatus, overlapping responsibilities, insufficient legal framework, incompetent civil servants, planned public finance regulation etc.;
- globalization and international economic cooperation is important for the development of the country, since it creates new economic opportunities;
- administrative system should utilize the latest scientific and technological developments to be more productive;
- the society in general requires more advanced administrative system: more democratic, more participatory, more transparent.
6. PAR Master Programme for 2011-2020 in Vietnam
The Government Resolution No 30c/ND-CP, dated 08 November 2011, of The Vietnam Government on PAR MP 2011-2020.
PAR objectives:
- Development of the socialism-oriented free-market economical system;
- Development of the free, transparent business environment;
- Development of the transparent, modern, effective, state administrative system;
- Ensuring the society remains democratic and human rights are maintained;
13 Public Administration and Effective Governance / Management Training and Research Institute. Hanoi, 2005.
14 Scope of Civil Services in European Countries: Trends and Developments. Seminar at the European Institute
of Public Administration, Maastricht, 13-14 November 2000 / SIGMA — Support for Improvement in Governance and Management in Central and Eastern European Countries. URL:
http://www.sigmaweb.org/1850438.pdf (19.02.2014).
- Improving the quality of the civil service, making it competent an adequate for the modern social and political system.
In the next 10 years, PAR will focus on:
- Institutional reform;
- Quality of cadres, civil servants, public servants;
- Quality of public service and administrative service.
The tasks of PAR 2011-2020:
1. Institutional reform;
2. Reform of administrative procedures;
3. Reform of administrative machinery;
4. Development of quality of civil servants, public servants;
5. Public finance reform;
6. Modernization of the public administration system.
The solutions for PAR implementation are as follows:
- To strengthen the leadership of the PAR from the top to grassroots;
- To train cadres, civil servants, public servants effectively; to make civil service transparent an accountable;
- To improve the competency of civil servants who work for the PAR at all levels of public administration system;
- To carry out the evaluation of the PAR implementation rate;
- To develop IT — Communications in the line with the PAR;
- To ensure public budget for PAR programme;
- To reform the salary policy in order to motivate cadres, civil servants, public servants, thus making them more productive.
7. Conclusion
Over ten years, from 2001 to 2010, Vietnam had implemented the PAR Master Programme. The government and each civil servant personally contributed somewhat to that effort. The reform was partly successful — public institution reform, government machinery reform, civil service quality reform and public financial reform all improved the current situation in some way. However, the PAR in general was flawed and left a lot to be desired, causing an intense discontent with the reform among the public.
For the next 10 years, with the new PAR Master Programme, based partly on the experience of implementing the previous programme, Vietnamese Government will make sure that the PAR implementation will be successful and Vietnamese Government and the People of
Vietnam will be happy with the reforms carried out as part of the programme, such as: institutional reform, administrative procedures reform, administrative machinery reform, quality of civil service reform, public finance reform and public administration system modernization.
When we carry out the PAR, we change the country we live in, the system within which we exist, and we will cope with difficulty and hostile elements. We hope we will achieve success in our effort, once it is reasonably corrected and adjusted. «It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to Change» — Charles Darwin.
References:
1. Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1992).
URL: http://www.na.gov.vn/htx/English/C1479/#2Mg8VTtE0TkT (19.02.2014).
2. Decision of The Prime Minister No 136/2001/QB-TTg of September 17, 2001, approving the overall programme on State administrative reform, the 2001-2010 period. URL: http://www.moj.gov.vn/vbpq/en/Lists/Vn%20bn%20php%20lut/View Detail.aspx?Item ID=9380 (19.02.2014).
3. EROPA Conference 2012 «Challenges to Administrative Reform: Learning from the Past and In Search of Excellence in the Future». Jakarta, 2012.
4. Good Governance B.E. 2543. Office of the Civil Service Commission. Bangkok, 1999.
5. International Review of Administrative Sciences. IIAS — International Institute of Administrative Sciences. 2011. Vol. 77. No 1.
6. Law on Cadres and Civil servants No 22/2008/QH12. November 13th 2008. URL: http://luatsukinhte.com/en/law-dissemination/legal-documents/administrative-law/1295-law-on-cadres-and-civil-servants-no-222008qh12-dated-november-13th-2008.html (19.02.2014).
7. Ngo T.C. Improving Quality of Training of Civil Servants in Public Sector // The Human Studies Review. 2011.
8. Nguyen T.D. Vietnam Civil Service. Hanoi, 2007.
9. Organization Machinery of Public Administration System. National Academy of Public administration. Hanoi, 2010.
10. Osborne D., Gaebler T. Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector. New York: Plume, 1993.
11. PPA — Public Policy and Administration. 2011. Vol. 26. No 1.
12. Public Administration and Effective Governance. Management Training and Research Institute. Hanoi, 2005.
13. Public Administration Reform in Vietnam — Ideas of Scientists. National Academy of Public Administration. Hanoi, 2010.
14. Public Administration System and Administrative Technology for the Principle Civil Servant Grade. National Academy of Public Administration of Vietnam. 2007.
15. Report on Implementation of The Master Programme for Public Administration Reform in Period 2001-2010. Ministry of Home Affairs. Hanoi, 2011.
16. Report on Review of Implementation of PAR in the Phase 2001-2010. Ministry of Home Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 2010.
17. Schiavo-Campo S., Sundaram P. To Serve and to Preserve: Improving Public Administration in a Competitive World. Manila: Asian Development Bank, 1999.
18. Scope of Civil Services in European Countries: Trends and Developments. Seminar at the European Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht, 13-14 November 2000. SIGMA — Support for Improvement in Governance and Management in Central and Eastern European Countries. URL: http://www.sigmaweb.org/1850438.pdf (19.02.2014).
19. Standards and Tools of Evaluation for State Performance // The Government Inspection. Hanoi, 2008.
20. Summary Record of the National Conference on Civil Servants Management. Ministry of Home Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 2006.
21. The Government Reform — Political Typhoon at the End of XX Century. Chief editor: Tinh T. Hanoi, 2002.
22. The Government Resolution No 30c/ND-CP of 08 November 2011, of The Vietnam Government on PAR MP 2011-2020.
23. Thang V.P., Nguyen M.P., Nguyen T.H. Civil Service and the Trend of Civil Service Reform in Some Countries. Hanoi, 2004.
24. Vietnamnet [Official site]. URL: www.vietnamnet.vn (18.07.2013).
Ngo Thanh Can
Civil Service Reform in Vietnam:
Gradual Change as a Way to Success
Ngo Thanh Can — PhD, Vice-Dean, Faculty of Organization and Personnel Management, National Academy of Public Administration, Viet Nam. E-mail: hoangstd 10@yahoo .com
Annotation
In recent decades, the process of globalization has changed Vietnam profoundly, both the economical and the social life. Public administration and civil service have to change to meet the challenges of this profoundly different society
The civil service reform was carried out for the past ten years. It’s main goal are 1) building a democratic, strong, clean, professional, modern, effective public administration, and 2) creating the contingent of capable, productive and ethical cadre workers and civil servants.
The civil service reform was designed to gradually transform the traditional civil service - centralized, bureaucratic and ineffective - into a modern one - dynamic and effective.
The reform, however, was not entirely succesful - neither it’s development, nor it’s practical implementation. The existing government machinery, civil institutions and civil service practices all hindered the reform to some extent. There are some lessons learned from the implementation of the civil service reform on leadership, planning, institutional reform and creating strong civil service personnel. The main one is this: big success is achieved in small steps. That means, in the Vietnamese context, that to success, civil service reform should be carried out on a step by step basis.
The reform will be continued in the future, it’s guiding document being the newly-issued Public Administration Reform Master Program for 2011-2020. The stated objectives of that program are: “institutional reform; improving the civil service’s quality of service by creating a more competent and productive service; reforming the salary policy to achieve higher motivation and higher productivity of the cadre workers, civil servants and public servants; improving the quality of public administration service and public service”. PAR for 2011-2020 has 6 objectives, 7 solutions and 16 projects.
Keywords
Vietnam, public administration, reform, cadres, civil servants, civil services.
References:
1. Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1992).
URL: http://www.na.gov.vn/htx/English/C1479/#2Mg8VTtE0TkT (19.02.2014).
2. Decision of The Prime Minister No 136/2001/QB-TTg of September 17, 2001, approving the overall programme on State administrative reform, the 2001-2010 period.
URL: http://www.moj.gov.vn/vbpq/en/Lists/Vn%20bn%20php%20lut/View Detail.aspx?ItemID=9380 (19.02.2014).
3. EROPA Conference 2012 «Challenges to Administrative Reform: Learning from the Past and In Search of Excellence in the Future». Jakarta, 2012.
4. Good Governance B.E. 2543. Office of the Civil Service Commission. Bangkok, 1999.
5. International Review of Administrative Sciences. IIAS — International Institute of Administrative Sciences. 2011. Vol. 77. No 1.
6. Law on Cadres and Civil servants No 22/2008/QH12. November 13th 2008.
URL: http://luatsukinhte.com/en/law-dissemination/legal-documents/administrative-law/1295-law-on-cadres-and-civil-servants-no-222008qh12-dated-november-13th-2008.html (19.02.2014).
7. Ngo T.C. Improving Quality of Training of Civil Servants in Public Sector. The Human Studies Review. 2011.
8. Nguyen T.D. Vietnam Civil Service. Hanoi, 2007.
9. Organization Machinery of Public Administration System. National Academy of Public administration. Hanoi, 2010.
10. Osborne D., Gaebler T. Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector. New York: Plume, 1993.
11. PPA — Public Policy and Administration. 2011. Vol. 26. No 1.
12. Public Administration and Effective Governance. Management Training and Research Institute. Hanoi, 2005.
13. Public Administration Reform in Vietnam — Ideas of Scientists. National Academy of Public Administration. Hanoi, 2010.
14. Public Administration System and Administrative Technology for the Principle Civil Servant Grade.
National Academy of Public Administration of Vietnam. 2007.
15. Report on Implementation of The Master Programme for Public Administration Reform in Period 20012010. Ministry of Home Affairs. Hanoi, 2011.
16. Report on Review of Implementation of PAR in the Phase 2001-2010. Ministry of Home Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 2010.
17. Schiavo-Campo S., Sundaram P. To Serve and to Preserve: Improving Public Administration in a Competitive World. Manila: Asian Development Bank, 1999.
18. Scope of Civil Services in European Countries: Trends and Developments. Seminar at the European Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht, 13-14 November 2000. SIGMA — Support for Improvement in Governance and Management in Central and Eastern European Countries.
URL: http://www.sigmaweb.org/1850438.pdf (19.02.2014).
19. Standards and Tools of Evaluation for State Performance. The Government Inspection. Hanoi, 2008.
20. Summary Record of the National Conference on Civil Servants Management. Ministry of Home Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 2006.
21. The Government Reform — Political Typhoon at the End of XX Century. Chief editor: Tinh T. Hanoi, 2002.
22. The Government Resolution No 30c/ND-CP of 08 November 2011, of The Vietnam Government on PAR MP 2011-2020.
23. Thang V.P., Nguyen M.P., Nguyen T.H. Civil Service and the Trend of Civil Service Reform in Some Countries. Hanoi, 2004.
24. Vietnamnet [Official site]. URL: www.vietnamnet.vn (18.07.2013).
