Hanoi, August 17, 2011 – The Vietnam Anti-Corruption Initiative Program 2011 (VACI 2011), under the theme “Strengthening public integrity and law implementation for effective anti-corruption” today awarded 34 community initiatives in order to minimize corruption, strengthen transparency and bring a better living environment. Mr. Huynh Phong Tranh, Chief Government Inspector and Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, Country Director of the World Bank Vietnam joined the event.
The Program, co-organized by the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam and the World Bank in Vietnam and co-sponsored by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Embassy of Finland, Embassy of Sweden and the Department for International Development (DFID-UK), was first launched on December 9, 2010.
The organizing committee received 160 entries, with many innovative ideas from different social strata, including community and social organizations, mass organizations, non-governmental organizations, universities, private companies and local anti-corruption agencies.
Participating initiatives focused on various fields, including anti-corruption in health care services, education, administrative procedures, recruitment management, involving also ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
The varied solutions, from awareness raising, communication, information technology and automation initiatives and art performance, have brought a vivid picture of the community creativity in social works.
The active participation of the community, from different classes of society has reflected the growing awareness and perception of public of the program’s subject matter. More interestingly, they have paid a high attention to the matter of strengthening transparency, promoting accountability and minimizing corruption in public sector.
This year, a jury panel, representing government agencies, non-governmental organizations, social institutions, sponsors and media agencies, evaluated the proposals based on several criteria such as contribution to the program‘s theme, creativity, feasibility, sustainability, ownership and community participation.
The jury panels of the first and final rounds of selection have worked hard with high level of professionalism to select the 34 most innovative, feasible, sustainable proposals that contributive the most to the fight against corruption. These are the most outstanding projects out of 60 shortlisted proposals to the final round.
Each winning project will receive up to VND 290 million for its implementation. The total amount of award this year is VND 9,2 billion.
Within the program, a Knowledge Exchange Forum was held to share practical experiences and legal knowledge on anti-corruption with typical cases and people whose anti-corruption works have been recognized by local government, as well as how to effectively promote community participation in monitoring public services.
The VACI series was designed upon the success from the Vietnam Innovation Day 2009 under the similar theme. VACI is expected to be organized every two years, with the next one in 2013.
Background information on VACI 2011
The Vietnam Anti-Corruption Initiative Program 2011 (VACI) supports innovative ideas to minimize corruption, strengthen transparency, and bring a better living environment for people. The program is co-organized by the Government Inspectorate and the World Bank with support from many bilateral donors.
The theme for VACI 2011 is “Strengthening public integrity and law implementation for effective anti-corruption”.
VACI identifies and directly supports through Innovation Grants small, bottom-up, innovative development proposals that deliver results, which can then be scaled up or replicated. It also creates opportunities for local innovators to meet, exchange ideas, share information and network with other people sharing the same concerns.
The program consists of two major events:
- Innovation Competition - an open competition through a jury process whereby the most innovative and feasible proposals would be selected and awarded a start-up fund for implementation.
- Knowledge Exchange – is a forum for sharing experience and knowledge on the legal framework of anti-corruption as well as the experience on strengthening public integrity and law implementation for effective anti-corruption.
Strengthening public integrity with a focus on transparency, accountability and ethics in public administration is one of the core anti-corruption measures applied by the Government of Vietnam. The current legal framework for anti-corruption includes the following major legislation: the Revised Law on Prevention and Fight against Corruption and its implementing regulations and guidelines, Grassroots Democracy Ordinance, the Revised Law on Complaints and Denunciations of Citizens, the Five year Socio-economic development plan (SEDP) 2006-2010. In addition, the Law on Public officials and cadres which took effect from January 2010, setting out principles for a strong, open and transparent public service.
While the policy and legal system of Vietnam provides for basic rights and guarantees essential benefits of the citizens, the implementation and application of policies and laws remains a problem waiting for solutions, especially at the grassroots levels. In the current context of Vietnam, the strengthening of law implementation is crucial. Within the framework of the program, the proposals could focus on, but not be limited to, the following sub-themes:
(1) Developing a service oriented public administration;
(2) Strengthening public integrity and public service ethics;
(3) Strengthening transparency and the right to access information; and
(4) Improving effectiveness of law implementing.
