Enhancing Interaction Between Government and Citizens in the Digital Environment

Currently, all localities have established provincial-level Portals; however, only 50 out of 63 provinces have implemented smart applications for information provision and citizen feedback. The effectiveness of these communication channels is still limited. For example, 27 out of 63 provinces lack a dedicated citizen section on their Portals, affecting accessibility. Some smart applications are outdated, in testing phases, or have system errors, leading to inefficiencies and confusion for users. Inefficient interaction can lead to wasted resources and fragmented information delivery to citizens. Furthermore, confusion may arise when citizens attempt to install smart applications, hindering the desired effectiveness.

For Nghe An Province, although the locality has not yet implemented a smart application for providing information and handling citizen feedback, it has recently started deploying an application for businesses. This can be seen as an effort in the province's public sector digital transformation, bringing local government closer and faster to businesses. Regarding the electronic portal (Portal), initial assessments by the Institute for Policy Studies and Media Development (IPS) highlight that the province has posted relatively comprehensive public information on the provincial-level Portal, with a reasonably effective and timely level of interaction on this channel. Notably, the province has designed a "Citizen" section to enhance the effectiveness and user experience when accessing the Portal.

However, there are still some limitations that the province could address in the near future. Particularly, according to IPS, the province has not publicly disclosed certain regulations such as those for providing information to the public, citizen reception, and the appointment and disclosure of contact points for information requests on the Portal. Additionally, according to the PAPI 2021 index by the United Nations Development Programme in Vietnam, Nghe An Province's e-governance score is low, at 0.51/3.33 points, with limited use of the Portal to serve citizen needs. Thus, the province needs to continue encouraging citizens to use communication tools more effectively to enhance the interaction between government and citizens in the digital environment, ensuring a positive outcome in the digital transformation process.

To address this issue in the short term, the locality should continue to leverage its existing strengths and standardize the Portal to best meet the needs of its citizens. Additionally, skill training for officials and staff, as well as promoting and disseminating the use of interactive tools to the public, are necessary to help citizens gradually develop a habit of using official interactive tools. Furthermore, the locality might consider developing a local application to directly serve citizens by disclosing information, receiving, and responding to their feedback and requests.

A notable example of a locality that has successfully developed and implemented an effective smart application is Thua Thien Hue Province with its Hue-S app. This application has been operational since 2019, nearly a year before the COVID-19 outbreak. Therefore, when the pandemic hit, the locality integrated 17 functions for epidemic prevention and control, such as online health declarations, notifications, infection alerts, accommodation registration, and personal itinerary tracking. To this day, the app is frequently used by residents to stay updated on local policies and directly send feedback and requests to the relevant authorities. It also features online camera monitoring in key areas of the city.

Tran Dang Quang – Institute of Policy Research and Media Development

Source: Nghe An Newspaper

This translation was assisted by an automated AI translation tool.