WB aids Can Tho in improving citizens' participation in public services
The World Bank (WB) hosted a workshop in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on January 16, seeking measures to boost citizens' participation in the planning, design, and implementation of public services through digital technology.
CanTho (VNA) – The World Bank (WB) hosted a workshop in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on January 16, seekingmeasures to boost citizens' participation in the planning,design, and implementation of public services through digital technology.
InCan Tho, WB-funded public investment projects are being implemented in varioussectors such as healthcare, irrigation, agriculture, urban development, andtransport.
Atthe event, Duong Tan Hien, Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee, saidat a January 6 workshop, co-organised by the local authorities and the bank, theformer selected specific areas that require support and proposed them to the latterand sponsors for review. These areas focus on reforms in the city's publicfinancial management system in the coming period, with the aim of achieving efficiency,transparency, and sustainable development.
An overview of the workshop (Photo: VNA)
Tran Thi Phuong Mai, a WB senior expert in financial management, said citizens' participationin the planning, design, and implementation of public services will bring abouthigh efficiency and consensus. The involvement has three levels of information provision, consultation, andengagement. Citizens participate when they are given the opportunity andnecessary resources to collaborate in various stages of the policy cycle, aswell as in the design and delivery of services.
Tran Thi Lan Huong, a WB senior expert in public administration, suggested CanTho continue deploying and effectively utilising online public service softwareand social media channels to listen to and collect feedback from the people quicklyand accurately. Therefore, interfaces must be user-friendly.
Participatingexperts recommended the city to have initiatives for open data, like sharingnon-sensitive data about services for citizens to analyze and provide opinions,and creating conditions for research projects and universities to explore thebest use of non-sensitive data.
Can Tho city was also advised to monitor the qualityof public services and present citizens' feedback and the administration's actions throughpublicly accessible dashboards, among other affairs./.
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A corner of Can Tho (Photo: baodautu.vn) 
An overview of the workshop (Photo: VNA) 
