Govt, development partners discuss ethnic affairs, service user feedback survey

Government officials and development partners met in Vientiane last week to discuss a draft decree on ethnic affairs and a public service users’ feedback survey, to determine how such surveys might be improved in the future.
The provincial survey on public service delivery was discussed at the Thematic Workshop of the Public Service Improvement Sub-sector Working Group under the Governance Sector Working Group.
The meeting was attended by the Director General of the Planning and Cooperation Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mr Nisith Keopanya; Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Lao PDR, Mr Balasubramaniam Murali; and the Head of the Governance Programme at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Ms Michal Harari.
The draft decree on ethnic affairs has six chapters and 36 articles. The purpose of the decree is to prescribe the principles, regulations and measures for the management, monitoring and assessment of ethnic affairs to ensure ethnic groups enjoy unity, equality and respect.
The decree aims to enable the participation of all ethnic groups in contributing to the country’s development, and to protect their legitimate rights and benefits.
The Service Users Feedback Survey is used to gather public opinions about public service delivery in order to measure the level of satisfaction and seek suggestions to improve these services.
The government service sectors which will be surveyed are education, health, water and sanitation, agriculture extension, public works (roads) and some aspects of governance and public administration services (civil registration).
A survey was carried out in Houn district, Oudomxay province and in Saravan district, Saravan province in 2015-2016.
This year, the survey will be conducted in Khua district, Phongsaly province, Xiengkhor district, Huaphan province, Hinboun district, Khammuan province, and Xaysettha district in Attapeu province.
The survey is supported by the National Governance and Public Administration Reform programme in cooperation with the UNDP, United Nations Capital Development Fund, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr Nisith said “According to the plan for 2019, the Governance Sector Working Group and Sub-sector Working Group, which includes the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Justice, UNDP and the Swiss government, many important activities will take place. These will target sustainable development in rural areas and encourage more participation in the development process by members of all ethnic groups.”

By Phomphong Laoin
(Latest Update May 13, 2019)