Jay Wysocki

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Local Governance Adviser, United Nations Development Programme, Vietnam

Focus: Civil Service

Topics: Corruption in the Civil Service, Civil Service Recruitment

Keywords: decentralization, pay reform, budgeting, capacity building, donor relations, Promotion, merit pay, recruitment, training, patronage, corruption

Interviewer(s): David Hausman

Country of Reform: Vietnam

Location: Hanoi, Viet Nam

Date: Sun Aug 30 2009

Abstract

Jay Wysocki talks about civil service reforms in Vietnam. The main impetus for the reforms was the Thai Binh riots involving corrupt government officials and land appropriation. Other factors included the inflow of foreign direct investment that required political and administrative changes, the need for a growing economy to absorb the rising number of people in the job market, and the improvement of public services. The reforms focused on institutions, performance, staffing and organizational structure. Wysocki explains the capacity-building programs at the National Academy of Public Administration. He also discusses decentralization and the privatization or “socialization” of services like education and healthcare. The reform process was affected by corruption and lack of empirical data, which complicated program evaluations.

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Jay Wysocki Interview

Full Profile

At the time of this interview, Jay Wysocki was the United Nations Development Programme's local governance adviser in Vietnam. He first came to Vietnam in 1995 to participate in a British project run by Oxfam. He later designed a project to improve the quality of public administration training at the National Academy of Public Administration. He also served as the project’s chief technical adviser.

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