Using social media to consult the public in policy making

Delegates attend the 2019 Provincial People's Council Delegate Skills Training Course. Photo: Mai Hoa

Hactivities of People's Council delegatesembarrassed

On the morning of March 14, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council held the opening ceremony of the 2019 People's Council skills training conference for Provincial People's Council delegates and Standing Committees of People's Councils of districts, cities and towns.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the conference, Comrade Cao Thi Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council affirmed that in recent times, with the implementation of the Law on Organization of Local Government, the Law on Supervision of the National Assembly and related regulations, along with the implementation of the Project to improve the quality and effectiveness of the Provincial People's Council's operations for the 2016 - 2021 term; the activities of the People's Council continue to have many innovations and improve quality.

However, in carrying out some activities of People's Council delegates, there are still difficulties and confusions such as: analyzing and evaluating the impact of policies and consulting people in the process of promulgating policies at the local level; organizing the explanation and questioning sessions of the People's Council Standing Committee; reviewing and deciding to approve the settlement of local budgets; decisions related to people's contributions; in supervising judicial activities regarding investigation, prosecution, trial, and enforcement of court decisions; supervising the settlement of complaints, denunciations and recommendations of voters...

Therefore, organizing this conference to foster the operational skills of People's Council delegates is extremely necessary to equip the delegates of the Provincial People's Council, the Standing Committee, and the People's Council Committees of districts, cities, and towns with valuable knowledge and experience in performing their duties, worthy of the trust and expectations of voters and people.

Contacting voters to get people's opinions is also an effective form of community consultation. Photo: Mai Hoa

Using social media to consult the public

At the beginning of the conference, delegates listened to Mr. Nguyen Si Dung - former Deputy Head of the National Assembly Office present the topic on Skills of analyzing, assessing policy impacts and consulting people in the process of promulgating policies at the local level.

According to Mr. Nguyen Si Dung, there has been a long-standing reality that assessing the impact of policies to consider and "perfectly" choose the comparative benefits between issuing and not issuing policies in reviewing, developing and issuing policies has not been given due attention.

Mr. Nguyen Si Dung - former Deputy Head of the National Assembly Office presented the topic on Skills for analyzing, assessing policy impacts and consulting people in the process of promulgating policies at the local level. Photo: Mai Hoa

At the local level, the assessment of policy impact is the primary responsibility of the Provincial People's Committee and the departments, branches and units that draft the policy; at the same time, it must be clearly defined that this is a mandatory document that must be submitted with the policy draft, along with building a team of qualified staff with the capacity to assess policy impact.

On the part of the Provincial People's Council delegates, it is necessary to grasp the policy impact assessment process and the skills to read and evaluate policy impact assessment documents to consider whether the issues are raised correctly or not and the impact of the policy must ensure justice and social equity, putting local interests and the interests of the people first.

Delegates discuss at the conference. Photo: Mai Hoa

To fulfill the above role, according to Mr. Nguyen Si Dung, delegates must carry out a public consultation process, including those affected by the policy and experts. And the consultation can be conducted through many channels: meetings, visits, contact with voters, emails, telephone calls and social networks; avoiding the "beating of drums and blowing trumpets" method, which wastes time and effort.

During March 14 and 15, delegates continued to receive direct communication on the remaining four topics from Mr. Phan Trung Ly - former member of the National Assembly Standing Committee, former Chairman of the National Assembly's Law Committee; Bui Duc Thu - former Deputy Head of the National Assembly's Delegation Affairs Committee; and Bui Nguyen Suy - former Deputy Head of the National Assembly's Petition Committee.

Conference scene. Photo: Mai Hoa

The topics include skills in organizing the Standing Committee of the People's Council's explanation session; reviewing and deciding on the approval of local budget settlements, decisions related to people's contributions; supervising judicial activities in investigation, prosecution, trial, and enforcement of court decisions; skills in supervising the settlement of complaints, denunciations, and recommendations of voters.