The conference was attended by VSS’ Deputy General Director Chu Manh Sinh; Ms. Dinh Thi Minh Thu - Program Manager of USAID Vietnam e-Government Capability Building Program; leaders from several units under USAID, the VSS, and local social security agencies from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Kon Tum.

In his opening speech, Deputy General Director Chu Manh Sinh stated that during the recent visit and work in Hanoi by U.S. President Joe Biden on September 10th and 11th, the leaders of the two countries issued a Joint Statement on upgrading the Vietnam-U.S. relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, in which both countries consider digital cooperation, science, technology, innovation, and creativity as a new breakthrough in the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

VSS’ Deputy General Director Chu Manh Sinh delivered a speech at the conference

According to Deputy General Director Chu Manh Sinh, in recent times, the work of administrative procedure reform and the application of information technology in simplifying and restructuring business processes to improve the quality of services for citizens and businesses in the field of social insurance have always been of great concern. Particularly, in implementing the directions of the Government and the Prime Minister on accelerating administrative procedure reform and modernizing methods of guidance and management in serving citizens and businesses, the VSS has collaborated with numerous domestic and international organizations to carry out assigned tasks.

Starting from November 2020, the VSS and USAID have been implementing activities under the Memorandum of Understanding between the two agencies in the fields of social and health insurance, information technology application, and social security implementation for the period 2020-2024. Notably, from March 2023 until now, USAID experts have actively collaborated with operational units of the VSS to conduct research and on-site assessments in order to propose solutions for restructuring the business process with four key public services.

"The initial results of the cooperation program are objective assessments of the efforts in applying information technology to build infrastructure, improve business software to enhance the quality of administrative procedure reform, and serve citizens and businesses of the VSS. Difficulties and obstacles arising from policy mechanisms, the synchronization readiness of external information systems in the sector, and the level of public awareness of digital transformation are also among the factors influencing access to and utilization of services," stated Deputy General Director Chu Manh Sinh.

USAID experts guiding the process of restructuring administrative procedures

Emphasizing one of the goals of the sector, which is to streamline the business process in a simplified manner to maximize convenience for organizations, businesses, and citizens, Deputy General Director Chu Manh Sinh suggested that USAID experts focus on guiding the analysis and evaluation of necessary content for implementing the restructuring of business processes, ensuring feasibility and optimization in the implementation. Additionally, they should continue researching and collaborating with the VSS to propose solutions for restructuring additional business processes of the social insurance sector beyond the four key public services that have been implemented.

The Deputy General Director also requested that the operational units of the VSS, together with USAID, focus on coordinating research, surveys, and promptly delivering results on user experience. Based on that, they will collaborate to improve the business process to better serve citizens and businesses, contributing to the effective implementation of the goal to enhance Vietnam's national competitiveness in improving social insurance public services and meeting the satisfaction of citizens and businesses.

Delegates attending the training conference

At the conference, delegates listened to presentations and guidance from USAID experts on several topics: an overview of the restructuring of administrative procedure processes and key points in the research and implementation process; practical exercises in drawing process diagrams for public services and restructuring process diagrams; drawing current process diagrams and restructuring process diagrams; evaluating user experience to optimize the online service delivery process and highlighting important considerations.

Furthermore, they practiced establishing the content of user experience evaluation and the methods to improve the process of providing online public services; establishing the content of user experience evaluation according to the criteria set by the Ministry of Information and Communications and following the steps and procedures of public services; conducting evaluations and presenting summaries of findings and recommendations for improvement.

Currently, USAID is collaborating with the VSS to propose solutions for restructuring the business process with four key public services, including enrollment and issuance of health insurance cards for individuals participating in health insurance (applicable to individuals); one-time resolution of social insurance benefits; resolution of retirement benefits for mandatory social insurance participants; resolution of retirement benefits for voluntary social insurance participants with reserved contribution periods./.