The consultative meeting was hosted by Vietnam Social Security (VSS) Governing Body and attended by experts from the World Bank, International Social Security Association (ISSA), International Labour Organisation in the US, Switzerland and Australia.

The meeting was chaired by Pham Van Truong, vice chairman of VSS Governing Body.

The VSS Governing Body now consists of 12 members assigned by the Prime Minister. They include the Minister of Finance who is head of the board, two vice chairmen and members who represent Ministries of Labour, War Invalids and Social affairs, Health, Finance, Home Affairs, National Defence, Public Security, Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, VietNam Cooperative Alliance, VietNam Farmer’s Union and the VSS director-general.

Participants at the meeting focused their discussions on restructuring apparatus of the board; its functions and tasks of directing, supervising and consulting social security, health, unemployment insurance; principles and international experiences that can be applied in Viet Nam.

Michael Kidd, a World Bank senior expert, said each organisation has different management methods. The World Bank and ISSA have issued some guidelines and recommendations on good governance for social security organisations. In particular, it emphasises the role of the management board in approving and monitoring strategic plans. At the same time, the management board must ensure its self-governance, transparency, supervision and accountability.

For the VSS Governing Body, according to Kidd, the board’s role includes defining strategies, senior goals and monitoring specific activities. The council members represent the interests of target groups involved as well as targeting and improving services. To do this, the Governing body needs to perform four roles: Monitoring (using activity data and reports to facilitate monitoring, analysis, making decision and boosting development); Establishing management strategies and guidelines (setting priorities and supervising implementation, creating a service culture for employees); Accountability (enacting standards and operational goals for organisational management, customer service measurement and customer satisfaction); and Risk management (systematically identifying risks that threaten the achievement of an organisation's goals).

To improve performance of the VSS Governing body, Kidd highlighted the role of supervision and recommended the board consider accepting more members who represent workers, businesses and people, and establish sub-committees and specialised working groups focusing on priority areas.

The board should also create a mechanism for itself to hold consultations with external experts, change working modes like enhancing IT application and switching to online meetings, he said.

Dominique La Salle, director for social security development at the ISSA, said it is necessary to distinguish more clearly the role of social security governing body and board of directors. The Governing body issues guidelines and policies while the Governing body is in charge of implementation.

The Governing body should ensure independence, at the same time, there must be specialised sub-committees in all areas to plan, forecast policies, set goals and solve complex issues arising in the implementation of policies.  Besides, the project should include adding an IT application and communication roadmap to the activities of the board of trustees. This will help improve its operational efficiency, he said.

Sharing the same views with two experts, Philip O'Keefe, lead economist in the social protection and labour global practice at the World Bank Asia Pacific, said the project needs to define in more detail the role of the Board of Trustees in managing and training human resources; consider new types of social insurance and health insurance in the future to better meet public demands.

Regarding the goals of social insurance and health insurance coverage in Viet Nam, O'Keefe said that the implementation process will face many challenges, so strengthening and improving the performance of the social security management board must also consider these goals to cover labourers in non-official sectors.

Concluding the meeting, Pham Van Truong, vice chairman of the VSS Governing body, said the opinions contributed at the seminar are very valuable, helping the board complete the project. The board will submit the project (on improving the board’s performance) to the Government for approval in order to meet the requirements of improving capacities, enhancing professionalism, efficiency and international integration./.