Pre-Appraisal of the Preparation of GSO Modernization under “ICT Development in Vietnam”

The objective of the project called Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Development in Vietnam was to accelerate the use of ICT in order to foster private sector development, improve the competitiveness of small-medium enterprises, improve the transparency and efficiency of public administration, and to increase accessibility to information to all.  The project was comprised of five subprojects in the following three areas: (a) leadership in ICT and modernization of the Ministry of Post and Telematics (MPT); (b) modernization of the General Statistical Office (GSO), (c) and E-applications/e-government, for the municipalities of Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City.

The modernization of the GSO subproject supported the implementation of the strategic plan to improve the quality, transparency and timeliness of the social-economic and poverty related data and information to fully meet the demands of government agencies, research institutions, and other data users as the basis for policy planning and decision making; to modernize the system to reach an advanced level in the region; and to improve data flow, statistical analysis and dissemination of useful data and information.  The activity components included: (1) ICT Infrastructure Upgrade at GSO; (1) Data Flow and Statistical Analysis Enhancement through ICT; and (3) GSO Portal and Intranet Creation.  These activities were to adhere to the international standards.

IC Net assisted the World Bank project team in working with GSO, the project implementing agency of the sub-component, to review, assess and comment on assessments, terms of reference, and implementation plans.