Party Building

Final Lesson: A Powerful Shift from Awareness to Action

Reporter team • DNUM_CDZAIZCACE 10:51

With the motto "Party members go first, the country follows", the cadres and party members of the mountainous district of Tuong Duong have promoted the pioneering and exemplary spirit in economic development, hunger eradication, and poverty reduction... Thereby, many typical economic development models led by party members have emerged.

Reporter team• August 22, 2024

Since the Project No. 07-DA/HU on "eliminating conservative, waiting, and dependent thinking", the Party Executive Committee of Tuong Duong district has directed the entire political system to take strong action, creating movements in the thinking, actions, ways of thinking, and ways of working of cadres, party members, and the masses.

However, in the preliminary report on the implementation of the Resolution of the Party Congresses at all levels for the 2020-2025 term, the Party Committee of Tuong Duong district frankly acknowledged: Economic development is not sustainable, not commensurate with the potential and advantages of the district, economic restructuring is still slow; Agricultural production is still unsustainable; Progress in implementing project programs is still slow, disbursement rate is low; Poverty reduction results are not sustainable, the rate of poor and near-poor households in the area is still high every year...

In addition to objective causes, the underlying cause still comes from the great inertia in the thinking and mindset of cadres and party members, leading to actions that are not really drastic and synchronous; the combined strength of the entire political system has not been promoted in the work of leading and directing the implementation of socio-economic development targets.

There is still a large number of people who are not diligent, do not have the will and aspiration to rise up, and still rely heavily on the mechanisms and policies of the Party and State. The spirit, service attitude, and sense of responsibility of some cadres, civil servants, and public employees are still limited; some cadres and party members violate discipline and public ethics.

This was also clearly stated by the Tuong Duong District Party Committee in Directive No. 13-CT/HU dated June 15, 2023: "...there are still a number of cadres, party members, civil servants, and public employees who lack a sense of responsibility, low dedication, are afraid of difficulties, afraid of hardship, afraid of mistakes, afraid of collisions, have a poor sense of discipline and administrative discipline, low work efficiency, and even violations that must be disciplined and criminally prosecuted according to the provisions of law, affecting the overall development of the district".

Based on that reality, the Standing Committee of Tuong Duong District Party Committee issued Directive 13 on improving the sense of responsibility and public ethics of cadres, party members, civil servants and public employees from the district to the grassroots level. In particular, it requires this team to promote the spirit of "self-reflection, self-correction", eliminate conservative thinking, waiting, and dependence; innovate working methods, styles and manners; be exemplary in the "patriotic emulation" movement; have a sense of respect for the people; improve the quality of "6 dares" (dare to think; dare to speak; dare to do; dare to take responsibility; dare to innovate and be creative; dare to face difficulties, challenges and be resolute in action for the common good) to meet the requirements of tasks in the new situation.

Along with solutions in personnel work, it is necessary to address the reality that a part of the people have not yet made efforts to escape poverty, are hesitant when approaching new things, are afraid of change, and are afraid of risks, leading to ineffective investment in livelihood development models.

Recently, in many localities in Tuong Duong district, the Party Committee and government have implemented many solutions to change people's awareness and push back the mentality of waiting and relying on others.

In Yen Thang commune - a particularly difficult mountainous area of ​​Tuong Duong district - there are 805 households, with 3,444 people divided into 8 villages along Chon and Hoi Nguyen streams, which are often isolated during the rainy season due to flash floods, landslides, causing traffic jams. People's lives face many difficulties, the poverty rate is 39.7%.

According to Mr. Luong Van Vy - Secretary of the Party Committee of Yen Thang commune, people are used to self-sufficient production; not only relying on the regime and policies of the Party and State but also relying on nature, heaven and earth...; so to change the way of thinking and working of the people, the entire political system must persevere in propaganda work, clear the mind and combine hand-holding and guidance. Specifically, in the past, people of Yen Thang commune did not have the concept of doing tourism.

When the Party Committee and the communal government decided to open and exploit the potential of Hoi Nguyen tourist site - a small oasis located in the middle of Khe Bo hydroelectric lake in Pung village, about 10km from National Highway 7A; the local people became the "subject" of tourism by setting up a number of huts and sheds to serve tourists to admire the scenery of rivers, mountains and forests and enjoy the rustic dishes of the Thai people such as cool fish, hill chicken, bamboo rice, sticky rice... creating jobs and long-term development direction.

In Luu Kien commune, in order to create a breakthrough in thinking, change the way of doing business, and promote the role of the people in building new rural areas, the Party Committee and the commune government have deployed and directed the construction of models to create a vibrant competitive atmosphere in the villages. A typical example is the model "Improving the quality of mass mobilization, eliminating conservative thinking, waiting, relying on others, building a drug-free village in the period of 2023-2025" in Xoong Con village.

Through "skillful mass mobilization", the village has successfully built a model to protect aquatic resources (fresh fish), periodically exploiting them collectively to raise funds to install cameras and solar panels on the main road.

In addition, Xoong Con village mobilized people to build 850m of internal roads, renovate 1,500 branch roads along Provincial Road 543D; mobilized people to donate 1,000m²land, trees, and labor contributed to create the shape and form of Vang Phot eco-tourism site.

Mr. La Dinh Thi - Secretary of the Party Cell of Xoong Con village said: "The happiest thing is that the people have "opened their eyes and satisfied their stomachs" and have really changed their thinking, way of thinking, and way of doing. For example, in the past, the villagers often had questions about the State's support policies and guidelines, but now they have proactively built economic development models to escape poverty.

In Xa Luong commune, instead of the old mindset of "waiting for support from superiors", some villages and hamlets have united to promote internal strength to build public works to serve life.

Typically, people in Khe Ngau, Xieng Huong, and Thach Duong villages contributed money, materials, and labor to build a self-flowing water project for daily use; people in Cua Rao 2, Lo, and Ang villages contributed money and labor to build roads to the production area.

Some villages and hamlets have made a strong shift in eliminating the mindset of waiting and relying on others, and striving to develop the economy. A typical example is Na Be village, which from a poor Khmu ethnic group village has successfully risen to build a new rural village.

According to Ms. Lo Thi Tra Mi - Chairman of Xa Luong Commune People's Committee, to achieve this "miracle", the commune officials have increased "camping to propagate and mobilize people to develop garden and forest economy, expand livestock farming. Due to the potential of hilly land, Na Be village was directed by the commune to grow high-yield cassava, providing raw materials for factories. However, at first, people did not want to participate because they thought that buffaloes and cows would die if they ate cassava leaves.

To change people's awareness, 27 party members in the Na Be Party cell were assigned to each family in difficult circumstances, single-parent households to propagate and combine support and assistance. Village chief Lu Van Quang not only pioneered in planting more than one hectare of cassava but also persuaded, helped, and mobilized 8 households to participate. As a result, after one crop, some families earned nearly 15 million VND.

With the above method, many garden and forest economic models have been successfully built in Na Be village. Only counting high-yield cassava cultivation, there are dozens of households participating, many households have income from 15 million to 20 million VND/crop. From the success of cassava cultivation, Xa Luong commune continues to direct cadres and party members in the village to mobilize households to grow green vegetables, develop herds of buffaloes and cows, etc.

“Regarding the orientation of economic development, Xa Luong commune will direct each village and hamlet to deploy raising and planting seedlings suitable for each region, not imposing one place on another.

Thanks to that, up to now, a number of specialized villages have been formed in the commune, such as: Thanh Duong village grows Tuong Duong mangoes and pineapples; Khe Ngau village raises fish; Xieng Huong village raises pigs for meat... With motivation, people compete to do business, reducing the mentality of waiting and relying on others" - Ms. Lo Thi Tra Mi said.

As mentioned, the Resolution of the 27th Tuong Duong District Party Congress, term 2020-2025 emphasized "continuing to effectively implement the work of combating the mentality of waiting and relying on others among cadres, party members and people of all walks of life".

This is identified as one of three development breakthroughs to successfully achieve the goal of "taking Tuong Duong out of poverty and developing sustainably".

Mr. Lu Van May - Standing Deputy Secretary of Tuong Duong District Party Committee shared: During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh always emphasized the necessity and role of setting an example for each cadre and party member. He emphasized: “Frontline staffc/The village follows/How difficult is it?/Can do it all”.

Imbued with Uncle Ho's teachings, the Party Committee of Tuong Duong district requires cadres and party members to be exemplary, take the lead in carrying out tasks for the people to follow with the motto "above first, below last", "inside first, outside last", creating a vibrant and widespread emulation movement in all grassroots party organizations, agencies, units, departments, unions, in each village, hamlet, in each family... creating an endogenous source of strength to overcome all difficulties, building a proactive, flexible and adaptive social community to the development process.

The Party Committee of Tuong Duong district also requires localities to recognize and accurately address the shortcomings and limitations of the collective and each individual to resolutely "treat", "handle", overcome, and move towards eliminating the disease of waiting and relying on others.

“We require local Party committees and authorities to be proactive, promote the spirit of daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility. Only difficulties and problems beyond their authority can be recommended to the district for resolution,” Mr. Lu Van May emphasized.

Tuong Duong is a mountainous district with a natural area of ​​28,778.18 hectares (accounting for 17% of the province's total area), a population of more than 79,930 people, including 6 ethnic groups: Thai, Kho Mu, Mong, O Du, Tay Poong, Kinh, living in 17 communes, towns and 146 villages, hamlets, and blocks.

The poverty rate in the area is still high (6,232 households, accounting for 34.03%; 3,187 near-poor households, accounting for 17.40%). Determining that escaping poverty is not a matter of one day or one afternoon but a journey. On that journey, the people must be the subject; people's awareness plays a decisive role.

Therefore, to effectively implement Project 07, along with propaganda work, the Party Committee of Tuong Duong district directed the political system to deploy and replicate models promoting the will of self-reliance and self-improvement, harmoniously combining the legitimate and legal interests of the people with the interests of the State in the work of poverty reduction and new rural construction.

Typically, the model "Protecting aquatic resources, fresh fish" has been replicated in 15/17 communes and towns; 56 village and hamlet mass mobilization groups on a total length of 73 km. The model "1,000 VND ATM" with 252 party cells of blocks, hamlets, villages and schools, trade unions, and mass organizations participating, the funds from this fund are used to support poor households to buy seedlings, seeds, etc.

The model "Godmother connects love" attracted 43 agencies, organizations, units and individuals to sponsor and help 187 orphans in 17 communes and towns, becoming one of the localities with the largest number of sponsored children in Nghe An province.

In particular, the model of assigning party members to be in charge of households, after being launched, had 123/146 grassroots party organizations and 398 party members supporting 435 households in especially difficult circumstances to build houses, buy trees and seedlings, help 86 orphans, poor students overcome difficulties to study well...

Although there are still difficulties and concerns, the determination to change the thinking and actions of cadres and party members and the thinking and working habits of all classes of people is the basis and motivation for the Party Committee, government and ethnic people of the remote district of Tuong Duong to gradually complete the set targets and tasks, strongly moving towards the goal of bringing Tuong Duong out of poverty.