Two-level local government in Nghe An: A perspective from the grassroots to people's trust

The new Tam Hop commune was merged on the basis of 4 administrative units: Nghia Xuan, Tam Hop, Dong Hop, Yen Hop (Quy Hop district). With geographical space and development conditions expanded in the direction of diversification in agriculture, medicinal plants, livestock. Especially, the "room" for developing small-scale industrial zones, trade, services, health, education... is very large, when the commune has more than 20 km of National Highway 48A passing through.

This is also an area with a large population, with a total of nearly 43,000 people, belonging to 3 ethnic groups: Kinh, Thai and Tho, with a diverse and unique culture, which is an important resource for the locality to innovate thinking and accelerate development in the coming period.

However, when the four apparatuses are merged into one, the pressure on the new apparatus is enormous: from organizational work, staff arrangement, handling old problems, to establishing a new political system of solidarity and unity, not allowing the "old commune - new commune" ideology to affect the solidarity of the whole people. In particular, the psychology of a part of the people is still apprehensive and worried, requiring those working in the new apparatus to be the pioneers in resolving that with concrete actions, with impartiality, transparency, and closeness to the people.

The difficulties and challenges facing the new communal Party Committee and government are not only to effectively lead, direct, operate and manage a large area, but also to maintain and promote solidarity and unity among cadres and people, bringing the locality forward along with the general development of the province and the country in the new era.

I believe and expect that the two-level government model will create a truly strong commune level - strong in terms of apparatus, strong in terms of staff capacity, strong in approaching and handling development issues. Because currently, the arrangement of cadres is carefully considered and selected by the province, based on capacity, prestige, experience and sense of responsibility, including current provincial, district and commune cadres to arrange for key positions in the new commune. The clear decentralization of authority to the commune in land management, infrastructure planning, environment, etc. is something that we highly appreciate, because for a long time, many jobs are close to the people but the commune only has the role of making recommendations and proposals.

In order for the new apparatus to operate effectively, efficiently and effectively, in addition to the responsibility of the political system to make efforts to innovate and create to ensure it is suitable for the new commune scale, new and higher task requirements, it is also necessary to have the attention and companionship of the province through a budget support policy in the first 3-5 years of operation, especially resources for building facilities and synchronous administrative centers. At the same time, the province also needs to have training programs for cadres associated with the characteristics of each locality and region to have contents that meet practical needs, from land management, forest management, budget management, knowledge of planning development strategies, to skills in mass mobilization in ethnic minority areas, implementing digital government, etc.

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The implementation of the 2-level local government model is a major policy that creates momentum for the country to enter a new era. However, when implementing the 2-level local government model initially, there will be certain difficulties, especially in difficult areas where the system of equipment and machinery serving the operation cannot meet the new operating apparatus.

In many communes, the Party Committee and People's Committee do not have the conditions to be located in the same area, so they have to separate each old commune, which causes obstacles and is not suitable for the working process. In particular, having too much authority assigned to the commune level while the capacity of the staff is limited can easily cause difficulties in handling work.

When implementing the 2-level local government model, the team of cadres and civil servants will be the key factor determining the success of this new model, because when implementing a 2-level local government, it requires a sharp increase in responsibility, a huge amount of work, and very high task requirements.

I think that no matter what position or position, every cadre, civil servant, or public employee must strive and work hard to improve their knowledge and be respected. But to ensure their job position, every cadre, civil servant, or public employee must make much more effort.

I believe that with the initiative of localities, together with the determination and efforts of the staff, civil servants and public employees, the "revolution" of streamlining the apparatus will be successful, thereby serving the people better and better. From there, a solid foundation will be laid for a modern, effective and people-friendly administrative apparatus that is truly for the people.

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The implementation of the 2-level local government model is a major reform, posing an urgent need to restructure and improve the quality of the staff and civil servants. For me, from a cultural officer of Nghi Thach commune, Nghi Loc, after implementing the 2-level local government model according to the project, I became a specialist in the cultural department of Dong Loc commune - a commune formed on the basis of arranging the entire natural area and population size of Khanh Hop, Nghi Thach and Thinh Truong communes. Notably, Dong Loc is the commune chosen by Nghe An province as a pilot operation site for the 2-level local government model.

Working in a new commune with a large area, large population, large workload, and greater work pressure. That requires each specialist like us to constantly strive to improve our theoretical and professional qualifications. First of all, promptly grasp legal documents on the organization of 2-level local government; at the same time, self-study to equip ourselves with more knowledge and expertise in the field assigned to us by the Party Committee, promote the application of information technology to meet the requirements of digital transformation when implementing the 2-level local government model.

I, like many other cadres, party members, civil servants and public employees, are very confident and trust the two-tier model. I myself acknowledge that taking on new tasks is difficult, but it requires great effort to learn, accumulate experience and, together with local Party committees and authorities, to perform well the assigned tasks.

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Today, I directly attended the online conference organized by the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee on the pilot operation of the 2-level local government model. This is not only an adjustment of the apparatus but also opens up a step of innovation in leadership and management methods at the grassroots level, helping to improve the operational efficiency of the apparatus organization.

I was impressed with the methodical organization, practical content, and closeness to the reality of the grassroots. The full simulation of the operating process of the Party Committee, People's Council, and People's Committee of the commune helps localities visualize easily, thereby being more proactive in implementation.

As the Party Cell Secretary with early access to information, I am fully aware of my responsibility to disseminate the conference content to cadres and party members; at the same time, I coordinate with the hamlet executive committee and socio-political organizations to widely propagate to create consensus among the people when implementing the new model; this is considered an important "key" to ensure the success of the model. At the same time, I will strengthen coordination between the village and commune political system to perform tasks well and serve the people more and more effectively.

I expect the two-tier local government model to be effective thanks to a streamlined apparatus, clear decentralization and a high sense of responsibility among grassroots officials. However, with a large commune scale and a large population, I wonder whether people will have difficulty accessing policies, public services and administrative procedures. Although digital transformation will be promoted, in reality many people still have limited digital skills. Therefore, it is necessary to promote "digital literacy" - opening training classes with specific instructors in hamlets and villages. I hope the province will have an easy-to-understand and easy-to-remember form of propaganda and continue to invest in and improve the quality of the team of non-professional activists in hamlets - the important "bridges" between the Party and the people.

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The implementation of the 2-level local government model will reduce the middle class and streamline the apparatus, which is expected to be a strong push to pave the way for a new development phase of the country. The 2-level local government model is closer to the people and will improve service to the people and businesses. Therefore, I strongly support the policy of implementing 2-level local government.

The implementation of a two-tier local government may cause some initial inconveniences due to changes in habits and concerns of people and businesses when administrative procedures change, and when the ward becomes larger, whether the settlement of administrative procedures for people and businesses will be as quick as before. However, this problem has been resolved when the Prime Minister directed localities to ensure that administrative procedures are smooth and uninterrupted.

People and businesses want the two-level local government apparatus to be truly close to the people and serve them better. To do so, superiors need to select competent and ethical people to meet new job requirements and not make things difficult for the people.

At the same time, people want cumbersome administrative procedures to continue to be reviewed and abolished, both to facilitate people, reduce pressure on officials, and increase transparency in handling records and documents. I believe that streamlining the apparatus will help decisions be implemented promptly, closer to reality and reach people faster.