Strengthening grassroots cadres to ensure effective operation of two-level local government

Timely arrangement and assignment of staff

Immediately after merging commune-level administrative units and operating a two-level local government, Nghe An focused on arranging, deploying, and perfecting the grassroots staff, ensuring the implementation of political tasks in each locality.

The province has issued 130 decisions to mobilize, receive, and temporarily hand over 9,939 positions to the commune level; of which, there are 4,063 positions in the Party, Fatherland Front, and mass organizations; and 5,876 positions in the government sector. The team of commune-level cadres basically meets the requirements, with the proportion of university degrees accounting for 84.82% and master's degrees 13.6%.

The province has also consolidated leadership and management positions. Up to now, 3,139/4,068 Executive Committee members have been appointed; 1,335/1,356 Standing Committee members have been appointed; 390 permanent members of Party committees, 396 Vice Chairmen of People's Councils and People's Committees of communes have been appointed. This is an important step to ensure stability and smoothness in direction and management at the grassroots level.

In reality, many localities have been flexible and creative in arranging personnel, promoting the effectiveness of the existing team. In Dong Hieu commune, instead of arranging 2 accountants for the Party, Fatherland Front and mass organizations, the locality only arranged 1 general accountant, the remaining staff increased the expertise for the Fatherland Front.

More importantly, the locality focuses on selecting officials not only based on their training level but also on their capacity, prestige, and understanding of the area. Civil servants who worked in the three communes before the merger were assigned to the Public Administration Service Center, familiar with the work and the area, and creating trust and closeness with the people.

Comrade Tran Khanh Son - Party Secretary, Chairman of Dong Hieu Commune People's Committee said: The locality has built a flexible mechanism, established working groups to "work together", "be self-reliant", and rely mainly on their own strength to focus on resolving urgent and difficult matters. This approach promotes the spirit of initiative and solidarity among cadres and civil servants; each person, in addition to their main expertise, also undertakes a number of specific tasks in certain periods of time. Thanks to that, it has helped the commune successfully organize the 1st Party Congress, while ensuring the quick resolution of work to serve the people, including arising tasks such as overcoming the effects of storms No. 5 and No. 6 and the outbreak of African swine fever in the area.

Practice in Dong Hieu commune affirms: Streamlining the apparatus will be effective when combined with the sense of responsibility, practical capacity and solidarity of the collective of cadres, civil servants and non-professional workers.

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To ensure the good implementation of political tasks, localities have built flexible mechanisms and established working groups with the mindset of "working together", "self-reliance", relying mainly on their own strength to focus on thoroughly resolving urgent and difficult matters.

Comrade Tran Khanh Son - Party Secretary, Chairman of Dong Hieu Commune People's Committee

In Van Kieu commune, in the context of a lack of specialized staff, the locality arranged for one person to take on many tasks, and at the same time, transferred them when they were found to be unsuitable.

Comrade Tran Van Sao - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the Commune People's Committee affirmed: "If the assignment is not suitable, it must be adjusted immediately, combined with attention to ideological work so that cadres can confidently accept the job. We also have direct dialogue with the people about the difficulties in granting Land Use Right Certificates, thereby creating high consensus, despite the lack of cadres but not causing work congestion. This experience affirms that streamlining the apparatus will be effective when accompanied by flexibility, responsibility and close attachment between cadres and people".

"Human resource gap"

Despite being proactive and positive, the reality of the staff and civil servants at the grassroots level is facing some shortcomings. Comparing the total of 8,635 existing positions (as of September 15) with the Central level of 7,988 positions, the whole province has a surplus of 647 positions.

However, the situation of local surplus and shortage is happening in many localities; where there is a surplus of staff compared to the planned number, but there is a shortage of some important positions or specialized expertise. Notably, 56/130 units are both lacking staff and some important and specialized positions, mainly concentrated in mountainous and disadvantaged communes.

In Nga My commune (merged from the two old communes of Xieng My and Nga My), there are currently only 44 cadres and civil servants, lacking 17 positions, including 11 people in the government sector and 6 people in the Party and Fatherland Front sectors. Many key positions are still vacant such as: Head of Economic Department; Deputy Head of Cultural Department; Deputy Director of the Public Administration Service Center...

Comrade Lo Thong Nhat - Party Secretary, Chairman of the Commune People's Council frankly said: "We have mobilized and arranged 9 non-professional cadres into departments and offices, but this force only provides support and cannot yet take on the responsibilities of civil servants, affecting the quality of advice and organization of task implementation."

In Bac Ly commune - a non-merged unit, the whole commune currently has 28/43 positions, still lacking 15 positions, including vacant positions, including: Deputy Chief of Party Committee Office, Chairman of Farmers' Association, Secretary of Youth Union...

Comrade Lu Quang Hung - Party Secretary, Chairman of the Commune People's Council said: "The shortage of personnel forces us to hold concurrent positions, assign responsibilities, and put pressure on a number of individuals. That significantly affects the progress and effectiveness of implementing political tasks."

Not only is there a lack of key staff, but many places also have shortcomings in the structure of qualifications and professional skills. Currently, many localities are lacking human resources in accounting, information technology, digital transformation, public administration in the fields of land, justice, etc.

In many communes, the situation of local surplus and shortage is happening. Some communes have surplus numbers, but lack professional staff and some key positions. For example, Hoa Quan commune, although it has 7 surplus positions compared to the quota, is currently lacking 6 important positions, including: Deputy Standing Secretary of the Party Committee; Vice Chairman of the People's Council; Head of the Cultural Department; Deputy Chief of the Office of the People's Council - People's Committee; Chairman of the Veterans Association; Secretary of the Commune Youth Union.

Need a synchronous, long-term solution

To resolve the problems arising from cadres at the grassroots level, the province has recently delegated the right to mobilize and second the grassroots level, and has also accepted qualified civil servants and non-professional workers to supplement the grassroots level. The province has also made a list of at least 5% of cadres from departments and branches to reinforce disadvantaged communes.

That is a temporary solution, but in the long term, building a grassroots cadre team requires a systematic strategy. The proposal from the grassroots is that the province needs to continue to review, supplement and improve personnel at the commune level, especially paying attention to key positions and key areas. At the same time, focus on training and fostering to form a "multi-talented" cadre team, capable of taking on many areas in a streamlined apparatus.

A fundamental solution is to decentralize more strongly to the grassroots in cadre management, in recruitment, use and mobilization of cadres, linking the responsibility of grassroots Party committees and authorities with practical performance results, according to the motto: "Local decision, local action, local responsibility". At the same time, discover and nurture young cadres and part-time workers with qualifications and enthusiasm to supplement them in a timely manner.

The improvement of the grassroots cadre team is an urgent requirement, and also a long-term strategic task, associated with the sustainable development of the province. When each grassroots cadre is truly competent, prestigious, responsible and attached to the people, the two-level local government will truly operate smoothly and effectively, contributing to the rapid progress of localities in particular and Nghe An in general, becoming a new growth pole of the whole country.