Capacity building for population work team in Nghe An

Team changes

Implementing Resolution No. 15/2020/NQ-HDND stipulating a number of policies on population work in Nghe An province, the team of population collaborators in villages and hamlets has also changed a lot since the province adopted a policy that village and hamlet health workers will concurrently take on the role of population collaborators.

Currently, the entire Nga My commune (Tuong Duong) has 9 villages, of which 4 are Na Ngan, Na Kho, Xop Kho, and Canh village located in the inner, especially difficult areas. However, the population collaborators are mostly new, of which 5 are men, not familiar with the work, so it has a great impact on the propaganda and mobilization work.

People of Tuong Duong district participate in the population communication campaign. Photo: CSCC

Sharing more about this, Ms. Vy Thi Khe, a newly recruited population officer of Nga My commune for 2 years, said: The characteristic of the commune is that the majority of the population is ethnic minorities Thai, Thanh and O Du, so the cultural level is uneven, and awareness of population and family planning issues is still limited. Therefore, in the process of implementing the task, it requires population collaborators to be close, go to each household to be able to propagate and mobilize. This is a challenge for current population workers, because currently population collaborators have to take on many tasks, so it is difficult to devote all their enthusiasm to population work like mothers and sisters before.

Moreover, 2 years of epidemic impact,populationThe base is almost entirely focused on epidemic prevention and control work, so the implementation of professional tasks is affected. To adapt to the new situation, we have increased coordination with departments and branches to mobilize the participation of the entire political system.

In the past 3 years, the team of people working on population in Xieng My commune (Tuong Duong) has also changed a lot, mainly the team of population collaborators at the grassroots level. Speaking more about this, Ms. Luong Thi Son - a population officer of the commune said: I have been working on population for nearly 15 years, so I can see the difficulties of population work today after the change in the team. For example, in the past, the collaborators were mainly women, experienced, so during the working process, they were very close to the sisters, easily grasping their thoughts and aspirations. This is the basis of population propaganda work. Meanwhile, currently, the team of collaborators who are also medical workers in villages and hamlets have the advantage of expertise and agility, but to "go deep, go close, knock on each house, check each subject" is still difficult.

Providing population services to people in Yen Hoa commune, Tuong Duong district. Photo: CSCC

Along with changes in staff, the merger of villages and hamlets also greatly affects activities. For example, in Nghi Truong commune (Nghi Loc), after the merger, the commune from 19 hamlets has only 5 hamlets left. Each hamlet has a large area and a large population, while the population collaborator team has many changes, so it is difficult to grasp population data or implement activities.

Talking about this, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen - a population officer of Nghi Truong commune shared: The area is too large, population collaborators cannot cover all households, including population fluctuations such as the number of children born, the number of people moving away... Therefore, in addition to the collaborator channel, we have to coordinate with the judiciary and police to update data but it is difficult to ensure. Besides, currently, we cannot propagate to each household. Instead, we have to coordinate with women, farmers' association, judiciary and propaganda integrated into activities.

Capacity building

In Vinh city, due to its own characteristics, after Resolution No. 15/2020/NQ-HDND of the province was issued, the population collaborators of Vinh city were reorganized in two directions. In which, in wards, population collaborators will concurrently do medical work in the block. In hamlets in communes, medical staff will concurrently do population work.

During the implementation process, due to the new regulations, the reorganization of the population collaborator team in the blocks and hamlets encountered many difficulties and many hamlets and villages still do not have population collaborators because they do not meet the recruitment standards (must have a medical certificate).

Trainees attend a training class on population communication. Photo: CSCC

To help the grassroots, in recent years, every year the Population Department of Vinh city has advised the local authorities tofundingto organize training courses to improve the professional skills of the population work force. Through the training courses, the grassroots population collaborators also shared their experiences in the process of operation, the difficulties in the wards and communes to find solutions to overcome difficulties in population work in the city.

The Department of Population and Family Planning of Nghe An province is also the leading unit in the country in implementing training to improve the capacity of population officers from the province down to the grassroots level and to each village and hamlet. In August, the training course with the participation of more than 2,000 delegates was introduced by leading population experts on many topics such as: Communication to improve population quality at the grassroots level and the role of the Steering Committee for population and development at the district and commune levels in population and development work.

Training course to improve capacity for population officers. Photo: My Ha

Directly participating in the training courses in Nghe An, Dr. Mai Xuan Phuong - Deputy Head of the Department of Communication - Education, General Department of Population - Family Planning also highly appreciated the efforts and overcoming difficulties of the Nghe An Population sector. At the same time, he said that Nghe An is one of the leading provinces in population communication and propaganda work from the province to the grassroots with many diverse and effective forms, suitable for each object and each different locality. During the implementation process, the population team of the province was also enthusiastic, responsible, not afraid of difficulties and hardships to complete the task.

Regarding the issue of capacity building for the population team, Mr. Nguyen Ba Tan - Head of the Provincial Population and Family Planning Department also shared about the current difficulties in population work at the grassroots level. Therefore, within the capacity of the industry, the industry always creates all conditions to organize training courses and implement programs so that the team of collaborators have many opportunities to participate and to share and learn from experiences.

Trainees exchanged at a training session on improving communication capacity for population officers.

The Head of the Population Sub-Department also affirmed: Investing in building a team of cadres is investing in long-term, sustainable development. Therefore, in the coming time, in parallel with organizing training courses and improving capacity, we will focus on building topics based on the difficulties and practical advantages of the locality in implementing population work./.