Merging but still maintaining a stable population "working" team
(Baonghean) - The staff working on population work in our province has promoted efficiency and contributed positively to the implementation of population/family planning goals and targets. Therefore, stabilizing the organization is also a way for them to feel secure and complete their assigned work well.
Difficult from the base
Dong Van Commune is considered one of the communes that has done well in population work in Que Phong District. In 2018, the third child birth rate of the whole commune was only 2.3% and 9/10 villages and hamlets had no one giving birth to a third child.
To achieve this result, Ms. Nguyen Thi Sen - a population officer of this commune said that it was thanks in large part to the dedication of the population collaborators. Those who, regardless of the sun or rain, "went to every alley, knocked on every door, checked every subject", worked closely with the grassroots and the local people...
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| Health check-up for the elderly in Hung Dong commune - Vinh city. Photo: My Ha |
Currently, the population collaborators in Dong Van commune are quite even and have a lot of experience and responsibility. However, to maintain this result in the long term, there are still many difficulties because it is not easy to "retain" collaborators. Explaining this, Ms. Sen said that most of the collaborators are young and are the main pillars of their families. Therefore, in addition to the work of the village, they also have to worry about the economy.
Currently, the subsidy for collaborators is too little, only 139,000 VND/person/month... Because the salary is too low, in the past few years, many people have quit their jobs. Most recently, Ms. Vi Thi Hang (Pang village) quit her job for many years to apply to work as a worker at a company near her home...",
Proposing young people to be population collaborators is even more difficult given the specifics of Con Cuong town. In the past 4 years, the town has had to replace 2 new collaborators for the same reason. The remaining people are all over 40, and most of them are retired officials who work part-time.
Ms. Le Thi Long - a population officer of Con Cuong town said: "We also hope that in the next few years, when the elderly collaborators reach retirement age, we will train a young successor team to maintain activities and movements in the blocks and hamlets."
The current allowance for collaborators is very low, so only those who are truly dedicated can stick with the job for a long time.
Speaking more about the current difficulties, Ms. Lo Thi Tam - Director of the Population and Family Planning Center of Que Phong district said that the current allowances for collaborators are very low, so only those who are truly dedicated can stick with the job for a long time. Otherwise, we encourage communes to use collaborators in a part-time form, such as being both a population collaborator and vice president of the women's union. Only then will the source of allowances improve and they can work with peace of mind... At this time, in the whole Que Phong district, the proportion of part-time collaborators accounts for nearly 60%. But among them, there are still frequent disturbances because in addition to low allowances, many people are also worried that after the merger, the grassroots collaborator team will find it difficult to operate.
The population work apparatus has not been disrupted.
Over the past years, with the attention of the province, the apparatus for population work from the grassroots to the province has been consolidated into a tight, streamlined, specialized system, working effectively and efficiently. In particular, in the villages, there are more than 6,700 collaborators and most of them hold other positions such as village health workers, women's groups, etc.
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| Introducing contraceptives to people in Quy Hop district. Photo: My Ha |
At the commune level, population officers were recruited from population specialists to become commune-level population officials since 2013. By 2018, 462/480 communes and wards had officials, and most of them held the position of Deputy Head of the Commune Population Steering Committee.
Thanks to the stability of the apparatus, the population work of the province in recent years has had positive changes and its activities have become more and more systematic and in-depth. Many people have also known how to promote the advantage of being local people, understanding the area, culture, and regional activities to easily approach the target audience and find appropriate propaganda solutions, creating high efficiency in the work. With this important role, recently, after the policy of merging population centers, not only the industry but also the localities have been very worried.
Population officers and population collaborators are the core force, playing an important role in propagating and mobilizing people to implement the Party's policies and the State's laws and policies on population and actively contributing to the implementation of population/family planning goals and targets.
In response to concerns and worries about the merger policy, the leader of this Department said: The merger is a general policy of the industry to streamline the apparatus and improve work efficiency. However, with the Population sector, due to its own characteristics, it is necessary to consider and proceed carefully, following the right roadmap, close to the reality of the locality, according to the characteristics of each region and area, and especially should separate the medical examination and treatment service system and the preventive health system.
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| Population collaborators advise people on population policy. Photo: My Ha |
With these difficulties, while waiting for instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Health, the Population Department has also advised the Department of Health to advise the Provincial People's Committee to temporarily suspend the implementation of the Project to merge the Population and Family Planning Center and the District Health Center. Previously, in the process of developing the project, many difficulties were encountered due to the lack of guidance on the name, functions, tasks, organizational structure, and staffing.
In addition, to reassure the minds of cadres, civil servants and public employees working in population work, the Department of Population and Family Planning also held a provincial workshop on the organization of the population work apparatus from village, commune, ward, district to provincial levels with the participation of the Department of Health and the Department of Home Affairs to listen to opinions, aspirations and proposals of the population work apparatus. In the immediate future, the sector will advise on the employment project, reduce the payroll according to the plan assigned by the province, by 2021, reduce 10% compared to 2016.
With these efforts, population activities in the first months of 2019 have restarted quite vigorously. These are also positive signals for the coming time, the population work of the province will have more changes, gradually completing the set tasks and goals.
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