Following the merger, Tan An improved the quality of its village officials.

Motivation from young staff

In his office, Nguyen Duc Binh, who was recently elected as the head of Yen Son hamlet after the merger by the Party committee, the government, and the villagers, is intently working on his laptop to create a Zalo group for the hamlet.

This seemingly simple task reflects a new management mindset at the grassroots level, where digital technology is applied to connect the government with the people, helping to transmit information more quickly, promptly, and transparently.

Yen Son hamlet was established by merging Thanh Yen and Nam Bac Son hamlets, and currently has 401 households with 1,793 residents. According to Mr. Binh, as the hamlet grows, traditional methods of information dissemination will no longer be suitable. Therefore, the Zalo group will become a "bridge" between the government and the people, helping to quickly update all policies, announcements, and feedback.

Born in 1988, a graduate of the University of Construction and the Vietnam Academy of Agriculture, he previously held a job earning tens of millions of dong per month. However, in 2023, he decided to return to his hometown to start his own business raising pigs and growing fruit trees. With his youthful energy, knowledge, dynamism, and sense of responsibility, he has earned high expectations from the local people.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Binh shared: "The people hope that after the merger, they will receive more investment in a more spacious cultural center, that the internal village roads will continue to be concreted, and that the irrigation system will be reinforced to serve production. With most people now using smartphones, the application of digital technology will help make work at the grassroots level more efficient."

One of the young Party branch secretaries recently elected by the Party committee after the merger is Ms. Nguyen Thi Dung (born in 1989), Secretary of the Nam Tien hamlet Party branch. Not only is she one of the youngest officials, but Ms. Dung also holds a university degree in Finance and has experience working at the grassroots level. Currently, she is the Vice Chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee and concurrently the Chairwoman of the Women's Union of the commune. She stated that she will continuously learn, stay close to the people, listen to their opinions, and promote unity to effectively lead the Party branch in implementing the hamlet's development tasks.

"Currently, I am working on several tasks related to digital transformation within the Party branch. After the merger of the residential areas, we are establishing groups on social media platforms to facilitate timely information exchange, task implementation, and to understand the thoughts and aspirations of the people more quickly, conveniently, and effectively," shared Ms. Nguyen Thi Dung.

An atmosphere of renewal is also spreading in Thong Nhat hamlet, a unit formed from the merger of three villages: Nghia Hoa, Hong Phuc, and Keo.

After the merger, Thong Nhat became the most populous hamlet in Tan An commune with 835 households and nearly 4,000 inhabitants. The larger scale means more favorable conditions for planning, investment, and organizing community activities.

The people of Tan An expect that the hamlet merger will not only bring about a synchronized infrastructure system but also improve the quality of the grassroots officials. With a force of young, qualified, dynamic, and tech-savvy officials, the people will be able to access scientific and technological advancements and digital transformation in production and daily life more quickly. At the same time, this will also be the core force in initiating cultural, artistic, and sports movements, preserving and promoting traditional cultural values, and contributing to building an increasingly united and civilized community.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa, Secretary of the Thong Nhat hamlet Party branch, before the merger, some residents were still concerned about the name, boundaries, and organizational structure of the new hamlet. However, thanks to the thorough communication and persuasion efforts of the Party committee and the government, the people have shown high levels of consensus.

According to information from the Tan An Commune Party Committee, as of July 1, 2026, all organizations within the village-level political system and all official positions have been newly established and consolidated. The arrangement and merger of villages and hamlets were implemented decisively and systematically by the locality, closely following the directives of higher levels and receiving high consensus from officials, Party members, and the people. After the reorganization, the number of villages and hamlets decreased from 21 to 8, equivalent to a reduction of over 62%, making Tan An one of the localities with the highest rate of streamlining in Nghe An province.

One of the notable results after the merger is the significant improvement in the quality of village and hamlet officials.

According to a review by Tan An commune, over 50% of village and hamlet officials are aged 35-50, while those under 35 account for over 15%. Regarding professional qualifications, 100% of Party branch secretaries hold university degrees, and 87.5% have achieved intermediate-level political theory training; 2 out of 8 hamlet leaders have university degrees, and 1 has a college degree; 3 heads of the Fatherland Front Committee hold university degrees. This is an important foundation for the locality to accelerate digital transformation, administrative reform, and improve the quality of service to the people, in the context of the two-level local government gradually stabilizing.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Hong, Head of the Party Building Committee of Tan An commune, believes that rejuvenating and upgrading the qualifications of village officials is an urgent requirement as the merged villages have larger scales, and the workload and management demands are increasing. Therefore, in personnel preparation, the commune Party Committee prioritizes selecting young officials with university degrees, practical skills, prestige among the people, and who meet the requirements of digital transformation, contributing to improving the effectiveness of the political system at the grassroots level.

Laying the foundation for long-term development.

According to Mr. Phan Van Giap, Secretary of the Party Committee of Tan An commune, after the two levels of local government officially came into operation, the commune's apparatus quickly stabilized, operated smoothly, and gradually became more effective.

Key highlights include Tan An's focus on developing a planning scheme for the 2025-2030 period, with a vision to 2050; continued investment in and improvement of transportation infrastructure; and consistently achieving and exceeding annual budget targets. In agricultural development, Tan An is a pioneer in establishing a Queen pineapple cultivation model covering nearly 40 hectares, aiming to expand to 100 hectares by 2026. Furthermore, the program to eliminate temporary and dilapidated housing for poor households has been effectively implemented; administrative reform has seen many positive changes, consistently ranking among the top in the province for several quarters. Therefore, streamlining villages and hamlets, and rejuvenating the grassroots cadre, create favorable conditions for the commune's more sustainable development in the new phase.

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Following the hamlet merger, the commune established 8 working groups to directly monitor the situation at the grassroots level, providing guidance and resolving difficulties for the hamlets. Simultaneously, the commune compiled a hamlet work handbook, providing knowledge, forms, and situational handling skills for grassroots officials; and organized training in office computer skills and digital transformation skills for 80 officials from the 8 hamlets, contributing to improved management and operational capacity at the grassroots level.

Mr. Phan Van Giap - Secretary of the Party Committee of Tan An Commune

According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung, Director of the Department of Internal Affairs, the rearrangement and merger of villages and hamlets in Nghe An province is being implemented synchronously by localities according to the planned schedule. Tan An commune, in particular, completed its merger on July 1st, reducing the number of villages and hamlets by 62%, placing it among the localities with the highest level of streamlining in the province. The newly restructured village and hamlet officials are younger and have a high percentage of university graduates, creating a favorable foundation for promoting digital transformation, improving the quality of local government operations, and better serving the people.

Looking at the situation in Tan An, it is clear that merging villages and hamlets is not simply a reorganization of administrative units, but is opening up a new approach to governance at the grassroots level. The administrative apparatus is more streamlined, officials are more carefully selected, investment resources are more concentrated, and people are served more effectively.