[Audio] Ninh Giang builds digital government for the people

Supporting people in digital transformation, mobilizing socialized capital to supplement computers, officials working full-time, not overtime... All of these have helped Ninh Giang escape the bottom position in the rankings of administrative reform.

The component index on e-government construction in 2022 increased by 3 places from 9th to 6th among 12 localities of the province, thereby helping Ninh Giang escape the bottom position in the administrative reform index rankings.

From the people

After just a few minutes of using her home computer connected to the internet, Ms. Le Thi Nga (in Tieu Tuong village, Hong Du commune, Ninh Giang) completed the steps to electronically authenticate some documents for her family members. This is what we witnessed on the morning of March 20. Performing online public services proficiently is something that just a few months ago, Ms. Nga herself did not even think about.

Ms. Nga was one of the first people to be guided by members of the Village Community Digital Technology Team to register an account and perform the steps to successfully transact on the National Public Service Portal. “It was early October 2022. The first few days were very slow, and I even forgot the steps, but after being guided many times, I can now do it myself for myself and my family members. Performing administrative procedures online is really convenient. Just sitting at home, I can do many things that I used to have to go back and forth several times to complete,” Ms. Nga shared.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Que (in Dau Tri village, Hong Du commune) was also one of the first people to be instructed on how to perform administrative procedures online in early October 2022. Unlike Ms. Nga, in her role as Party Cell Secretary and Village Head, Ms. Que currently not only performs public services for herself but also supports and guides people in the village to perform them themselves. “This person holds the hand and guides the other person through specific tasks such as document authentication, birth registration, and death registration. Just like that, people in the village gradually master the basic steps to use online public services. Among the 7 villages in the commune, our village is 1 of 4 villages that exceed the target for public service accounts,” Ms. Que said.

These are 2 of 3,000 people supported by the community digital technology teams of Hong Du commune, guiding them to register accounts and transact on the National Public Service Portal. Among the 20 communes and towns of Ninh Giang, Hong Du is also the commune with the highest rate of online public service account registration at 26.2%.

According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Trang, Party Secretary and Chairman of the People's Committee of Hong Du Commune, the limitation in accessing technology is not the biggest difficulty, but the need to change people's mindset when using public services on the internet. "In addition to the 7 technology groups of 7 villages, we have established the 8th community digital technology group with members who are representatives of the People's Committee of the commune, thereby optimizing the work of supporting people. Only when people see the benefits for themselves will the construction of digital government be effective," said Mr. Trang.

With the support and guidance of members of community digital technology groups, many Ninh Giang residents have become proficient in transacting on the National Public Service Portal.

Fulfilling the promise of administrative reform

In 2021, Ninh Giang was the locality at the bottom of the administrative reform index rankings, in which the component index on e-government construction ranked 9th out of 12 localities in the province. Determined to escape the "bottom" position, Ninh Giang "promised" the province that in 2022, it would synchronously implement solutions to increase the administrative reform index ranking by 3 places in the local block.

“And Ninh Giang has fulfilled that promise. The district’s e-government index increased by 3 places, to 6th out of 12. This helped the district increase by 3 places in the administrative reform index, to 9th out of 12 localities in the province,” said Mr. Nguyen Thanh Van, Vice Chairman of the district People’s Committee.

Currently, Ninh Giang has 239 administrative procedures provided online at level 3 and 139 procedures provided online at level 4. In 2022, the whole district received and processed more than 97,000 records both directly and online. The rate of submitting administrative procedures for online public services at level 3 and level 4 reached more than 57%, exceeding the target assigned by the province. In leadership and direction, 100% of specialized agencies and public service units under the District People's Committee; 100% of People's Committees of communes and towns and individual leaders and managers, civil servants... are granted digital certificate accounts and use digital signatures; 100% of outgoing and incoming documents of agencies and units under the District People's Committee and People's Committees of communes and towns are digitally signed and processed in the network environment.

Regarding information technology infrastructure, the district has 1 server, 120 workstations and other IT equipment. Over 90% of officials, civil servants and public employees of agencies and units under the district and commune-level officials and public employees are equipped with computers. In particular, Ninh Giang has effectively mobilized socialized capital, thereby having more resources to equip computers for most members of community digital technology groups.

According to Mr. Van, digital government has helped improve efficiency in public service performance. Thereby contributing to the implementation of the motto "doing all the work, not all the hours". "The most important thing is that digital government comes from the people and serves the people. Although Ninh Giang's results in building digital government are still modest, it has opened up a new direction, gradually helping people to be more aware of their rights when Hai Duong in general and Ninh Giang in particular carry out digital transformation", Mr. Van added.

In 2023, Ninh Giang strives to increase by 1-2 ranks in the e-government development index. Thereby helping the district maintain or increase its rank in the administrative reform index of the local block this year.

HA KIEN