Digital transformation in "remote" communes of Hai Duong

Gradually change habits

As a mountainous commune in Chi Linh City and also the commune farthest from the center of Hai Duong province, the rural infrastructure of Hoang Hoa Tham commune is not inferior to that of communes located in the central area of ​​the province. People's awareness of digital transformation has also changed to gradually become "digital citizens" in the future.

When coming to register the birth of her child, Ms. Le Thi Hoa in Da Bac village was instructed by the staff receiving the documents at the "one-stop" department of the People's Committee of the commune to declare information completely and quickly through online public services.

The habit of cashless payment has also crept into the daily life of the people in this commune. “Here, from the vegetable seller to grocery stores like ours, everyone has QR codes to serve people with cashless payments. Payment is quick and convenient, without having to worry about finding change to give back to customers, nor worrying about torn or lost money. Now many people, including some middle-aged people, know how to transfer money instead of using cash like before,” said Ms. Vu Thi Thom, owner of a grocery store in Ho Seu village.

Ms. Tran Bich Thuan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoang Hoa Tham Commune, shared: “In addition to implementing digital government activities according to regulations, the locality also pays attention to propaganda to raise digital awareness among the people. The commune propagates and mobilizes people to change their consumption habits, not to use cash in handling administrative procedures at the People's Committee of the commune, in paying some amounts at schools and medical stations. The locality also supports digital economic activities for people and businesses in the area. Many key local agricultural products such as red-fleshed dragon fruit, longan, etc. have been put on sale on e-commerce platforms.”

Thai Hoa Commune (Binh Giang) is also located far from the center of the district and province. Despite the remoteness, many households have taken advantage of high-tech applications and digital transformation to develop the economy.

In early 2023, Ms. Le Thi Ly's family in Tram Khe village, Thai Hoa commune boldly invested over 10,000 m²greenhouse to grow melons. Each crop, she earns over 400 million VND from this model. Ms. Ly said: “Before, we only did simple agriculture, but since the model of growing melons in greenhouses, we have applied modern technology and techniques to production. We have also researched and applied new information to apply to production. Currently, our melon products are preparing documents to participate in the OCOP program. If successful, we will expand our business to e-commerce platforms.”

Effort

It can be affirmed that digital transformation is penetrating every corner of life and changing the material and spiritual life of rural people. For "remote" communes, digital transformation is a process of great effort by both local authorities and people.

Thai Hoa is one of the first localities in Binh Giang district to implement digital transformation. At first, the locality faced many difficulties due to limited funding, degraded and outdated infrastructure and equipment, making it difficult to integrate new software, so work efficiency was not high. People's awareness of digital transformation was still limited... But by the beginning of 2024, the locality had achieved positive results in digital transformation. In the first 6 months of 2024 alone, the digitization rate of administrative procedure records when received in Thai Hoa reached 99.92%, the digitization rate of settlement results reached 98.32%; 100% of fees and charges were paid electronically when performing administrative procedures.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quynh, Vice Chairman of Thai Hoa Commune People's Committee shared: "In order for people to know and carry out administrative procedures on the internet, commune officials not only receive paper documents and files, but also guide people on how to operate on smartphones. The commune directs officials and civil servants of the receiving and returning results department to increase propaganda about the benefits of using online public services."

Hai Duong is the first province in the country to issue a Resolution on digital transformation. The province has designated the date of issuance of the Resolution - March 26 every year - as the province's Digital Transformation Day. In "remote" communes, there are still specific difficulties, but localities are making efforts to implement digital transformation according to the province's common goals. Commune officials guide people to set up accounts, send documents online, helping people overcome their fear of difficulties and get used to using online public services when handling administrative procedures. For people who do not use smartphones and the elderly, commune officials support people in creating accounts and submitting documents for them.

Communes also maintain the operation of community digital technology teams to "go to every alley, knock on every door" to both survey and guide local households to participate in learning about digital transformation, especially guiding and supporting people to install and activate electronic identification. Promote propaganda and mobilize people to use smart utilities and applications, perform administrative procedures in the electronic environment, use digital services and interact with the government through digital platforms. People have access to many digital services to help improve their material and spiritual life, thereby gradually forming "digital" citizens.