What to do to make commune-level administrative units operate effectively after the merger? Part 2 - Upgrading grassroots cadres

Eliminate parochialism

When arranging commune-level administrative units and ending the operation of the district level, along with the existing team of commune-level cadres and civil servants, a large number of district-level cadres and civil servants will be transferred to the grassroots level. Therefore, localities need to focus on the arrangement and assignment of cadres and civil servants so that the new organization and apparatus can operate smoothly, efficiently and effectively.

In 2019 and 2024, Thanh Ha district merged 13 communes into 6 communes. According to the leaders of Thanh Ha District Party Committee, the arrangement and use of cadres received high consensus from cadres, civil servants and people. However, a few cadres had concerns because they were being promoted from head to deputy or from one unit to another, had to travel further to work, new working environment, new tasks...

“Up to now, the district has not had any problems in arranging cadres in the merged localities. The district’s experience is that it is necessary to do a good job of ideological work, create consensus, promote democracy, objectivity, and fairness in evaluating, arranging, and assigning cadres and civil servants. Each cadre and civil servant also needs to proactively promote the role of a party member, correctly perceive the position and responsibility of the individual with the newly assigned tasks,” added Comrade Pham Van Hung, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Thanh Ha District Party Committee.

Along with Thanh Ha district, when arranging commune-level administrative units, other localities in the province have arranged and used cadres in accordance with the procedures and regulations of the Central and the province. Many localities have implemented solutions to prevent the emergence of localism and localism among cadres and civil servants. That is, arranging key cadres and heads of political and social organizations to interweave and ensure harmony between old localities. Some places have transferred and appointed heads of Party committees and authorities who are district cadres from other localities to the locality after the merger. Tu Ky district has also proactively transferred and rotated many key cadres between communes and towns.

Right person, right job

It is expected that most of the functions and tasks of the district level will be transferred to the commune level. With heavier tasks and higher requirements, the current team of cadres and civil servants at the commune level will find it difficult to immediately meet the work. Therefore, along with increasing the number of cadres and civil servants at the provincial and district levels at the grassroots level, competent authorities need to evaluate, screen and effectively use the team of cadres and civil servants in existing administrative units when arranging commune-level administrative units.

Like many other localities in the province, Nam Sach district is taking steps to prepare for the implementation of the arrangement of commune-level administrative units. According to Mr. Dang Van Duy, Head of the District's Internal Affairs Department, to meet the new work, the team of commune officials and civil servants must proactively change and adapt. "The commune is getting bigger, the work is more and more complicated, especially in the current context of digital transformation, which will pose much higher requirements than before, requiring commune officials and civil servants to change their thinking and working methods with the spirit of working closer to the people, directly with the people," Mr. Duy analyzed.

According to Hai Duong Newspaper reporters in many localities, the rate of communal cadres and civil servants who have graduated from regular universities has also been raised, reaching 30% in some places. Most of the cases of part-time study are also quite old, many people wish to retire early when the administrative units at the communal level are reorganized. Therefore, if district-level cadres and civil servants are supplemented, the team of communal cadres and civil servants will be stronger.

Regarding whether to use the criteria of full-time or part-time university graduation as the basis for evaluating and arranging current commune-level cadres and civil servants, according to Mr. Dang Dinh Chien, former Deputy Head of the Party Building Department, Hai Duong Provincial Political School, when selecting commune-level cadres, it is necessary to conduct an assessment on all aspects of training level, capacity and practice. The assessment of cadre quality, in addition to professional qualifications, must also be based on practice such as the level of task completion and capacity to perform public duties for 3-5 years. Mr. Chien believes that cadre work at this time needs to be done democratically, openly, transparently, with the right people and the right jobs to ensure that the new organizational apparatus operates effectively. “The selection and arrangement of cadres and civil servants also requires attention to the factors of heart and vision. Heart here means enthusiasm and responsibility for the work. The closer the apparatus is to the people, the more it requires cadres to have heart. Vision is the vision, political awareness, and the ability to cover the work to plan and propose tasks and solutions to promote local development,” Mr. Chien stated his opinion.

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Up to now, localities have only attracted talented and highly qualified human resources at the provincial and district levels, but have not had a separate mechanism to attract them at the commune level.

Care for redundant officials and civil servants

When reorganizing commune-level administrative units and eliminating the district level, a significant number of commune-level officials and civil servants will retire early, retire, or quit their jobs. This is necessary to streamline the apparatus in essence, in line with the set goals.

According to the Central Government's request, the maximum number of cadres, civil servants and public employees of the new commune-level administrative unit after the rearrangement must not exceed the total number of cadres and civil servants present at the commune-level administrative units before the rearrangement and the number of district-level cadres, civil servants and public employees assigned to work at the new commune-level administrative unit. This number will gradually decrease within 5 years from the effective date of the resolution on the rearrangement for each administrative unit.

Compared to the periods from 2019 - 2021 and from 2023 - 2025, the current arrangement of administrative units is more favorable. Decrees 178/2024/ND-CP and Decree 67/2025/ND-CP of the Government on policies and regimes for cadres, civil servants, public employees, workers and armed forces in the implementation of the arrangement of the apparatus of the political system have full coverage of all subjects, providing maximum support to those affected by the arrangement and streamlining of the apparatus. The draft Law on Cadres and Civil Servants (amended) that is being consulted also proposes that there will no longer be a distinction between commune-level cadres and civil servants and the remaining levels. This will facilitate the transfer and rotation of cadres and civil servants between levels; at the same time, the mechanism and policies for commune-level cadres and civil servants will also be improved compared to the present.

Leaders of some localities also said that to facilitate the arrangement and streamlining of the apparatus, the Central Government can study and consider expanding the subjects receiving support according to Decree 178/2024/ND-CP and Decree 67/2025/ND-CP of the Government for cadres, civil servants and public employees with more than 10 years of work remaining with appropriate support levels.

According to comrade Nguyen Thi Viet Nga, member of the Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, along with doing a good job of information, propaganda, and ideology to make cadres and civil servants agree and voluntarily sacrifice political and material interests to serve the revolution of streamlining the organization and apparatus, at the macro level, the Central and localities need to have more mechanisms and policies to support the development of the private economic sector, including small and medium enterprises, family businesses in terms of administrative procedures, credit, taxes, etc. to contribute to attracting labor, creating jobs for those in the state sector who retire or quit when arranging and streamlining the apparatus. “Up to now, localities have only attracted talented and highly qualified human resources to the provincial and district levels, but have not had a separate mechanism to attract them to the commune level. When the requirements for commune-level officials and civil servants are higher, provinces and cities also need to supplement mechanisms and policies to attract capable people to work at the grassroots level,” the Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation suggested.