Central officials in the locality connect for effective digital transformation

Editor's note:

Promoting national digital transformation is one of the contents in the country's development orientation for the period 2021 - 2030 and is also a key task of this term. In the strategic breakthrough in building the infrastructure system, the Resolution of the 13th Congress also clearly stated: "Focus on developing information and telecommunications infrastructure, creating a foundation for national digital transformation, gradually developing the digital economy and digital society". However, this is a new issue, many localities are still confused, some places do not even understand what digital transformation is, do not know where to start, do not know how to do it? To help localities clearly understand and perform well this important task, right from the beginning of the term, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung proactively led a working delegation to work with many provinces and cities on digital transformation. Since then, the Ministry of Information and Communications has proactively supported localities in terms of expertise, technology, infrastructure and human resources to carry out digital transformation. Among them, the policy of "sending central officials to localities" to carry out digital transformation has been implemented in many provinces and cities, bringing practical results. Thanks to that, many localities have been "supported" in digital transformation. VietNamNet recorded the reality in some localities where this policy has been effectively implemented.

On November 12, 2020, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung led a working delegation of the Ministry to work with Thai Nguyen province, connecting online with 178 communes, wards and 9 district-level administrative units. The meeting lasted from 2:00 p.m. to nearly 7:00 p.m. At this meeting, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung asked many officials from commune, district and department levels: "What is digital transformation? What do you need from digital transformation?". However, many officials of the province could not answer. At the end of the meeting, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said: "Thai Nguyen should have a resolution on digital transformation".

From the suggestions and stories full of concerns at this working session, Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Thanh Hai boldly committed: "The province will research to develop and issue a separate resolution, specializing in digital transformation in 2020". More than 1 month later, on December 31, 2020, the Provincial Party Executive Committee issued Resolution No. 01 on the Digital Transformation Program of Thai Nguyen province for the period 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030. Since then, Thai Nguyen has become the first locality in the country to develop and issue a thematic resolution on the digital transformation program, and at the same time, December 31 of each year is the province's Digital Transformation Day.

Speaking to VietNamNet, Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Thanh Hai said that in order for the resolution to come true, in addition to the local political determination, strong support and sharing from central agencies are extremely important and really necessary. To realize this resolution, resources are needed, especially human resources, which play a key role. The selection and invitation of suitable, qualified and willing central officials to Thai Nguyen is also a content that the province has paid great attention to since the first days when the resolution was issued. Therefore, at the working session with Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, the two sides agreed to second the Ministry's officials to work at the Department of Information and Communications of Thai Nguyen province to support the implementation of digital transformation.

“With the support of the Ministry of Information and Communications, since the beginning of April 2021, comrade Pham Quang Hieu - a young cadre holding a position equivalent to Deputy Director of the Department, has been ready to accept the task of being seconded to Thai Nguyen to help the province successfully realize the resolution on digital transformation,” said Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hai. The fact that the Ministry of Information and Communications has seconded cadres to Thai Nguyen to carry out digital transformation has created a “shuttle connection” between the Central and local levels in implementing the Party’s resolution in general and the local level in particular. Because in reality, many times the locality is in great need of professional and technical support from the industry, especially in digital transformation, but does not know clearly which information or contact to “knock on the right door”. Therefore, when there are “Central cadres in the heart of the locality”, everything is resolved much more quickly, conveniently and effectively. “When Thai Nguyen encounters any problem that requires support from the Ministry of Information and Communications, Comrade Pham Quang Hieu will be the focal point with the Department of Information and Communications to connect, work, and report to the Ministry, to the Ministry’s specialized agencies, even to each cadre and expert in each field and advise the provincial leaders. Therefore, the “connection” in coordination between the locality and the Central Government will be smoother, tighter, and more effective,” Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hai analyzed.

The Secretary of the Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee also hopes that, with the local practices in the past 2 years, when Mr. Hieu becomes the acting Director of the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Justice, he will bring the voice and experience from the locality to the work of advising, policy making, implementing the policies of the Ministry of Justice in particular and general policies related to localities. "It can be said that currently, digital transformation in the 3 areas of digital government, digital society, digital economy has penetrated many localities. However, to achieve real effectiveness, close coordination between the Central and local levels through the policy of seconding and rotating central officials to localities is very necessary," emphasized Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hai. From the experience of Thai Nguyen province, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Thanh Hai hopes that the Ministry of Information and Communications will replicate this approach in many other localities, so that digital transformation truly becomes a breakthrough in the process of socio-economic development in each province and city.

As the head of the agency directly receiving seconded officials from the Ministry of Information and Communications to localities to support digital transformation, Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Thai Nguyen Do Xuan Hoa expressed his support for the Ministry's secondment of officials to localities to support digital transformation, which is a policy that is very suitable for current reality. The Director of the Department of Information and Communications said that after nearly 3 years of implementing the resolution, Thai Nguyen has achieved many important achievements in all 3 pillars: Digital government, digital economy, digital society. Thereby, not only affirming Thai Nguyen as a bright spot of the country in digital transformation, but also gradually bringing the province towards the goal of becoming a digital transformation center of the Northern Midlands and Mountains region by 2030. According to Mr. Hoa, the digital transformation results of Thai Nguyen are the result of the entire political system, from the provincial level to the grassroots level and have now spread to the hamlet level, especially the active participation and response of people and businesses. In particular, we must mention the leadership and determination of Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Thanh Hai.

“Our Department of Information and Communications has a very active advisory role, especially since the additional support of the seconded staff from the Ministry. The overall results of the province's digital transformation have important contributions from the department and Mr. Pham Quang Hieu personally,” emphasized the head of the Department of Information and Communications of Thai Nguyen province. Mr. Hoa assessed that the Ministry of Information and Communications' secondment of Mr. Pham Quang Hieu to Thai Nguyen has brought many benefits to both the locality and the seconded staff, creating a new wind, new thinking, and new ways of working in digital transformation work. “We have a new staff with new thinking, new ways of working to help operate the digital transformation work in life better and to see the problem more comprehensively. Until now, I still hope that the province will receive more seconded staff from the Central Government to support the locality in some specialized fields,” said Mr. Hoa. He also said that he himself has learned a lot of experience and new thinking from the seconded staff of the Ministry.

The Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Thai Nguyen acknowledged: "Through the working environment in the locality, I see that Hieu has learned and matured a lot in awareness, management work and task implementation". For example, understanding the working relationship and assignment of tasks of agencies, organizations, local authorities at all levels; understanding more about the management areas of the Ministry and the policies of the Ministry with localities... "Especially, when seconded cadres return to the locality, they have practical experience, grasp and approach the grassroots, listen to the voices of the people and businesses directly and see with their own eyes the policies and guidelines operating in life", Mr. Hoa commented. Thereby, cadres understand the people, businesses and local authorities better to have policies and choose to prioritize appropriate tasks. “In particular, I see that Mr. Pham Quang Hieu has matured very quickly. Although he has only been in the locality for 2 years, Mr. Hieu has become more mature and has more experience. I believe that the time Mr. Hieu was seconded to Thai Nguyen was very meaningful and valuable in his civil servant career,” Mr. Hoa assessed his deputy.

However, the Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Thai Nguyen said that the time of secondment of cadres not exceeding 2 years is a bit short. Because, when returning to the locality, cadres also need a certain amount of time to get used to the new environment. If in just 2 years, cadres have just gotten used to the job and may be in the middle of implementing their ideas and proposals and have to return, it would be a pity. "Therefore, I think that the secondment period should be at least 36 months so that cadres have enough time to implement their cherished ideas as well as create a wider spread in the locality," said Mr. Do Xuan Hoa. From the effectiveness of seconding central cadres to localities, the Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Thai Nguyen suggested that this model should be replicated. Not only seconding cadres from ministries to localities, but also doing the opposite to learn from each other. Therefore, this model also needs to be institutionalized by regulations from the joint circular between the Ministry of Home Affairs and other sectors so that localities have a more complete basis in organizing and implementing.