Experience in breaking through administrative reform index from Cat Tien 2 commune (Lam Dong)

More than 220 km from Da Lat, Cat Tien 2 commune is the farthest locality from the center of Lam Dong province to the South. Although still quite "backward" compared to the localities which are urban centers of the province, the Public Administration Center of Cat Tien 2 commune has just made a spectacular leap after nearly 3 months of operating the 2-level local government. Specifically, from ranking 99/124 communes, wards, and special zones in terms of administrative reform index, currently, the Public Administration Center of the commune has broken through to rank 5th in the whole province.

Báo Tin Tức•29/09/2025

Photo caption — Officials from Cat Tien 2 Commune Administrative Center guide people to submit applications online. Photo: Chu Quoc Hung/VNA

Find out the limitations to quickly break out

Speaking to VNA reporters, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Deputy Director of the Public Administration Center under the People's Committee of Cat Tien 2 Commune, said that after the two-level local government came into operation, the Center's staff were very surprised to hear that their unit's administrative reform index ranked 99th out of 124 communes, wards, and special zones in the whole province. Because they had done their best to resolve backlogs and new files in the fastest time, they were still assessed to be near the bottom of the list.

After the announcement, the Center held a plenary meeting to find out the cause. It was unexpectedly discovered that the scores for the administrative reform index of each unit were based on the rate and time of processing online applications, not just the applications received directly. Immediately after that, the officers receiving citizens began to implement receiving online applications, although they knew it was difficult, they still had to do it.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, the difficulty is because nearly 36% of the people in the commune are ethnic minorities, and people are not used to using smartphones and computers to submit applications online. When instructing people to do it online, they are very upset and have a temporary reaction. Right at the Center, the officers take turns on duty, guiding people when they start submitting applications online. At the desks processing applications, officers also help people, even pay fees on behalf of people into bank accounts in cases where they do not have an account.

With the above method, at first, people coming to do procedures were very uncomfortable and frustrated, but now it has become a habit, people all cooperate with the reception staff. Most people under 50 years old have become familiar with opening accounts and submitting documents online. The score for the administrative reform index of the unit unexpectedly increased to 48th in August, then ranked 7th, 6th in the first week of September, and by the 3rd week of September 2025, it ranked 5th in the whole province...

Need to "merge" 2-level cadres

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Lich, Chairman of the People's Committee of Cat Tien 2 Commune, the most difficult thing when running the commune-level government after the disorganization of the district level is to "reform" the working methods and style of the staff. Cat Tien 2 Commune was merged from Phuoc Cat Town (Cat Tien District has 2 towns), two communes Duc Pho and Phuoc Cat 2. The staff of the new Commune People's Committee has 3 leaders and 35 people in specialized departments, with 31 people having university degrees, 6 Masters, and only 1 person having intermediate level.

Notably, among the above officials, there are 15 civil servants transferred from the district People's Committee's departments and offices and 23 officials from the People's Committees of 3 communes and towns who stayed to work, with uneven qualifications. According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Lich (formerly the leader of the Cat Tien District People's Committee Office), the working styles of these two "officials" are completely different. The old district officials are used to the style of finishing their work and then resting, while the commune officials rest when their work is done. District officials are good at making records, documents, and papers, while commune officials are good at receiving people...

To manage the above cadre force, the most important thing is to get along, learn from and support each other. The leaders of the Commune People's Committee assigned district cadres with good expertise to guide the commune cadres by hand. Meanwhile, experienced commune cadres in receiving people passed on their experience to young cadres from the district.

After nearly 3 months of operating the 2-level local government model, with the above management method, up to now, the commune's staff has also been operating stably. However, it is inevitable that some old commune staff cannot stand the pressure of work and have the idea of resigning.

In addition, in the rearrangement of the staff, there are also cases of non-specialization. Specifically, a young veterinary officer works at the Commune Party Committee Office. Recently, the Commune People's Committee has requested to second this officer to support the fight against African swine fever. In the near future, it will request to transfer him to the Economic Department to work in accordance with his training.

Located in the "southernmost" part of Lam Dong province, bordering Dong Nai province, Cat Tien 2 commune has a natural area of 177km2 including 18 villages, with a population of nearly 15,000 people. Notably, this locality has up to 5,300 ethnic minority people, and the local staff and civil servants also have 5 ethnic minorities. In the area, people live mainly from rice cultivation and perennial crops such as cashew, rubber, coffee, mulberry, cocoa, etc.

In the first 9 months of 2025, it is estimated that the total state budget revenue in the whole commune will reach 2,466/3,975 billion VND, reaching 62% of the estimate of the People's Council of the commune.

Deploying the activities of the 2-level local government after nearly 3 months of operation, according to the assessment of the People's Committee of Cat Tien 2 commune, most of the commune's civil servants have met the standards of professional qualifications, are responsible for the work and assigned positions.

Many cadres have worked in many positions, have been well-trained and have experience in management and administration, contributing to strengthening the team of commune-level cadres. However, due to the volume of work transferred from the district level (old) to the commune level, it has led to an overload for the team of cadres and civil servants. Notably, in Cat Tien 2 commune as well as some other communes in Lam Dong province, there is a shortage of personnel in key areas such as construction, finance - accounting, health , veterinary medicine, etc., affecting the results of handling work of the commune and ward authorities.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/kinh-nghiem-but-pha-chi-so-cai-cach-hanh-chinh-tu-xa-cat-tien-2-lam-dong-20250929172940374.htm