Digital governance key to advancing Hanoi’s two-tier local government model

THE HANOI TIMES — For years, Mai Truong Dinh from Hanoi’s Xuan Mai Ward would make the trip to the commune’s one-stop shop whenever he needed to handle paperwork. Now, with a few clicks from his home in Tan Binh Residential Group, he can complete the same procedures without leaving his desk.

“With technology, we no longer need to go to the commune’s office for administrative work. It saves travel time and avoids waiting,” said Dinh.

He shared the view after Xuan Mai Commune on August 14 launched the “Digital Literacy for All” movement and rolled out the “45-day campaign to support digital transformation.”

Commune leaders, technical staff and youth volunteers visit neighborhoods to guide residents in using technological devices, and online public services.

The dedication and efforts of Xuan Mai’s authorities and organizations have had a positive impact on local residents’ attitudes.

To accelerate digital governance, Xuan Mai also set up technical teams to help deploy online public services and advance digital transformation locally.

Alongside promoting digital transformation, communes and wards, and public administrative service centers, have also used AI robots and offered free amenities to assist citizens.

Bui Duong, Director of Branch No. 1 of Hanoi’s Public Service Center, said AI applications, particularly chatbot guidance, have significantly reduced the workload at reception counters.

“Now only one person is needed to receive visitors, compared with more than ten before,” he said.

According to Le Minh Thong, former Deputy Head of the National Assembly’s Law Committee, when the district-level government stopped operating on July 1, more than 1,000 administrative tasks were given to commune- and ward-level government.

He acknowledged that with the number of administrative tasks, commune and ward governments now carry a massive workload.

“The key is to accelerate the digitalization of administrative procedures. We should continue to allow people and businesses to perform more tasks themselves, especially online,” he said.

Beyond technical measures, the awareness and efforts of each official, civil servant, and public employee are also decisive to the success of the two-tier local government model.

Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, Vice Secretary of the Long Bien Ward Party Committee, said that the two-tier government model is completely new, neither the same as the former communes and wards nor as districts.

“Leadership and management must be seamless as we cannot wait for instructions from the central or municipal level. We must be proactive and creative, and get our staff ready for the tasks,” she told a seminar in Hanoi this week.

“From public employees to the head of the government body, one task involves everyone. Even the Party leadership must be prepared to step in until the task is done.”

Official competency needs improving

Despite dedication, efforts and technological support, Hanoi must improve human resources to make the two-tier local government model truly effective, according to ward and commune leaders.

Hang from Long Bien Ward said that while staff awareness is generally good, the transition process has left regulations inconsistent and operations unsynchronized.

“The workload has increased due to a larger organizational scale and more diverse functions and tasks, while staff capacity does not always match,” she said.

Streamlining from 12 district-level divisions down to only three at commune level means a department head and deputy head must cover many fields, from finance, land, and urban management to health and education, she added.

“Not every officer has the expertise to handle several areas at once,” the Long Bien Ward vice secretary said.

Bui Ngoc Kinh, Vice Chairman of the Tu Liem Ward People’s Committee, stressed that competence should be assessed by suitability in experience, past positions and academic background.

“In Hanoi, only 61% of the Culture and Society division staff working in education have relevant qualifications. The rest have never worked in the sector,” he said.

Having worked for 25 years at a university, Kinh admitted that when he moved into government service, he had to learn from scratch to meet job demands.

“Differences in environment and work habits mean many officers promoted from commune to management level, or transferred from district to commune, need time to adapt, even to basic duties like citizen reception,” he said.

Kinh added that many officers are assigned to fields outside their training, lacking basic skills such as communication, digital literacy, and professional expertise.

Nguyen Viet Ha, Party Secretary of Gia Lam Commune, underlined that accurately defining job positions is essential for placing staff in the right roles and ensuring an effective apparatus.

He noted that many positions at commune level are formed by merging functions from different former divisions, leaving localities to set their own standards.

“This may be quick, but it can cause difficulties in implementation, as the nature of commune-level work under the new model is very different,” he said.

Ha proposed defining job positions for each unit in full, covering all tasks.

He also suggested that salary regulations be issued soon to both retain suitable staff and attract qualified personnel for hard-to-fill commune-level posts.

Thong said transferring powers from district to commune has made the commune’s workload too heavy.

He proposed restructuring tasks, promoting socialization, and reorganizing the relationship between provincial and commune levels to increase financial autonomy, invest in infrastructure and databases, and ease administrative burdens.

Phan Trung Tuan, Director of the Department of Local Government under the Ministry of Home Affairs, said that the ministry has identified clear shortcomings in the early stage of the two-tier local government operations.

The shortcomings include policies and laws, heavy workloads, staff quality at commune and ward levels, and obstacles in technology infrastructure, and digital transformation, he said.

The ministry is collecting feedback from localities to propose solutions and report to higher authorities to address these issues, Tuan added.