Graduates improve leadership skills while helping the poor
(VNS) Young people are working in underprivileged districts to gain experience. Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Tien Dinh spoke to Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Economic Times) about their role.
After a year of imple-mentation, how has the project worked?
The university graduates were sent to communes in the 62 poorest districts to take up positions as communal vice-chairmen.
The first group went to the north-western mountain province of Cao Bang in March last year. So it is too early to say if the project has succeeded, but I can say that project members know how to turn their assignments into reality. They have come up with new ideas on how to promote local economic development.
We arranged a visit to Cao Bang to make a first-hand assessment on how the young leaders were performing. At our meeting with local officials, most spoke highly of the youthful contributions. They praised their leadership skills and the Party and Government's policy on sending young cadres to support poor districts.
However, throughout our inspections, we also took note of the reality that the young cadres' experiences should be improved before dispatching them to the districts. In particular, we felt it necessary for them to be able to understand and speak the local languages.
How will the Ministry of Home Affairs assess the young cadres' performances?
The key objective project was to send young intellectuals to 62 poor districts to help improve their socio-economic development. So if socio-economic indicators in the communes they are assigned to improve, that means their performance is good. This provides a slid basis for ratings.
In addition, during our visit to Cao Bang Province, we heard the locals say good things about them. Their contributions have been highly appreciated by the local people and leaders.
Will these young graduates be assigned new jobs when they have completed their assignments?
In the PM's decision it states clearly that if they accomplish their assignments well in the first three to five years, there will be two options for them to choose from. First, if they want to stay in the communes they can. If not, their performance will be reviewed by a board and, if approved, they will be transferred to work in the Provincial People's Committee as a Government officer.
And the second option is, if they don't want to continue working in a province, they will be referred to other provinces at their request with references from the board members. In short, a good future is awaiting them if they excel in their work.
Do you think their participating in the project can be described as a "short cut" to becoming Government officials? I don't think so. It was good experience for them after leaving school. They considered joining the project an honour and duty assigned to them by the Party and Government.
Of course, before joining the project they also realised that a tough time probably lay ahead. Yet, the determination to help the poor improve their livelihoods has inspired them. All this was reflected during our visits to several project sites.
Do you think that if the project is a success, it will be a good model to replicate in the future?
The project objectives are to provide young cadres for the communal level and to foster talented cadres for the communes – the lowest administrative level in our country. We now believe this project will help complete the policies and mechanisms for people to become Party and Government officials. — VNS