Minister of Home Affairs Phạm Thị Thanh Trà. VNA/VNS Photo

For the first time, the Ministry of Home Affairs has organised a contest to select outstanding officials, civil servants, and public employees to participate in a training project to foster key leaders. Minister of Home Affairs Phạm Thị Thanh Trà spoke to Vietnam News Agency about the competition.

Could you elaborate on the ideas and goals of the ministry's project to train and foster young leaders at all levels?

Personnel work is one of our key tasks. We always determine that building and creating a team of young officials is a breakthrough step in personnel work to ensure a continuous and steady transition between generations of officials.

The goal of our project is to source, train, foster and build a team of young officials with qualities, capabilities and reputations to meet task requirements in any new situation.

Creating staff resources has been combined with training, fostering, planning, arranging, using and appointing officials to hold leadership and management positions at all ministry levels in the 2023-26 period, with an orientation towards 2030. 

Training and fostering are carried out comprehensively, practically, effectively and suitable for each subject to improve the capacity of the ministry's young staff. 

We have proactively coordinated with reputable domestic and foreign training and fostering establishments that have experience in developing knowledge, leadership, and management skills.

We will evaluate and select young staff after training and fostering, as well as assist with staff planning, arrangement use, and appointment. 

How will the testing and training programme be carried out?

We have divided it into two phases. Phase 1, from 2023-26, after the first preliminary round, the ministry has selected 26 officials, civil servants and public employees who meet the standards to enter the testing round.

We will strive to send one hundred per cent of the selected young officials, after being tested, to participate in training and fostering at home or abroad in political theory, expertise, skills and professionalism.

These young officials will be given additional attention in planning following required standards and conditions.

Based on the results of training and task performance, they will be appointed to leadership positions at all levels in accordance with their capacity and strengths.  

We aim to appoint about ten per cent of young officials (under 45 years old) from the project to hold leadership, department-level management and equivalent positions.

During the second phase from 2026 to 2030, after participating in training courses, officials will be submitted to competent authorities to consider and be appointed to a position which has one level higher than the position currently.

We will look to appoint the position of Deputy Minister to at least one officer who is holding the position of deputy director under 45 years old.

We will consider and add young officials under 40 years old to the leadership planning at the department level and equivalent level.

We will aim to appoint about 15 per cent of these young officials to hold leadership, department-level management and equivalent positions. 

What qualifications do candidates need to meet?

Candidates must be young officials who need to meet at least one of two general standards.

According to their employees' assessment, the first one is good qualities and practical capacity, prestigious, and has development prospects. 

The second criterion is to have three consecutive years of performing well within the assigned tasks or better, including one year of excellently completing the task.

Regarding specific standards, the candidates must be assigned to directly advise on the development of at least two legal documents or scientific research topics, projects at ministerial level or higher, which have been approved and issued (among those, there must be at least one legal document). 

For young officials recruited under Decree No. 140/2017/ND-CP of the Government on policies to attract and create staff from excellent graduates and young scientists, they must participate in compiling at least one legal document or scientific research topic, a project at the ministerial level or higher. 

Those on the list of priority are officers holding the positions of head of department, deputy head of department and equivalent positions of units under the ministry, officials assigned leadership and management positions, officials with awards from the provincial level or higher during their studies at the high school, university and postgraduate levels (priority is given to officials with higher level awards) and those from ethnic minorities and female officers. 

After being elected, candidates will be trained and fostered domestically in knowledge, skills, leadership and management methods, political theory, fostering specialised skills and expertise and standards for leadership and management titles and a foreign language.

The ministry will organise at least one short-term English training course on administrative and public service for the entire team of young officials so that they are capable of communicating and studying abroad. 

The young officials will be trained abroad in knowledge and skills following the requirements of leadership and management positions and requirements for professional positions to improve their capacity.

Every year, the Ministry of Home Affairs organises at least one short-term training course abroad, combined with research and field surveys, each of which nominates four to seven young officials. 

The ministry will send officers to participate in overseas training programmes hosted by the ministry or others.

We will promote international cooperation in training young officials and select countries with modern public administration and capable and reputable training and retraining facilities to send young officials to study.

We prioritise Japan, France, Singapore and some other developed countries.

In addition to training and fostering, we will mobilise these young officials to take on tasks in different practical environments to foster and practice political bravery, challenge, improve professional qualifications and acquire knowledge.

How will those young officials, after being trained and fostered, be evaluated and promoted?

Employees or management agencies must give feedback on the young officials’ performance. Based on the evaluation results, the ministry's units will assess their development prospects and propose to continue to keep or remove them from the project.

Those who meet the title standard requirements and have outstanding bravery, capacity and development prospects in leadership and management positions at all levels, the employees will propose appointments for a number of leadership and management positions. 

Unit leaders need to frequently review and propose new qualified officials to be added to the project.

Young officials in the project must make a report on the results of their tasks and send them to the Party Designated Representation of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

We will also evaluate innovation and creativity capacity, the spirit of daring to think, daring to do, daring to make breakthroughs, daring to take responsibility, matching words with actions as well as the ability to adapt quickly to practical situations, decision making and work efficiency.

This is a new pilot initiative, and the Ministry of Home Affairs is the first agency to carry out the task. After implementation, will you consider replicating this model to other ministries, sectors and localities, or even institutionalise it into a common model? 

As I mentioned, personnel work is the key step in building the Party and the political system. Proactively creating a source of staff, especially young leaders who meet the requirements of quality, capacity and prestige on par with their tasks will ensure long-term, sustainable development and succession between generations. 

To accomplish this, it is not possible for each cadre, civil servant, and public employee to do so on their own, but requires preparation from the organisation's side. Young leaders at all levels will be more qualified and better meet mission requirements.

The project to train and nurture young leaders at all levels is a pilot project, so it will be a first step. We will learn from the experience and gradually improve. 

After five years of implementation, the Ministry of Home Affairs will conduct a comprehensive and specific assessment.

Based on the assessment, if the results are good, we will propose to the Government and the Prime Minister to expand the project to other ministries, sectors and localities. 

Then we will improve the legal system and have a long-term strategy to build and create a team of young leaders and managers at all levels with qualities, abilities and appropriate structures, contributing to building professional, modern and effective administration, meeting the requirements of the new era. VNS