According to a report by the Department of Organization - Staffing (Ministry of Home Affairs), as of May 18, 2026, the whole country has 467 specialized agencies under provincial-level People's Committees, including 12 specialized agencies organized uniformly in 34 provinces and cities and 59 specialized agencies in some localities.
At the commune level, the whole country has 10,066 professional departments in communes, wards, and special zones. For the Public Administration Service Center model, there are 3,189 commune-level Public Administration Service Centers in 33/34 localities and 1 one-level Public Administration Service Center in Hanoi City.
The scale of the organizational structure at the grassroots level after the merger raises the requirement to improve the capacity of commune-level civil servants, especially in performing decentralized and delegated tasks.
According to Dr. Doan Van Tinh - Deputy Head of the Faculty of Human Resource Management, Academy of Public Administration and Management, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, commune-level civil servants not only perform daily duties but have directly undertaken many state management tasks according to decentralization and delegation of power.
This requires civil servants to both master the professional skills of advising and drafting documents, and be proficient in handling practical work in the locality.
According to Dr. Doan Van Tinh, to meet new requirements, the training and fostering of commune-level civil servants needs to be adjusted in a practical direction, associated with job positions and practical requirements.
First of all, it is necessary to strongly shift to position-based training, focusing on three important skill groups.
First, professional skills and legal appraisal, helping civil servants understand regulations correctly, and provide accurate advice when receiving new assigned tasks.
Second, skills to work in the digital environment, helping civil servants become proficient in processing online dossiers, exploiting data to solve work quickly, reducing paperwork.
Third, skills in mass mobilization and dialogue, helping civil servants know how to listen, explain thoroughly and properly resolve people's problems right from the grassroots level.
In addition, training methods also need to be innovated in the direction of strengthening learning through practical situations. Training and fostering institutions need to compile concise and easy-to-understand materials, associated with common situations in localities such as land management, construction order, and resolving administrative procedures.
Learning through real-life situations will help civil servants easily visualize, and can also apply knowledge immediately in the process of handling work.
Dr. Doan Van Tinh also said that it is necessary to flexibly apply technology in training and fostering. Building short documents and lectures on a digital platform will help civil servants proactively look up and update new regulations on their phones or computers when necessary.
These changes will help training and fostering activities become closer, more practical and effective, thereby contributing to building a team of commune-level civil servants who are confident, professionally stable and serve the people better and better" - he emphasized.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ba Chien - Director of the Academy of Public Administration and Management - also expressed that it is necessary to build a civil service culture that encourages creativity, accepts controlled innovation, protects cadres who dare to think and dare to do, and strengthens accountability.
Local authorities must be able to react quickly to changes in the socio-economic environment, proactively handle arising problems, strengthen inter-sectoral coordination and effectively use digital tools in management work.
