The Government on June 26 reviewed a two-year-old project that has placed young academics in management positions in poor districts.

The review was chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

The project has already introduced 580 top-quality individuals into leading positions in remote areas so they can help to develop these localities.

The officials were promoted to deputy chairman/chairwoman of People's Committees at communal level.
Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Nguyen Tien Dinh said the project has received a lot of support from local authorities and people. They say it is a sound policy that is in line with their own socio-economic development plans.

It is also seen as a breakthrough in developing human resources for Government positions. It proves that people benefit from being placed in tough situations that hone their skills, he said.

More than 60 percent of those posted to such positions are said to have done very well in their jobs, while 12 percent of the remainder are expected to perform extremely well.

Deputy Minister Dinh said the project faces a number of challenges as the majority of these officials are fresh graduates from college and generally lack leadership and management skills.

In addition, many local authorities have no plans to employ these officials after their tenure ends, which in turn affected their commitment to the job.

Some of the participants discussed the difficulties they had encountered when worked in poor areas, which are home to many ethnic groups, saying that the language barriers and a lack of traditional customs understandings were among the greatest challenges they encountered.

In addition, as they were still new to the intricacies of governance, there were times they had failed to accomplish their assignments on schedule.

The young officials said what they really need is supporting policies and more training so they could better accomplish their jobs.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has subsequently instructed the Home Affairs Ministry to liaise with other agencies and address these issues, saying there should be further reviews and research conducted so this project could be rolled out across the country.-VNA