Effectiveness of the two-tier local government model

After nearly a year of nationwide implementation, the two-tier local government (LG) model has gradually demonstrated its soundness and effectiveness in reforming the organizational structure and methods of state management.

Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee (now Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the Dong Nai City People's Committee) Nguyen Van Ut (center) discusses with citizens coming to complete administrative procedures at the City Public Administration Service Center. Photo: Cong Nghia

In Dong Nai, practice shows that this model not only contributes to enhancing governance effectiveness and efficiency but also creates clear improvements in socio-economic development and the quality of service for citizens and businesses.

Streamlining apparatus, enhancing governance efficiency

Amid growing demands for administrative reform, the two-tier LG model is implemented as a solution to streamline the apparatus and enhance operational efficiency. Reducing intermediate levels helps shorten work processing procedures, while clarifying the responsibilities of each level and sector. In practice, along with the reorganization of the apparatus, governance methods are gradually shifting from administrative management to serving citizens and businesses. Many procedures are resolved directly at the grassroots level, thereby shortening time, reducing costs, and enhancing proactiveness in public service execution.

The changes in the organization and operation of the apparatus are also reflected in the socio-economic development indicators of the locality. According to Nguyen Van Ut, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the City People's Committee, in 2025, Dong Nai recorded many breakthrough results, demonstrating decisiveness in direction and administration. The Party Committee, government, and people of Dong Nai \created an important turning point, leaving a prominent mark for the entire term. In 2025, Dong Nai achieved the highest GRDP growth rate in the last 10 years at 9.63%; budget revenue for the first time exceeded 100 trillion VND. These results show that the city's investment and business environment continues to improve, and the locality's competitiveness is increasingly enhanced.

In addition to many synchronous influencing factors, the innovation of governance methods, enhancement of governance effectiveness and efficiency through the operation of the two-tier LG model is considered one of the factors contributing to creating more favorable conditions for socio-economic development and improving the management and administration efficiency of the locality.

Nguyen Van Ut stated: After nearly a year of implementation, the two-tier LG model in Dong Nai has operated quite well, stably, and effectively. This result has a significant contribution from the city's continuous attention to consolidating and strengthening the cadre team, considering this an important factor in the process of implementing the new model.

In recent times, Dong Nai has also focused on strengthening its workforce, regularly reviewing, transferring, and assigning officials in line with the new structure to ensure smooth and efficient operations, meeting the requirements of serving citizens and businesses from the grassroots level.

In addition, Dong Nai regularly reviews and adjusts decentralization and authorization decisions to suit practical conditions. According to the report of the City People's Committee, from the time the two-tier LG model was put into operation until the first quarter of 2026, more than 200 administrative procedures (AP) were decentralized to departments, sectors, and commune-level People's Committees, contributing to shortening procedures, reducing intermediate steps, and enhancing the proactiveness of the grassroots.

Clear improvements from the grassroots level

The effectiveness of the two-tier LG model is not only reflected in development indicators but also clearly felt through the quality of service for citizens and businesses. The system of public administration service centers from the city level to the commune level is maintained in stable operation, ensuring the smooth reception, resolution, and return of AP results. The application of information technology, connecting monitoring with the Intelligent Operations Center (IOC) contributes to improving management and operational efficiency.

The effectiveness of the model is also clearly demonstrated at the grassroots level where work is directly received and resolved for the people. Here, the operation of the new model is synchronously implemented, aiming to improve service quality. Doan Duc Thanh, Vice Chairman of An Phuoc Commune People's Committee, stated: The locality identifies people's satisfaction as an important measure in administrative reform. The Commune People's Committee focuses on reviewing and supplementing personnel, strengthening facilities and equipment at the Commune Public Administration Service Center. In addition, the commune particularly emphasizes improving the sense of responsibility and service attitude of officials and civil servants; thoroughly grasping the spirit of service, providing enthusiastic guidance, and minimizing the need for people to travel multiple times. As a result, the quality of administrative procedure resolution has gradually improved.

These changes have been clearly recognized by the people during the process of performing administrative procedures. Nguyen Thi Thanh (in Tan Hung commune) commented: Compared to before, resolving administrative procedures is much more convenient, as most procedures are handled directly at the local level, and the time is shortened; officials provide specific guidance and enthusiastic support, helping people feel more secure and satisfied.

Toward more effective operation

Despite achieving many positive results, the operation of the two-tier local government model still reveals some difficulties that need to be continuously addressed. Reality shows that coordination between levels and sectors is sometimes not synchronized; decentralization in some areas is not truly clear; a part of officials and civil servants do not fully meet job requirements, especially in the context of accelerating digital transformation...

Nationwide, at the socio-economic discussion sessions within the framework of the recent first session of the 16th National Assembly, many delegates believed that the two-tier local government model is the right direction, helping to streamline the apparatus and serve people and businesses more conveniently, but there are still "bottlenecks" in human resources and mechanisms. The workload at the commune level has increased while the team of officials is still lacking and uneven in expertise, especially in areas such as construction, information technology, urban management...

In response to practical requirements, on April 20, 2026, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 700/QD-TTg approving the Project on Strengthening training for commune, ward, and special zone officials and civil servants to meet the requirements of operating the two-tier local government model for the 2026-2031 period. The goal is that by the end of 2028, 100% of commune-level officials and civil servants who do not meet the professional requirements of their job positions will be sent for training; by the end of 2031, 100% of commune-level officials and civil servants will have their knowledge, skills, and new professional expertise supplemented to improve their capacity and professionalism in performing duties. This is considered one of the fundamental solutions to enhance public service performance capacity, ensuring the smooth and effective operation of the two-tier local government model.

Based on this orientation, Dong Nai determines to continue perfecting the two-tier local government model towards improving governance quality and service with a focus on perfecting institutions, enhancing the quality of the team, and promoting digital transformation; at the same time, strengthening inspection and supervision, taking the satisfaction of people and businesses as a measure to evaluate the effectiveness of government operations.

Following the National Assembly’s recent approval of the Resolution establishing Dong Nai City, effective from April 30, 2026, higher demands are placed on the local government system to enhance governance capacity, service quality, and operational efficiency. This is also a prerequisite for the 2-tier local government model to continue to play its role in the new development phase of the locality.

The reality from Dong Nai shows that the two-tier local government model is not only a step in organizational reform but is also gradually becoming a driving force to improve the quality of local governance, aiming for a modern, service-oriented administration that puts residents and businesses at the center.

The Prime Minister has just issued Directive No. 14/CT-TTg, dated April 22, 2026, on strengthening training and evaluating digital knowledge and skills for officials, civil servants, and public employees. This is considered an important direction to standardize and enhance the capabilities of the public sector workforce, meeting the operational requirements of government in the context of digital transformation, and moving towards building a digital government, digital economy, and digital society.

By Ho Thao -- Translated by Mai Nga, Thu Ha