The quality of local civil servants in Vietnam

Abstract

Civil servants are the workforce to exercise state power to manage social development, so their quality is frequently clearly defined by national laws with general requirements following the characteristics of the civil service in every branch and at every central or local level. The Law on Cadres and Civil Servants in 2008 and Decree No. 90/2020/ND-CP of Vietnam in 2020 stipulate the evaluation of the quality based on the following standards: Politics, ethics; professional qualifications; working abilities; and work performance results. In this paper, the author conducts research on the quality of local civil servants at the commune level in Vietnam based on the issued legal regulations. By combining the qualitative method of collecting secondary data with the quantitative one of conducting a direct survey of 400 commune-level government leaders in five provinces representing three regions of Vietnam, including Son La Province, Hoa Binh Province (Northern), Nghe An Province (Central), Bac Lieu Province, and Ca Mau Province (Southern). According to research findings, they have underestimated the practical working capacity of commune-level civil servants. Based on the research findings, the author makes some recommendations for local leaders to conduct research and make appropriate policy changes to improve the quality of civil servants and enable them to serve the people better.