However, the operational process has also exposed local inadequacies, namely the imbalance of redundant and missing cadres among different localities and units. Confronted with this reality, the province has proactively deployed, rotated, and rearranged the cadre team to overcome human resource imbalances and step-by-step upgrade operational efficiency.

The entire province currently has 45 commune-level administrative units, including 3 wards and 42 communes, with more than 23,400 cadres, civil servants, and public employees. At the provincial level, specialized agencies were downscaled from 19 to 14, representing a 26.3% reduction, while dozens of departments, boards, and public career units were also restructured. At the commune level, 100% of localities have fully established specialized organs and Public Administration Service Centers, ensuring smooth operations under the new model.

However, the structural rearrangement has also resulted in an imbalance in human resources. While some central wards and communes experience a surplus of cadres post-merger, many deep, remote, and border communes suffer from a shortage of specialized personnel, particularly in the fields of justice, finance-accounting, and socio-cultural affairs.

This human resource disparity leads to resource waste in redundant localities while directly undermining the quality of task execution in understaffed areas. Certain communes face hardships in resolving administrative procedures and deploying specialized tasks, especially as workloads intensify following accelerated decentralization and empowerment to the grassroots-level. Recognizing these field realities, Điện Biên province directed functional agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of the civil servant and cadre team based on job positions, professional capacity, and task requirements across each area. Consequently, functional bodies formulated plans to deploy, rotate, and reallocate personnel from surplus locations to deficit areas, ensuring alignment with professional expertise and practical demands.

The policy was swiftly materialized through deployment drives conducted in May 2026. In Mường Thanh ward, four cadres were transferred to work in Pu Nhi and Thanh An communes. Simultaneously, Điện Biên Phủ ward also deployed numerous civil servants from the Fatherland Front block and socio-political organizations to take up duties in understaffed localities.

Personnel rearrangement is also being actively executed internally within each locality. For instance, Mường Chà commune redeployed nine cadres and civil servants between the government block, the party block, and socio-political organizations, supplemented personnel for the Commune General Service Center, and rotated several cadres to other understaffed communes.

Nguyễn Hữu Đại, Chairman of the Mường Chà commune People’s Committee, noted: “The adjustments are executed under the principles of publicity and transparency, based on job positions and the practical capacity of cadres, aiming to maximize individual strengths while ensuring the overall balance of the apparatus.”

The results after one year of operating the two-tier local government model demonstrate that the arrangement and allocation of cadres have been drastically executed. The Organizing Board of the provincial Party Committee issued deployment decisions for 1,428 cadres, civil servants, and public employees, while the Department of Home Affairs decided on the deployment of 2,038 cadres and civil servants, alongside transferring 14,273 public employees and workers to the 45 commune-level administrative units.

To date, communes and wards basically guarantee the number of cadres and civil servants according to the temporary quotas prescribed in the guidelines and directives of the Government and the province. Specifically, the total number of cadres and civil servants in the communal government block stands at 1,593 people out of a quota of 1,535, representing a surplus of 58 individuals, while the Party block records 1,247 people out of a quota of 1,193, representing a surplus of 54 individuals. The remaining redundant personnel will continue to undergo downsizing according to a designated roadmap leading up to 2030.

Reality demonstrates that these deployments and rotations have contributed to overcoming cadre shortages in many localities, timely supplementing human resources for specialized fields, upgrading work resolution quality, and easing pressure on the grassroots-level cadre team. The personnel restructuring also minimizes surpluses in central wards, creating conditions for cadres to train and accumulate practical experience within new working environments. These initial results reflect the province’s firm determination to elevate the operational validity and efficiency of the two-tier local government model. Through a proactive, flexible, and methodical approach, the local problem of redundant and missing cadres is being step-by-step resolved, contributing to ensuring that the grassroots-level apparatus operates smoothly to meet development and public service demands.