Phình Giàng commune has a natural area of 22,637ha, merged from the old Phình Giàng and Pú Hồng communes. The whole commune has 26 villages with ethnic groups: Hmông, Thái, Khơ Mú... Livelihood development is mainly based on cultivation and livestock farming. The rate of poor households remains high, accounting for over 42%, and near-poor households are nearly 19%. Along with that, infrastructure serving the socio-economic development of the people still faces many difficulties and is not synchronous, especially traffic infrastructure; the rate of concreted and hardened roads managed by the commune has only reached 39%.

As a remote and isolated commune with difficult travel conditions and lacking infrastructure, communication work and bringing information and policies of the Party, government, and mass organizations to the people, especially in villages far from the center, still face many difficulties. A segment of the population does not have conditions to access the internet or modern media, so the loudspeaker system in villages plays a very important role.

Đinh Quang Đà, Vice Chairman of the Phình Giàng commune People’s Committee, said: Loudspeaker clusters in villages used analog broadcasting systems, and the relay frequencies of the two communes before the merger were different, leading to asynchrony. At the same time, in some villages, the loudspeaker system was degraded and damaged. Therefore, propaganda to the people encountered many difficulties.

Faced with that reality, the commune People’s Committee directed the specialized section to coordinate with relevant units to conduct surveys, repairs, maintenance, and upgrades of a number of loudspeaker clusters in the area. Thereby, helping people easily receive and grasp information on local resolutions, policies, socio-economic development tasks, storm and flood prevention, natural disasters, epidemics... accurately and timely, he added.

Since the merger of the 2-level local government until now, Phình Giàng commune has implemented relaying the Voice of Vietnam and the Điện Biên Phủ Newspaper and Radio - Television on the commune’s loudspeaker system with a duration of over 380 hours. The commune General Service Center produces and broadcasts 21 radio programs, with content mainly on socio-economic and political development activities, ensuring national defense - security in the area, forest protection work, vaccination for cattle and poultry... The programs are broadcast in the morning, noon, and evening time slots daily.

Hà Mạnh Đạt, Deputy Director of the commune General Service Center, said: After the merger, the commune has 26 villages, each with a loudspeaker cluster. To date, the commune has synchronized 15 smart loudspeaker clusters using 4G SIMs, replacing the old system, allowing for longer range and more flexibility. For 11 villages with asynchronous broadcasting systems, the Center maintains sending recording files so that people can still receive propaganda information. Every week, the General Service Center builds a 15-minute radio program and sends it to village heads to open and broadcast on the village’s loudspeakers.

Xa Vua A village, Phình Giàng commune, is one of the villages that has not yet synchronized the smart loudspeaker system. The whole village has 75 households with over 350 people; after a long time of use, the village’s loudspeaker system degraded and became unusable. However, dissemination and propaganda are still carried out regularly, helping people grasp and access official information daily.

Vàng A Chung, Head of Xa Vua A village, shared: “Every week, commune officials send radio files to propagate on loudspeakers in fixed time slots to the people. Thanks to that, people in the village all grasp the policy information of the Party and State. At the same time, gaining more understanding of effective economic models, good practices of people in the commune, more experience in caring for and preventing diseases for crops and livestock, and knowing how to apply science and technology to production.”

It can be seen that the flexible deployment of propaganda work through the loudspeaker system and information poverty reduction in villages creates favorable conditions for people to access guidelines and policies. Thereby improving knowledge, expanding understanding, and promoting the spirit of learning and rising up of the people in life.