They fear being the first cut when communes merge and the elimination of district-level administration takes effect.

The country is preparing plans to merge provinces, abolish district-level administration units, and reorganize communes, moving toward a two-tier local government model of provincial and grassroots (commune) levels.

This will bring significant changes to commune-level administration compared to the current setup:

The nation is expected to have about 5,000 commune-level administrative units, down from 10,035 today.

Communes will take on additional duties and powers currently held by districts, gaining more authority and public administrative centers.

Some district- and provincial-level civil servants will move to communes.

A unified civil service system will be applied from central to local levels, without distinguishing between commune from provincial civil servants.

For the immediate time, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) proposes maintaining current commune staffing levels, but the streamlining will be carried out within five years, resulting in the dismissal of civil servants who fail to meet standards or conditions.

A series "Commune Mergers: Who Stays, Who Goes?" captures real stories from civil servants, staff, and workers at the commune level, highlighting issues to address in the upcoming administrative restructuring.

In 2013, Do Thanh Mai, 23, from Quang Binh, fresh from a full-time university in Hanoi, saw her major align with the pilot 500 Young Intellectuals Project for rural and mountainous communes (2013-2020). Eager to contribute to her homeland, she applied.

There were 400 applicants but only 15 were selected. Mai was among them.

11 years under labor contract

After three months of training, in March 2015, she was allocated to a mountainous commune in Quang Binh, hoping to secure a permanent civil service post under the project.

However, by 2020, when the project ended, Mai still hadn’t been placed in a civil service role for various reasons and remained on a labor contract.

Since some localities nationwide hadn’t completed the arrangements for the project’s members, the government extended the project to December 2025.

Mai has stayed in the role ever since, but in the last five years since the extension, she and many peers still lack permanent positions.

Of the 15 members of the project in Quang Binh, some have left for other positions, others left for overseas work, and none of the 11 remaining members has been recognized as civil servants as intended.

This year marks her 11th year on a labor contract, 11 years of dedication, giving her youth to a remote mountainous commune.

Facing the state’s new policy on administrative restructuring and downsizing, Mai and others in a similar situation are deeply anxious about their future.

Despite being nearly the only full-time university graduate in her commune with strong skills, she worries she won’t be retained after the commune units shrink.

"Now, they can’t even fit all the civil servants; how will I get a chance?" she said.

“I’m 35 already,” and there are few opportunities, she added.

Quang Binh is not the only province which has not completed the job allocation for the project’s members as contracts near their end.

After 11 years of living and working in the border commune, Mai married and had a child, tying her life to this land.

"People say if this chance ends, find another. But I’m 35. In my border commune, new opportunities are really hard to come by," she confides.

Currently, she is still working under a fixed-term labor contract, which will expire in December 2025, when the project ends.

"I just hope the Party and State offer specific policies for project members during this merger phase. Favorable conditions are created for civil servants, but we don’t fit any category despite our degrees, experience, and dedication,” she said.

"I want clear rules for selecting civil servants for the new units so we can compete fairly. Otherwise, we’ll likely be the first to be ousted."

Mai’s concerns are reasonable, as the National Assembly Standing Committee’s draft resolution on administrative restructuring tasks provincial People’s Committees with both arranging staff and ensuring downsizing.

Debates and feedback persist on what criteria will guide the selection of commune civil servants for the new units post-merger.

As of December 31, 2024, commune-level civil servants total over 212,600, with 92.4 percent holding university degrees or higher and 7.6 percent with college degrees or lower. Only a small proportion of servants fall short of standards and will be addressed per government policies, safeguarding their legitimate rights.

Nguyen Thao