The 4th Training in Japan for Director-General to Deputy Director-level Professional Leaders

From October 19 to 30, 2025, a 12-day training program was conducted in Tokyo and Gunma for 16 senior administrative officials at the director general and deputy director general level belonging to specialized departments of central ministries and central party organizations.

This year, with the aim of improving administrative efficiency, Vietnam has been implementing major reforms, including the restructuring central and local organizations, consolidating the Provincial administrative units from 63 to 34, and reducing local government from three levels to two. The country is currently working nationwide to ensure the smooth operation of these reforms.

In line with this, the training included lectures on local government and civil service system reforms that incorporated Japan's experience from the 'Heisei-era municipal mergers.' During a field visit to Gunma, participants learned about initiatives to promote multicultural coexistence in Isesaki City, where many foreign residents, including large Vietnamese community, live, and studied the unique measures and community-building initiatives implemented in Kawaba Village, which has been experiencing rural depopulation similar to those in Vietnam.

Since all training participants are engaged in administrative reform in their respective positions, a post-training questionnaire conducted to confirm what they had learned and what ideas they had gained revealed many specific opinions and ideas including the followings:

'It was reaffirmed that streamlining the organizational structure at both central and local levels must be linked to the promotion of decentralizations and delegation of authority, and that clarifying functions and responsibilities is essential. This is an extremely challenging task and requires a high level of consensus. In a context where workloads continue to increase while the number of public servants is not expanding and is even being reduced, such reforms must be implemented together with measures to improve the quality of officers at the grassroots level'

'It was a useful reference to learn a form of decentralization in the two-tier local government model - how the municipal level, which is the basic administrative unit, handles all matters directly related to residents, while the provincial level (equivalent to a Japanese prefecture) deals with common issues affecting across the province and inter-regional matters. , which provided a useful reference for understanding decentralization,'

'In promoting administrative reform, it is recognized that emphasis is needed on transparency, accountability, and digital transformation in the operation of state institutions. At the same time, it is necessary to enhance the capabilities and mindset of public servants in order to contribute to a more citizen-centered administration.'

These concrete opinions are expected to contribute to the advancement of ongoing reforms in Vietnam.