Youth union members and young people constitute the reserve force of our Party. The training of youth union members, young people, and particularly youth union cadres is of utmost importance to the building of a contingent of cadres capable of playing an major role in the Homeland construction and protection in the new period. Therefore, improving youth union cadres’ work skills is a both long-term and short-term matter.

Over the years, being fully aware of youth union cadres’ role, party committees, key cadres, political offices, and youth union executive committees at all levels have focused their leadership and direction on training and developing this contingent sustainably, comprehensively, and especially improving their skills in the youth union work and youth movement. Thus, the quality of youth union cadres has been gradually raised. They have made a comprehensively positive change in their knowledge and practical skills to meet their task requirements.

A refresher course for youth union cadres (photo: nhandan.com.vn)

Youth unions at all levels have developed action programmes and revolutionary movements to attract the participation of a large number of their members and young people. Due attention has been paid to carrying out the work of political education to improve youth union members and young people’s political zeal, steadfastness in the goal of national independence and socialism, their absolute loyalty to the Party’s revolutionary cause and virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” as well as their combat determination, revolutionary morality, and working method. There has been a positive change in youth unions’ movements. The contents and methods of youth unions’ operations have always been renewed and appropriate to young people’s psychology. Mechanisms for conducting the youth work within the Military have been synchronously operated. Importance has been attached to directing and inspecting the youth union work as well as providing facilities and funding for this work. Twinning programmes between military and local youth unions have been executed effectively, while international cooperation in the youth work has been promoted. Doing so has helped build politically, ideologically, morally and organisationally strong youth unions capable of playing a core role in performing tasks, taking part in the Party building, and making their units comprehensively strong, “exemplary, and typical” as the basis for raising the Military’s combat strength.

It should be noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, military youth have enhanced the movement entitled “Military youth in the vanguard of the fight against COVID-19,” with tens of thousands of youth union members and young people directly performing the task of epidemic prevention and control. Hundreds of checkpoints along the border have been organised to prevent illegal immigration into Vietnam, which has been highly appreciated by the Party, the State, and the people and bolstered the image of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period.

However, qualifications and work skills of a number of youth union cadres have been still poor. Youth unions’ capability in representing young people’s benefits has been limited and their influence on the youth in some units has not been strong enough. Hence, there should be synchronous, specialised solutions to improve youth union cadres’ skills in the youth union work and youth movement.

In 2021, grasping and executing the Resolutions of the 13^th National Party Congress and the 11^th Military Party Congress as well as celebrating the 90^th founding anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (March 26^th, 1931 - March 26^th, 2021), military youth are implementing programmes and activities to enhance the Campaign titled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period and the movement: “military youth improve morality and knowledge, promote the vanguard, creative role, and strive for victories.” Emphasis will be placed on encouraging military youth’s vanguard role in study, training, combat readiness, production, discipline management, and scientific research and application so as to raise the task performance, firmly protect the Homeland, and bolster the tradition and virtues of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period.

To achieve that goal, it is important to improve youth union cadres’ skills in the youth union work and youth movement as the responsibility of party committees, commands, political offices, and youth union executive committees at all levels, with a focus on implementing several central solutions as follows.

First, strengthen the leadership and direction of all-level party committees, commands, political offices, and youth union executive committees. Due attention should be paid to grasping and effectively executing the Party’s resolutions and directives on the youth work, particularly the Central Military Commission’s Action Programme 231-Ctr/QU, dated May 26^th, 2009 for the Resolution 25-NQ/TW by the 7^th Meeting of the 10^th Party Central Committee on “enhancing the Party’s leadership over the youth work in the period of national industrialisation and modernisation” in order to raise public awareness of the youth and the youth work within the Military. Great value should be attached to formulating measures for renewing the contents, forms and methods of training properly and heightening a sense of responsibility for directing, guiding and organising youth movements. Besides, it is essential to maintain the order for inspection and report, draw lessons on the youth work, orientate the contents and methods of operation, and build strong youth unions. At the same time, due regard should be paid to promoting democracy, creating a favourable condition for the development of youth union cadres and members, ensuring policies and entitlements for them, and improving their mental and material life.

Second, identify the contents of training youth union cadres’ skills in the youth union work and youth movement. The training of youth union cadres must be comprehensive but focalised. Training courses must include experience and main skills to foster the development of youth union cadres’ qualities, morality, and professional knowledge. Emphasis should be placed on improving youth union cadres’ knowledge of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and their skills in holding youth meetings, managing, educating and training youth union members, organising youth unions’ pioneering activities and contests, building youth models and clubs, conducting the movement of technical initiative and scientific research, and executing twinning programmes. Moreover, youth union cadres’ skills in the youth union work, leadership, management, and the youth work as well as their social and individual skills must be enhanced.

Third, flexibly, creatively employ forms and methods of training. In addition to identifying the contents of training, it is necessary to select and flexibly, creatively apply the forms and methods of training appropriate for each group of youth union cadres and each unit’s particularities as follows.

Via refresher courses on skills in the youth union work on a yearly basis. This is a main form of training organised in a close, uniform manner with the specific contents identified in the long term. To raise the effectiveness of this form, it is important to select good lecturers and reporters, design refresher courses in a close fashion, and develop plans for diverse extra-curricular activities. Furthermore, offices and units tasked with organising such refresher courses must formulate plans scientifically and carefully prepare facilities, documents and necessary technical means for those courses.

Via youth unions’ practical activities and youth movements, superiors should train their inferiors, while offices should train units. Party committees, commanders, competent offices, and youth union executive committees at all levels should give instructions to inferiors, share experiences with them, detect and opportunely rectify deviations in their awareness and action. The training of youth union cadres can be carried out via organisations’ conferences or meetings, discussions, inspections, and evaluations.

Via youth union cadres’ self-study and self-improvement. This form requires youth union cadres’ responsibility, self-awareness, activeness, and proactiveness in the training process. To effectively apply this form, party committees, commanders, competent offices, and youth union executive committees at all levels must correctly assess the qualifications and abilities of each youth union cadre to give sound orientations for their self-study and self-improvement. In addition, it is essential to monitor, assist, and correctly evaluate each cadre’s self-study and self-improvement as well as opportunely commend and reward cadres with outstanding achievements or effective, creative approaches.

Fourth, opportunely draw lessons and practically, effectively apply the forms and methods of training. Over the years, party committees and commands of offices and units across the Military, particularly the Military Youth Committee and all-level youth union executive committees have actively drawn lessons and identified the forms and methods of improving youth union cadres’ skills in the youth union work and youth movement. However, conferences to draw lessons have yet to be timely or point out weaknesses or propose practical, specific solutions. Therefore, party committees, commanders, competent offices, and youth union executive committees at all levels should frequently evaluate the quality and effectiveness of training youth union cadres, opportunely draw lessons, point out weaknesses, propose remedial measures and new forms and methods of training in accordance with each group of cadres and each unit’s practical condition.

The training of youth union cadres’ skills in the youth union work and youth movement within the Military represents a system of activities conducted by party committees, commanders, political offices, and youth union executive committees at all levels. Doing so will enable youth union cadres to posses sufficient skills to successfully fulfil their assigned task and make contributions to building politically, ideologically, morally and organisationally strong youth unions  capable of playing a core role in performing all assigned missions.

Maj. NGUYEN HUU THO, the Military Youth Committee