Lesson 1: Desire for happiness - Foundation from resolution

Resolution on happiness index

Yen Bai became the first province in the country to include the "Happiness Index" in the Resolution of the Provincial Party Congress for the 2020 - 2025 term. This bold decision is not only the result of a process of pondering and exploring, but also the crystallization of the eternal aspiration of the people of Yen Bai for a prosperous, peaceful and happy life.

Before 2020, Yen Bai, like many other localities, had made constant efforts in poverty reduction and socio-economic development. However, economic growth, although impressive, still could not fully reflect the real quality of life of the people. There are still remote villages where children do not go to school, the elderly do not receive proper medical care, the living environment is polluted, and traditional cultural beauty is gradually fading away.

Deeply aware of these challenges, the 19th Provincial Party Congress set a general, comprehensive, and humane goal: "Building Yen Bai to develop rapidly and sustainably in the direction of "Green, harmonious, unique and happy"; striving to make Yen Bai one of the leading developed provinces in the Northern midland and mountainous region by 2030 and become a fairly developed province in the country by 2045".

Comrade Do Duc Duy, after being elected to the position of Provincial Party Secretary for the 2020-2025 term (now Minister of Agriculture and Environment), shared: "This idea comes from the perception that if Yen Bai only focuses on economic growth and budget collection, it will be difficult to escape from the difficult and poor situation. Therefore, the province has chosen a direction to make people satisfied and happy."

According to comrade Do Duc Duy, for the people of Yen Bai, especially those in the highlands and ethnic minorities, happiness is simply having a life safe from natural disasters, storms and floods, receiving good health care, children being able to go to school and having infrastructure such as convenient roads. The development philosophy of Yen Bai in the new term is defined as "green, harmonious, unique, happy", focusing on preserving natural resources, developing a harmonious socio-economy and preserving national cultural identity, aiming to improve the quality of life and happiness of the people.

Provincial Party Secretary Tran Huy Tuan talked with party members before attending the meeting at Nga Ba village Party cell, Cat Thinh commune, Van Chan district.

Specific solutions

Yen Bai province has identified three main criteria to assess the people's happiness index, which are life satisfaction, satisfaction with the living environment and assessment of average life expectancy. Each criterion is divided into specific, measurable and evaluable factors. This shows the seriousness and scientific approach of Yen Bai.

To realize the goal of improving the happiness index, Yen Bai has issued many resolutions, projects and policies in all economic, cultural, social and environmental fields. In particular, the province prioritizes allocating resources and issuing policies for socio-economic development in mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas. Yen Bai Provincial Party Committee has issued annual plans, in the spirit of "assigning targets, contracting products" and "ordering", assigning specific tasks to each sector, locality, agency and unit of the province in implementing socio-economic development targets and tasks, as well as improving the happiness index for the people. This approach motivates localities and units to be proactive and creative in finding solutions to improve the happiness index for the people.

In addition, Yen Bai clearly identified that improving the happiness index is the task of the entire political system and the entire population. The province has promoted propaganda and mobilization work, creating consensus among the people on the goals, meanings and solutions to improve the happiness index. Emulation movements have been widely launched, attracting a large number of people to participate, creating a vibrant atmosphere throughout the province. In addition, Yen Bai focuses on the work of periodically checking and evaluating the implementation of goals and tasks to improve the happiness index. Thereby, the province promptly detects difficulties, obstacles, good practices, and effective models for timely adjustment and supplementation.

From specific and close orientations and plans, localities have quickly concretized the province's plans into action plans suitable to local conditions. Typically, Plan No. 245-KH/HU dated January 24, 2025 of Mu Cang Chai District Party Committee has set out specific tasks and solutions to improve the happiness index for local people this year.

At the commune level, many localities have developed detailed action plans for implementation. The report of the People's Committee of Muong Lai commune, Luc Yen district shows that this locality has proposed many practical solutions such as: developing agricultural production towards commodities, promoting the transformation of crop and livestock structure, supporting people to access preferential loans and vocational training. The participation of the entire political system has created a combined strength in achieving the goal of improving the happiness index.

Ms. Nong Thu Ha - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Luc Yen district shared: "The district has synchronously deployed many solutions to mobilize the entire political system to participate in improving the happiness index for the people. In particular, the district has focused on promoting the meaning and humanistic value of improving the happiness index, while launching patriotic emulation movements, building models of happy families, villages and residential groups. The survey results in 2024 showed that the happiness index of Luc Yen people reached 67.51%, with 26,174 households registering to build "Happy Families" and 193 villages and residential groups registering to build "Happy Villages and Residential Groups". This is the result of the participation of the entire political system and people in the district".

Realize the dream of happiness

Putting an abstract concept like "happiness" into a resolution and transforming it into concrete actions is not without difficulties. The biggest challenge is how to "measure" happiness in a scientific, objective and practical way. However, after more than 4 years of implementation, the initial results have confirmed the correctness of the path that Yen Bai has chosen. According to the survey results, assessing people's satisfaction, the happiness index of Yen Bai people has continuously increased over the years.

In 2022, this index will reach 62.57%, exceeding the planned target by 1.37%; in 2023, it will be 65.62%; in 2024, it will be 66.52%, reaching level 2 - Quite happy, an increase of 0.9% compared to 2023. Besides, the province's economy has stable growth, and people's material life has improved significantly.

Cultural, artistic and sports activities are organized enthusiastically, meeting the enjoyment needs of the people. Social security policies are implemented fully and promptly, contributing to ensuring a stable life for the people.

In particular, in 2024, despite facing many difficulties, especially the severe damage caused by storm No. 3 (Yagi), Yen Bai province still achieved many outstanding results in socio-economic development: GRDP growth rate reached 7.91%, exceeding the set plan (7.7%), ranking 7th out of 14 provinces in the region and 25/63 provinces and cities nationwide; completed and exceeded 30/32 main socio-economic targets; total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue reached 30,105.7 billion VND, exceeding 7.5% of the plan; tourism strongly developed with 2,272,610 visitors (exceeding 33.7% of the plan), revenue reached 1,922 billion VND; poverty rate reduced by 3.48%, exceeding the plan (3.3%)...

Yen Bai is on the journey to realize the dream of happiness, although there are still many bumps, but a solid foundation has been built. From a bold idea, the "happiness index" is gradually becoming a reality, bringing positive changes to the lives of people in the province.

Hung Cuong

Lesson 2: Creating happiness from the "seeds" of happiness

Source: https://baoyenbai.com.vn/215/347783/Bai-1-Khat-vong-hanh-phuc---Nen-tang-tu-nghi-quyet.aspx