Policy communication contributes to creating social consensus

Policy communication work must aim at the goal of "people knowing, people discussing, people doing, people checking, people supervising, people benefiting". Photo: Khoi Nguyen

Perhaps never before has the reorganization of the political system, associated with streamlining the payroll and restructuring the staff, been carried out by the Party and the State so drastically and urgently as at this time. Because the effective and efficient operation of the apparatus plays a decisive role in the work of Party building, socio-economic development, and ensuring national defense and security. However, reality shows that the apparatus of the political system is still cumbersome, with many levels and focal points, and the effectiveness and efficiency of operations are sometimes and in some places not high. In particular, facing current requirements and tasks, streamlining the apparatus must become an urgent task, in order to create a solid foundation for the country to enter the era of strong development.

To do that, policy communication plays an important role, focusing on fully and promptly disseminating the spirit, content, tasks and solutions set forth in Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW of the 12th Central Executive Committee on a number of issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the political system to be streamlined and operate effectively and efficiently. Thereby, creating consensus among the whole society for the current "revolution" of streamlining the apparatus.

In particular, starting from the article by General Secretary To Lam titled “Refined - Lean - Strong - Effective - Effective - Efficient” (November 5, 2024), the topic of streamlining the apparatus of the political system has truly become a “major mainstream” in the press and media. This topic has been propagated in a timely, methodical, quality, and effective manner, with a multi-dimensional perspective, creating a strong spread throughout society. Up to this point, “streamlining the apparatus” is no longer a task contained in documents, or a task of any level or sector. On the contrary, it is being realized quickly, decisively, urgently, associated with the spirit of “running while queuing” and has a profound impact on all aspects of the country’s political, economic, and social life.

It can be said that the results achieved in the work of streamlining the apparatus of the political system up to this point, the role of policy communication work is undeniable. In particular, for an issue that is considered difficult and sensitive such as streamlining the apparatus and reducing staff, policy communication "going one step ahead" has contributed to "clearing up" the ideology and raising awareness of cadres and party members. At the same time, it contributes to creating high unity within the Party, consensus in society and creating an extremely effective information "shield", in order to fight against all distorted arguments of hostile forces that deliberately sabotage and divide the Party.

Clearly identifying the role, significance and importance of policy communication, on March 30, 2022, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 407/QD-TTg approving the Project "Organizing communication of policies that have a great impact on society in the process of developing legal documents for the period 2022-2027". It clearly emphasizes the necessity of organizing communication of policies that have a great impact on society, especially difficult and sensitive issues with different opinions in the process of proposing policies and developing legal documents. In fact, in the process of developing, implementing and perfecting current policies, policy communication has been given attention. However, human resources and resources for policy communication have not been fully and appropriately allocated, which is also causing this work to not bring about the expected results. At the same time, lack of planning, lack of initiative, and lack of professionalism in providing information and communication are also the causes of communication incidents, affecting the implementation of State policies and laws in real life.

In the current context, when the need for timely and accurate access to information related to policies and guidelines of people and businesses is becoming increasingly urgent, policy communication must be given more attention. To do so, the process of organizing policy communication requires the responsible and effective participation of all levels, sectors, localities and units. Communication content needs to be complete, concise and easy to understand; communication forms need to be rich, vivid and attractive... In particular, the role and strong participation of press and media agencies is emphasized as a basic and important method to implement policy communication. Through the development of columns, special pages, topics and major communication campaigns..., the press will create multi-dimensional interactions between people, organizations and businesses with the policy drafting agency and policy implementing agencies. At the same time, the participation of press management agencies is needed so that official and positive information about social life in the press becomes the mainstream. Thereby, contributing to improving the quality, effectiveness and efficiency in policy implementation; as well as creating consensus and awareness of respect and compliance with the law among people and businesses.

It is undeniable that there are correct policies, but due to poor communication work, they have not created high consensus in society. Or there are policies that when put into implementation have not "matched" with reality and through communication work, it has helped agencies to build and implement policies promptly grasp and make appropriate adjustments. As Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has pointed out, policy building must be aimed at the people and policy communication must reach the people. To do so, all information about policies must be authentic and communicated publicly, transparently, fully, accurately, and promptly, aiming at the ultimate goal of "people knowing, people discussing, people doing, people checking, people supervising, people benefiting".

Khoi Nguyen

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/truyen-thong-chinh-sach-gop-phan-nbsp-tao-dong-thuan-xa-hoi-243983.htm