Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam - Oxfam Blogs

PARTICIPATORY POVERTY MONITORING
IN RURAL COMMUNITIES IN VIET NAM
Five-year Synthesis Report (2007-2011)
Looking forward: Challenges to
Rural Poverty Reduction
in Viet Nam
Thuan Hoa (Vi Xuyen District, Ha Giang Province)
Ban Lien (Bac Ha District, Lao Cai Province)
Thanh Xuong (Dien Bien District, Dien Bien Province)
Luong Minh (Tuong Duong District, Nghe An Province)
Duc Huong (Vu Quang District, Ha Tinh Province)
Xy (Huong Hoa District, Quang Tri Province)
Cu Hue (Eakar District, Dak Lak Province)
Phuoc Dai (Bac Ai District, Ninh Thuan Province)
Phuoc Thanh (Bac Ai District, Ninh Thuan Province)
Thuan Hoa (Cau Ngang District, Tra Vinh Province)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE........................................................................................................................................................................... 7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................................................................... 9
ABBREVIATIONS AND TERMS........................................................................................................................................10
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...................................................................................................................................................12
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................................................15
Objectives of the Report..............................................................................................................................................15
Methodology...................................................................................................................................................................15
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction...............................................................23
1. OVERVIEW OF POVERTY TRENDS............................................................................................................................25
1.1. Poverty trends...........................................................................................................................................................................................................25
1.2. Household poverty reduction strategies at the monitoring points................................................................................................27
1.3. Diverse poverty groups.......................................................................................................................................................................................32
1.4. Vulnerability...............................................................................................................................................................................................................35
1.5. Gender Relations................................................................................................................................................................................................... 43
1.6. Participation and Empowerment..................................................................................................................................................................... 50
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam............................................................................... 61
2. MULTI-DIMENSIONAL POVERTY ANALYSIS........................................................................................................... 64
2.1. Multi-dimensional poverty measurements in the World and in Viet Nam.................................................................................... 64
2.2. Multi-dimensional nature of rural poverty at monitoring points....................................................................................................... 64
3. BUILDING SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEMS................................................................................................................................................... 80
3.1. Target-oriented social security policies....................................................................................................................................................... 80
3.2. Social assistance...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 82
3.3. Insurance..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 84
3.4. Community-based social security................................................................................................................................................................... 85
3.5. Vocational training.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 86
4. COPING WITH PRICE VOLATILITY........................................................................................................................... 87
4.1. Price volatility and the role of market agents........................................................................................................................................... 87
4.2. Impacts of price increase on livelihoods.................................................................................................................................................... 89
5. LABOUR MOBILITY AND GENDER RELATIONS..................................................................................................... 93
5.1. Working away from home................................................................................................................................................................................... 93
5.2. Local casual jobs..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 98
5.3. Labour export.........................................................................................................................................................................................................100
6. IMPROVING ACCESS TO EDUCATION...................................................................................................................102
6.1. Level of Access......................................................................................................................................................................................................102
6.2. People’s feedback on educational service..............................................................................................................................................104
6.3. Suggestions for improving educational service.....................................................................................................................................109
7. IMPROVING ACCESS TO AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE......................................................................111
7.1. Level of access to agricultural extension services..............................................................................................................................111
7.2. Feedback on agricultural extension services..........................................................................................................................................112
7.3. Suggestions for improvement of agricultural extension services.................................................................................................116
8. PARTICIPATORY PLANNING AND DECENTRALIZED FINANCING AT COMMUNE LEVEL...............................118
8.1. Reformed planning at commune level........................................................................................................................................................118
8.2. Community Development Fund (CDF).......................................................................................................................................................120
Part 3: Toward Sustainable Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam..................................................................123
9. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DISCUSSION...............................................................................................................125
9.1. Achievements and challenges to rural poverty reduction................................................................................................................125
9.2. Towards sustainable poverty reduction in rural areas of Viet Nam.............................................................................................126
10. REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................................128

PREFACE 1
7
In early 2007, Viet Nam was admitted as the 150 th member country of the World
Trade Organization (WTO). This has created many opportunities for Viet Nam but also
poses challenges, particularly in ensuring that the benefits and opportunities of WTO
membership are shared by all, especially the poor and vulnerable.
In this context, and as organizations with a long history of working to support the poorest
and most marginalized groups in Viet Nam, ActionAid International Viet Nam and Oxfam
in coordination with local partners started an initiative “Participatory Poverty Monitoring”
in early 2007.
This initiative involves a periodical study of livelihoods and market access of poor and
vulnerable groups in selected communities throughout Viet Nam. The intention is to
provide recommendations for policy discussions at a national level, as well as inform
the design of programmes of ActionAid and Oxfam in Viet Nam. Reports were published
from 2007 to 2011.
This report aims to provide a synthesis of our findings over the last five years (2007-2011).
We hope you find it interesting and useful.
Andy Baker
Country Director
Oxfam
Hoang Phuong Thao
Country Director
ActionAid International Viet Nam
1 Many organizations and individuals contributed to this study. The opinions and recommendations expressed
in this study do not necessarily represent the policy position of ActionAid, Oxfam or the organizations or
researchers whose work is cited below.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
9
This five year (2007-2011) synthesis report on rural poverty monitoring is a collective
effort that could not have been completed without the valuable contributions of many
people.
We would like to thank the leadership and staff of ActionAid International Vietnam (AAV)
and Oxfam for their valuable comments throughout the whole design process and in
field work, workshops, and report development. Some staff of Oxfam and ActionAid
took part in field work and contributed their knowledge and depth of experience to the
research methodology and contents.
We are grateful to the People’s Committees, Departments of Foreign Affairs, and various
government departments at provincial and district levels for approving and creating
favourable conditions for our work. We thank the members of the nine provincial core
groups including officials in the departments involved, mass provincial and district level
organizations, and commune officials who devoted their time and effort in working with
us to complete the field work and poverty monitoring in each province. We especially
thank the village officers who accompanied and supported us during field work in the
20 villages of the monitoring network. The active participation and smooth coordination
among ActionAid’s and Oxfam’s local partners, including coordinators, members of
Development Programme Management Units at the district level, and staff from other
Vietnamese NGOs such as HCCD and CCD (as local partners of AAV in Ha Tinh and Dien
Bien), have also been critical to the success of the initiative.
Last but not least, we would like to sincerely thank the men, women, and children in
the villages selected for sharing with us in discussion and in-depth interviews their
difficulties, achievements, plans, and future expectations. None of this work could have
been achieved without their lively and active participation.
We would appreciate receiving comments 2 from interested readers and would like to
thank you in advance.
Consultants from Truong Xuan (Ageless) Company:
Hoang Xuan Thanh (Team Leader), with
Dinh Thi Thu Phuong
Ha My Thuan
Dinh Thi Giang
Luu Trong Quang
Dang Thi Thanh Hoa
Nguyen Thi Hoa
Truong Tuan Anh
2 Your comments can be sent to Mr. Hoang Xuan Thanh, Team Leader, Director of Truong Xuan (Ageless)
Company at the following numbers: (04) 39434478 (office), 091 334 0972 (mobile), email: thanhhx@gmail.com;
Ms. Hoang Lan Huong, Advocacy and Communication Programme Officer, Oxfam at (04) 39454362, email:
hlhuong@oxfam.org.uk; and Ms. Duong Minh Nguyet, Policy Coordinator, ActionAid International Viet Nam at
(04) 39439866, email: nguyet.duongminh@actionaid.org.

ABBREVIATIONS AND TERMS
10
ActionAid
ADB
CCD
CDF
Decision 1002
Decision 102
Decision 112
and
Decision 101
Decision 167
Decision 1956
Decision 30
Decision 74
Decree 49
Decree 54
Decree 67
and
Decree 13
Decree 92
DOLISA
DPI
FFS
GOV
GSO
ActionAid International Viet Nam
Asian Development Bank
Centre for Community Development
Community Development Fund
A government programme on improvement of community
awareness and community-based disaster management (based
on Decision No. 1002/QD-TTg dated 13 July 2009)
A policy that directly supports poor households in difficult
areas (based on Decision No.102/2009/QD-TTg dated 7
August 2009)
A government policy that supports poor students (based on
Decision No. 112/2007/QD-TTg dated 20 July 2007 and
Decision No. 101/2009/QD-TTg dated 5 August 2009)
A government policy that supports poor households with
houses (based on Decision No. 167/2008/QD-TTg dated 12
December 2008)
A government policy that supports vocational training for rural
labourers (based on Decision No. 1956/QD-TTg dated 27
November 2009)
List of communes classified as difficult areas (based on
Decision No. 30/2007/QD-TTg dated 5 March 2007)
A government policy that supports productive and residential
land for local ethnic minority households in the Mekong river
delta (based on Decision No. 74/2008/QD-TTg dated 9 June
2008)
A government policy that exempts and reduces tuition
fees, supports education expenses (based on Decree No.
49/2010/ND-CP dated 14 May 2010)
Guiding the implementation of some articles of the Ordinance
on benefits given to people who rendered great services to
the Revolution (based on Decree No. 54/2006/ND-CP dated
26 May 2006
A government policy that supports beneficiaries of social
welfare assistance programmes (based on Decree No.
67/2007/ ND-CP dated 13 April 2007, and Decree No.
13/2010/ND-CP dated 27 February 2010)
A government policy stipulating the titles, quantity, benefits,
policies toward commune level civil servants (under Decree
No. 92/2009/ND-CP dated 22 October 2009)
Department of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs
Department of Planning and Investment
Farmer Field School
Government of Viet Nam
General Statistics Office of Viet Nam

HCCD
HH
HIV/AIDS
ICM
IPM
MDGs
MOLISA
NGO
PC
PRA
Programme 134
Programme 135
Programme 30a
PTD
Reflect
SRI
SPB
TV
UNDP
VHLSS
VND
WB
WTO
Ha Tinh Center for Community Development
Household
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Integrated Crop Management
Integrated Pest Management
Millennium Development Goals
Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs
Non-Government Organization
People’s Committee
Participatory Rural Assessment
A government programme that supports production and
residential land, and water for domestic consumption for
ethnic minority people (Based on Decision No. 134/2004/QD-
TTg dated 20 July 2004)
A government programme that supports socio-economic
development for especially difficult communes (Based on
Decision No. 135/1998/QD-TTg dated 31 July 1998)
A government programme that supports sustainable poverty
reduction in 61 poor districts (Based on Resolution No.
30a/2008/NQ-CP dated 27 December 2008), now in 62
districts due to changes in administrative borders
Participatory Technology Development
Regenerated Freirean Literacy through Empowering Community
Techniques (implemented by ActionAid and its local partners)
System for Rice Intensification
Social Policy Bank
Television
United Nations Development Programme
Viet Nam Household Living Standards Survey
Viet Nam dong
World Bank
World Trade Organization
1 USD ≈ 20,850 VND or dong (As of April 2012)
11

12 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The last five years (2007-2011) has been a difficult period for Viet Nam. High
inflation, the global financial crisis and economic recession, natural disasters and
epidemics have affected the lives of everybody in Viet Nam, particularly the poor.
Nevertheless, the poverty rate continues to decline. Major Government
investments have provided the poor with improved infrastructure, education, health
care, access to credit, agro-forestry extension services and housing improvements.
Improved living standards at the monitoring points are associated with strategies to
combine agriculture (land-based diversification and intensification), non-agriculture
(including labour mobility) and investment in children’s education.
The recorded achievements are remarkable, yet rural poverty reduction remains a
challenge. Poverty reduction rates are uneven in rural areas. The poverty rate among
ethnic minority groups remains stubbornly high, particularly in remote mountainous
areas. In such situations, it is more important to close the widening poverty gap
between regions, ethnic groups and within communities .
A multi-dimensional poverty analysis is essential. Across the monitoring points
people’s lives have improved in many respects. People own more property (mainly
housing, motorbikes, and livestock) and have improved access to information (TV,
telephones). However, many people face difficult living conditions (lack of safe water,
latrines), have limited access to markets, have little opportunity of non-agricultural
employment and struggle to manage the many risks they face. The percentage of
households that are predominantly engaged in agriculture remains high, and remains a
significant indicator of household poverty. Food shortages between harvests or during
epidemics and natural disasters remains a significant challenge. Gender roles remain
the same today as in 2007, and women still do not play an active role in productive
and social activities. The proportion of women in administration is still low and their
capacities at local administrative levels are limited. In communities in which different
social groups have specific difficulties, it is important to tailor policies to each group.
Developing social security systems is a major challenge. Policy coverage is limited,
the level of assistance is low, targeting is imperfect and often inadequate and local
capacity to implement social policies is weak. Recipient households are identified using
a list of poor households. However, the different needs of vulnerable households vary
considerably and are not recorded in the list, making more nuanced policy difficult.
Price volatility has been a serious issue since 2007. High inflation in 2008 and 2011
affected many people. Some commodity producers benefit from price increases of
agricultural produce. However, the poor are sensitive to higher input prices and benefit
little from increasing agricultural prices because of small-scale production and weak
market position. Increased prices for food, services and other necessities reduces
purchasing power, and affects the food security of poor households who do not grow
their own food.
Labour mobility has increased over the last five years. Labour mobility is associated
with diversified livelihood strategies and plays an increasingly important role in rural
poverty reduction. More men work away from home than women, although at many
monitoring points an increasing proportion of women are seeking work further afield.

Increased labour mobility changes the local labour structure and traditional gender
divisions. However, when men work away from home women face an increased domestic
burden. Few ethnic minority people in mountainous areas work away from home due to
community and family barriers.
13
Access to educational services has improved considerably at the monitoring
points. Semi-boarding for general school children has proved effective, particularly in
ethnic minority and mountainous areas. However, the proportion of lower and upper
secondary school children dropping out of school is still high and is even increasing
in some disadvantaged mountainous areas. Some ethnic minority children continue to
struggle with schooling in the Vietnamese language. Increasing out of pocket spending
on children’s education is a major burden for the poor.
Access to agricultural extension services has improved. A network of grassroots
agricultural extension workers has been established in most of the monitoring points
in mountainous ethnic minority areas. However, the participatory agricultural extension
approach (increasing the function of counselling, facilitation and hand-on guidance) has
not yet been extensively applied. Improved farming methods have yet to be applied on
a large scale. Funding for agricultural extension projects is limited, while the capacity of
grassroots agricultural extension workers is weak.
Reformed planning and decentralized investment at the commune level is becoming
more important. People now have better access to information on policies, programmes
and projects, many of which have been designed to improve the participation of the
poor and poor communities. However, there remains a gap between policy and its
implementation. The application of participatory approaches and decentralized financing
mechanisms, such as the Community Development Fund (CDF) in some survey sites,
has been encouraging, yet still faces many challenges. Grassroots cadres and local
residents have limited capacity, district level government and communes do not work
closely together, plans and financial resource plans are not adequately communicated
and gender and disaster and climate change strategies are not incorporated in the
planning process.
This five-year report presents the following recommendations for discussion
toward sustainable poverty reduction in Viet Nam’s rural areas, particularly
mountainous ethnic minority areas:
1. To promote qualitative and quantitative research and analysis of emerging
themes in order to develop suitable poverty reduction policies. Suggested
themes are the increasing gap between the rich and the poor and the multidimensional
character of poverty. There should also be a specific focus on
northern mountainous ethnic minority areas.
2. To formulate more vigorous support policies in favour of specific disadvantaged
groups such as the “chronically” poor, the temporarily poor, the vulnerable poor
and the near-poor and people who have just escaped from poverty. Support
policies should: increase direct cash transfers to the chronically poor, build
capacity relevant to people’s livelihoods, increase conditional assistance and
reduce unconditional assistance to the temporarily poor, increase investment
in programmes that manage risks facing vulnerable groups improve access for
the near-poor to health insurance, credit, agricultural extension and education.
3. To build social security policy that ensures the right to security and a minimum
living standard acceptable to every citizen. To consolidate similar policies in
order to minimise mistakes, reduce the management burden and implementation
costs. To provide more targeted assistance to the most vulnerable households

14
and improve monitoring and evaluation systems, develop concrete regulations
so that people and communities can practice their supervisory rights. Target
social security based on multi-dimensional poverty criteria rather than the
income poverty line.
4. To design policies that both do not discriminate against migrants and actively
support them in their efforts to find and secure safe employment.
5. To encourage investments in education in models such as “Semi-boarding
general schools”, “Staff supporting teachers”, “Bi-lingual education” for
kindergartens, and “Education and community development - Reflect”. Issue
specific regulations on additional contributions, both compulsory and “optional”,
in order to reduce the costs of sending children to school. Develop concrete
regulations to improve the roles of parent’s representative boards in supervising
the school’s affairs. Increase vocational counselling services to enable students
to select courses that will help then find employment on graduation.
6. To reform agricultural extension services in mountainous ethnic minority areas
that are more beneficial to the poor. Replace conventional training methods
and models with participatory approaches such as “Farmer Field Schools
(FFS)”, “Participatory Technology Development (PTD)”, “Farmer to Farmer”.
Provide specialised training, increased allowances and direct support for
the establishment of demonstration models for village agricultural extension
workers. Encourage gender analysis and gender mainstreaming in agricultural
extension. Increase the budget for agricultural extension projects aimed at
improving and changing the livelihoods of the poor, paying special attention to
low-cost investment models, suitable to conditions and livelihood strategies of
poor ethnic minorities.
7. To undertake comprehensive investment (e.g. in the form of Community
Development Fund - CDF) in poverty reduction programmes at the commune
level via a decentralized financing mechanism with community ownership (i.e.
“block grant”), along with substantial and continued assistance in enhancing
participatory socio-economic planning, financial management and communitybased
supervisory capacities. Recommendations obtained in participatory
planning exercises at the grassroots level should be consolidated and reflected
in plans to deliver public services (e.g. agriculture, agro- extension, and
education, health, and water supply services). To institutionalize the participatory
socio-economic planning approach and regulation on the use of decentralized
financial at commune level, based on experiences and lessons learned from
some provinces taking part in this initiative over the past years. Tools promoting
the voice and empower farmers should be applied widely (such as “Citizen
Report Card”, “Community Score Card”, and “Social auditing”).

INTRODUCTION
15
Objectives of the Report
Viet Nam has changed rapidly over the last 25 years. Once one of the world’s poorest
nations, Viet Nam has made tremendous achievements in economic growth and poverty
reduction. In 1993, nearly 60% of the Viet Viet Nam population was living in poverty. This
figure dropped to only 14 percent in 2008 3 .
The Government of Viet Nam (GOV) undertook a number of reforms between 2007
and 2012, with the objective of promoting further economic development and lifting
the remaining poor households out of poverty. Viet Nam’s full accession to the WTO
in early 2007 marked an important milestone in the country’s integration into the
global economy. The country’s new role in the world economic order has brought both
opportunities and challenges, particularly for poor communities and ethnic minority
peoples in mountainous areas.
Oxfam and ActionAid International Viet Nam (ActionAid), in cooperation with local
partners decided to monitor the impact of WTO accession and subsequent reform by
establishing a participatory poverty monitoring network to:
“Carry out periodical poverty monitoring of vulnerable groups in specific
communities, in the context of WTO accession and the government’s
projected reform policies up to 2012, to provide analysis and
recommendations for policy dialogue and implementation of programmes
and projects by ActionAid, Oxfam and their partners.”
The goals of the annual poverty monitoring exercises are to:
• Provide qualitative information on poverty and development for use in
conjunction with statistical and survey data collected from other sources.
• Establish an ‘early warning’ network to identify negative impacts, especially on
poor and vulnerable people, following accession to the WTO.
• Improve local capacity and enhance people’s participation in monitoring, with a
view to making poverty alleviation more effective and equitable.
Methodology
Survey Site Selection
A rural poverty monitoring network was established in nine provinces where Oxfam and
ActionAid were already active. One typical commune in each province was selected
for fieldwork, with the exception of Ninh Thuan province where two communes were
selected. In each commune two villages were chosen, one close to the commune centre,
and the other further away and facing more difficult conditions (Previous involvement
in an ActionAid or Oxfam project was not a precondition for a commune being chosen).
A total of ten communes (twenty villages) were selected (see Table 1). The goal of the
monitoring network is not to generate representative statistical data; rather, the goal
is to provide qualitative evidence, including people’s own testimony, as a platform for
policy dialogue and development programme formulation. Monitoring points were
specifically chosen to sample typical livelihoods and poverty status and to reflect the
complex diversity of conditions across the sites surveyed.
3 GSO, “Viet Nam Household Living Standards Survey 2008”, Statistics Publishing House, Ha Noi, 2010

16
TABLE 1. The monitoring points
Commune District Province Main
ethnic
groups
Distance
to
district
centre
(km)
In
Programme
30a
Commune
poverty
rate by
end of
2011 (%)
Thuan Hoa Vi Xuyen Ha Giang Tay, H’Mong 42 No 56.4
Ban Lien Bac Ha Lao Cai Tay, H’Mong 28 Yes 63
Thanh Xuong Dien Bien Dien Bien Kinh, Thai 3 No 7.5
Luong Minh Tuong Nghe An Thai, Kh’Mu 17 Yes 85.3
Duong
Duc Huong Vu Quang Ha Tinh Kinh 10 No 43.3
Xy Huong Hoa Quang Tri Van Kieu 36 No 72.1
Cu Hue Eakar Dak Lak Ede, Kinh 2 No 11.4
Phuoc Dai Bac Ai Ninh Thuan Raglai 0,3 Yes 57.8
Phuoc Thanh Bac Ai Ninh Thuan Raglai 14 Yes 70.9
Thuan Hoa Cau Ngang Tra Vinh Kh’mer,
Kinh
SOURCE: Commune information sheets
2 No 26.7
Note: The maps used in the various tables of this report are from “Poverty Map of 2008”, based on 2008 VHLSS
data. Darker colours indicate higher poverty rates. Source: “Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam: Achievements
and Challenges”, Poverty Assessment Synthesis Report 2008-2010, Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences,
October 2010.
The communities chosen for poverty monitoring are in areas with severe difficulties and
reflect the great diversity of rural Viet Nam. For example:
• Geographical diversity and topography: The monitoring points span the length of
the country, from the northern mountainous areas, through the north-central and
coastal south-central regions and the central highlands, and down to the Mekong
Delta. A range of topographies are represented, including high mountains (Ban
Lien-Lao Cai, Luong Minh-Nghe An, Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang), low mountains (Thanh
Xuong-Dien Bien, Duc Huong-HT, Xy-Quang Tri, Phuoc Dai and Phuoc Thanh-
Ninh Thuan), highlands (Cu Hue-Dak Lak), and delta areas (Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh).
• Ethnic diversity: The monitoring areas include numerous ethnic groups, such as
Kinh, Tay, Thai, H’Mong, Kh’Mu, Van Kieu, Ede, Raglai, and Kh’mer.
• Remoteness: The monitoring took place near district centres and at sites 30 to
40 kilometres from the centre.
• Poverty situation: The monitoring points include some communes with good
poverty reduction results, as assessed against the poverty line introduced
by the Government for the 2011-2015 period, with poverty rates around 15
percent (Thanh Xuong, Cu Hue), and also some extremely poor communes with
poverty rates above 70 percent.
It is noteworthy that nine out of ten communes are in areas designated as
difficult by Decision 30 of the Prime Minister (with the one exception being
Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien). Four communes (Ban Lien, Luong Minh, Phuoc Dai
and Phuoc Thanh) are included in Programme 30a, which was initiated by the
Government at the end of 2008 and aims at rapid and sustainable poverty

eduction in the 61 poorest districts of the country (the number of districts has
subsequently been changed to 62 due to administrative re-division).
A core poverty monitoring assessment group of 15 to 25 people was established in
each province. The group comprised of:
17
• Representatives of provincial departments: Foreign Affairs, Planning and
Investment, Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Agriculture and Rural Development,
Committee for Ethnic Minorities, Statistics Office, Farmer’s Association, Women’s
Union, and Youth Union.
• Representatives of district divisions: Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs;
Agriculture and Rural Development; Finance and Planning; Statistics; Fatherland
Front; Farmer’s Association; Women’s Union; Youth Union; and field staff of
ActionAid and Oxfam programmes in the localities.
• Representatives from communes and villages selected for survey.
Core groups were responsible for monitoring in their own locality, and were involved in
organization as well as data collection and the drafting of field reports. They received
technical support from consultants of Truong Xuan (Ageless) Company and Programme
Officers from ActionAid and Oxfam.
The framework: themes and hypotheses
Data collection was organised around four themes and hypotheses.
THEME 1: The gap between the rich and the poor. Poverty, disadvantage, and
inequality are often the result of power imbalances. The gap between the rich and the
poor can be defined quantitatively as differences in income, expenditure, and assets,
or qualitatively as differences in people’s voice and representation and their access to
resources, services, and markets. Hypothesis: in the context of global economic
integration and government reform, people who are better educated and better
skilled, and who have access to social networks and supporting services, are
more likely to progress faster than those who do not enjoy such advantages.
THEME 2: Vulnerability. Poor people and communities often face serious and sustained
risks. Poverty is often linked to lack of food security and unstable livelihoods caused by
market changes, insecure employment opportunities, lack of social security support, and
natural disasters and disease. Hypothesis: with larger cash-commodity production
and better access to markets, some people can take better advantage of market
opportunities and cope with changes in prices and other risks and shocks. Those
who cannot adjust in this way are likely to encounter difficulties or fall back to,
or below, the poverty line.
THEME 3: Gender Relations. Poor women have roles and voices different from men’s.
They also face significant challenges: employment opportunities, equality in discussions
and negotiations with men when making key decisions, access to services, participation in
community activities, and children’s education. Hypothesis: a general improvement
in living conditions is associated with significantly improved roles for women
in decisions about their children’s education, in decision-making generally, in
community activities, and in the division of household labour.
THEME 4: Participation and Empowerment. Strengthening the role and voice of
poor people requires increasing access information, levels of participation, and even
taking the lead in monitoring and evaluation local poverty alleviation programmes
and projects. Hypothesis: in the new economic conditions, local authorities will
face challenges in bringing higher levels of decentralization, participation,

18
transparency, and accountability to bear on managing and monitoring
sustainable poverty alleviation.
The fifth round of poverty monitoring in 2011 studied multi-dimensional poverty, social
security, the effect of high prices, labour mobility, educational services, agricultural
extension services, participatory planning and decentralized financing at commune level.
Annually repeated surveys
The core groups visited the same surveyed communes and villages each year and,
using the same household questionnaire, conducted in-depth interviews with the same
households, and carried out the wealth ranking exercises using the same list.
Participatory field monitoring at each site took six to seven days. The main data collection
tools were:
Household questionnaires: In each village 30 households were selected for the annual
survey (in total, 60 households from two villages in each commune). A simple random
technique (e.g. random card drawing) was used to select the households for interview.
The questionnaire focused on background information about household members, some
indicators of the household’s living standards, changes in household’s livelihood, and
assessed access to services, markets and degree of civic participation. 600 household
questionnaires were completed at ten monitoring points, providing data from 344 poor
households and 256 non-poor households (as determined by the GOV poverty standard
at time of survey). Of the 600 respondents, 346 were male, 254 female, 148 Kinh, and
452 from other ethnic groups such as H’mong, Thai, Tay, Kh’mu, Van Kieu, Ede, Raglai,
and Kh’mer.
The core groups revisited all households interviewed in 2009 to maintain a panel sample.
However, by 2011, of the 600 households sampled in 2010, 12 households had to be
replaced due to change of residence or adults absent from home at the time of this
survey. In order to check the reliability of 2011 data against that of previous years,
the research team ran a data analysis for 588 panel households and obtained a result
with little difference from data obtained from 600-household samples. Data used in this
report comes from the sample of 600 households.
Data obtained from household interviews are presented in the form of descriptive
tabulation and disaggregated into poor and non-poor households using results from
the poverty review in each locality at the time of the survey. One exception is Cu Hue-
Dak Lak, which has no disaggregated data for poor households because the number of
poor households in the sampling was too small (only two poor households out of the 60
households surveyed in Cu Hue-Dak Lak).
In-depth interview for case studies: Eight to ten typically poor and near-poor households
from each village were interviewed to obtain detailed information about trends of
poverty, disadvantages and risks faced, gender relations, and their level of participation
in programmes and projects. 541 in-depth interviews were conducted with households.
Group discussions: These were conducted with commune officials, core groups from
villages (including village officials, representatives from mass organizations, and
knowledgeable villagers), and local resident groups including men’s groups, women’s
groups, poor groups, and children’s groups. Participatory Rural Assessment (PRA) tools
- such as household wealth ranking, timelines, cause-effect diagrams, mobility mapping

exercises - were used to gain a deeper understanding of poverty gaps, community
history, livelihood trends, and risks, and to gain feedback about the implementation of
local programmes and projects.
19
190 group discussions were held involving 1024 villagers (adults and children) and
commune and village officials. Of these people, 638 were men, 386 women, 321 Kinh,
and 703 members of ethnic minorities.
Information sheets: Monitoring personnel provided statistical data about the communes
and villages selected. On-site observation and photographs taken (with permission
where necessary) provided additional information.
Interviews with local officials and other stakeholders: In addition to the above methods,
30 interviews were carried out with officials from provincial and district departments in
the nine provinces.
Triangulation methods were applied throughout the report in order to provide evidencebased
statements that are supported by various sources of information, such as
local reports, household questionnaires, group discussions, in-depth interviews, and
observations by the study team.
This synthesis report reflects all survey results from the nine provinces studied between
2007 and 2011. It stresses the recognizable changes and policy implications arising
the factors that have affected poverty trends at the monitoring points in the last five
years 4 . The report comprises three parts. Part 1 gives an overview of poverty trends and
summarizes developments in four areas over the past five years. Part 2 presents current
challenges to rural poverty reduction. Part 3 concludes and provides recommendations
for more sustainable rural poverty reduction 5 .
Table 2 updates basic characteristics at the end of 2011 of 20 selected villages based
on village information sheets and household survey results.
4 Secondary information is quoted with sources. Primary information with no source listed in this report comes
from nine component reports and the field diary in the nine provinces in the five years from 2007 to 2011.
5 See also “Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam - First Round Synthesis Report”,
Nov. 2008. Oxfam and ActionAid International Viet Nam; “Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities
in Viet Nam - Second Round Synthesis Report 2008/2009”, November 2009. Oxfam and ActionAid International
Viet Nam; and “Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam - Third Round Synthesis
Report 2009”, April 2010. Oxfam and ActionAid International Viet Nam and “Participatory poverty monitoring
in rural communities in Viet Nam - Fourth Round Synthesis Report 2010” April 2011. Oxfam and ActionAid
International Viet Nam.

20
TABLE 2. Characteristics of the 20 villages in the poverty monitoring network
Province Ha Giang Lao Cai Dien Bien Nghe An Ha Tinh Quang Tri Dak Lak Ninh Thuan Tra Vinh
District Vi Xuyen Bac Ha Dien Bien Tuong Duong Vu Quang Huong Hoa Eakar Bac Ai Cau Ngang
Commune Thuan Hoa Ban Lien Thanh Xuong Luong Minh Duc Huong Xy Cu Hue Phuoc Dai Phuoc Thanh Thuan Hoa
Soc
Chua
Thuy
Hoa
M’Hang Ta Lu 1 Ma Hoa Ma Du Da
Ba
Cai
Xy La Dong
Tam
Troan
Ô
Huong
Tan
Huong
Tho
Cham
Puong
Xop
Mat
Chan
Nuoi 2
Pa
Dong
Doi 1 Khu Chu
Tung1
Minh
Phong
Village Mich
B
Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No Yes Yes No No
Phase 2 of
Programme 135
Delta Delta
Low
mountain
Low
mountain
Low
mountain
Highland Low
mountain
Low mountain
Highland
Low
mountain
Low
mountain
Low
mountain
High mountain
Valley High
mountain
Low
mountain
Valley High mountain
Topography Valley High mountain
97 52 30 30 86 93 37 170 140 102 48 33 147 156 294 188 142 94 274 396
Total number of
households
Kh’mer
(67%)
Kinh
(33%)
Kh’mer
(80%)
Kinh
(20%)
Raglai
(95%)
Raglai
(95%)
Raglai
(67%)
Kinh
(33%)
Ede (94%) Raglai
(47%)
Kinh
(52%)
Kinh
(95%)
Van Kieu
(99%)
Van Kieu
(97.6%)
Kinh
(100%)
Kh’Mu (98.7%) Kinh
(100%)
Thai
(98%)
Kinh
(93.5%)
Thai (80%)
Kinh
(20%)
H’Mong
(100%)
Tay
(100%)
H’Mong
(100%)
Main ethnicity Tay
(98%)
2 4 2 13 2.5 4 0.4 12 1 1.5 1.5 0.5 6.5 2 0.6 2.1 0.4 2.7 1 3
Distance to the
commune centre
(km)
0.5 4 2 5 0 0 0.4 12 0.2 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.1 0 0 0.6
Distance to the
nearest road (km)
2 4 1.5 15 1 1 0.4 12 1,2 1 1.5 0.5 6.5 2 0.5 1.7 0.1 3 1 2.5
Distance to the
nearest commune
healthcare centre
(km)
0.5 0 2 0.2 2 3 0.4 0.2 0.03 1.5 1.5 0.5 1 0,1 0.5 0.6 0.2 1.5 0.5 1
Distance to the
nearest primary
school (km)
1 5 2 15 2.6 3 0.4 4 1 1.7 1.5 0.5 3 2 0.5 1 1.2 3 1.5 2.5
Distance to the
nearest secondary
school (km)
16 20 30 15 6 5 17 26 12 8 8 6 7.5 2 1 1 14 13 0.5 2.5
Distance to the
nearest high school
(km)
2 4 2 15 1 1 17 26 1 1.5 24 22.5 7 2 0.5 1.7 14 13 1 2.5
Distance to the
nearest market (km)
10000 10562 N/A N/A 385 350 N/A N/A 1002 718 9620 N/A 2692 900 1351 2710 11953 6397 712 2280
Average agricultural
land/person (m 2 )
520 450 315 310 380 800 120 147 300 270 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 315
Average food /
person/year (kg)
58.0 47.0 66.7 93.0 47.6 2.7 84.0 95.0 50.7 53.1 81.0 71.9 15.8 15.3 43.0 69.1 81.9 63.4 35.1 39.5
Village poverty
rate by the end of
2010 (%)

Ha Giang Lao Cai Dien Bien Nghe An Ha Tinh Quang Tri Dak Lak Ninh Thuan Tra Vinh
Province
District Vi Xuyen Bac Ha Dien Bien Tuong Duong Vu Quang Huong Hoa Eakar Bac Ai Cau Ngang
Commune Thuan Hoa Ban Lien Thanh Xuong Luong Minh Duc Huong Xy Cu Hue Phuoc Dai Phuoc Thanh Thuan Hoa
Soc
Chua
Thuy
Hoa
Ma Hoa Ma Du Da Ba
Cai
M’Hang Ta Lu
1
Xy La Dong
Tam
Troan
O
Huong
Tan
Huong
Tho
Cham
Puong
Xop
Mat
Chan
Nuoi 2
Pa
Dong
Doi 1 Khu
Chu
Tung1
Minh
Phong
Village Mich
B
97 83 100 97 100 100 100 47 100 100 100 97 100 100 97 100 87 100 100 100
47 67 63 50 0 0 83 63 0 0 40 97 0 0 87 70 70 0 66 33
7 10 0 3 3 57 100 100 50 37 0 7 43 20 13 10 3 10 35 43
3 7 17 0 3 7 3 13 17 20 10 0 20 10 7 17 0 3 21 17
90 53 93 40 93 100 77 27 93 97 83 67 100 93 87 73 80 83
Households using
electricity % (*)
Households using piped
water % (*)
Households with manual/
automatic flush toilet
% (*)
Households with radio/
cassette % (*)
Households with TV % (*)
100 90
52 73
70 90 70 83 87 90 43 17 63 67 77 73 93 83 40 50 37 77
66 80
97 90 93 63 80 100 67 27 93 90 40 73 97 63 79 63 43 47
63 37 20 7 77 33 20 13 7 17 17 37 20 63 27 30 7 30 69 63
0 3 17 3 7 13 37 30 30 37 0 3 17 7 0 13 0 0 79 57
0 3 0 0 7 13 7 0 3 7 0 7 3 10 7 7 0 7 7 7
90 77 57 93 97 90 7 13 86 97 90 93 100 73 70 67 63 50 31 73
Households with
motorbikes % (*)
Households with
telephones % (*)
Households with
members engaged in
local wage labour % (*)
Households with
remittance from migrant
labourers % (*)
Households with income
from trading and services
% (*)
Households selling
products in the last 12
months % (*)
Households buying
materials in the last 12
months % (*)
Households benefiting
from agri. extension
services in the last 12
months % (*)
Household members with
no schooling % (*)
Household members
who have not completed
primary education % (*)
100 97 87 83 100 100 10 10 90 93 3 0 90 70 47 30 10 13 41 77
69 27 57 73 90 80 20 24 72 73 77 97 43 43 17 35 27 50 28 35
8 18 27 34 21 5 20 16 7 4 42 36 4 17 27 29 55 45 20 12
17 36 32 29 32 15 25 49 10 10 31 29 11 43 44 42 30 27 46 36
30 38 33 83 43 13 53 77 27 27 57 60 13 30 37 40 53 67 66 47
Poverty rate by the
end of 2009 in the
study sample of 30
households % (*)
(*) Data obtained from the random household questionnaire survey at the end of 2011
SOURCE: Village information sheets
21

Part 1
Poverty Trends and Key Themes
of Rural Poverty Reduction

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes
of Rural Poverty Reduction
25
1. OVERVIEW OF POVERTY TRENDS
1.1. Poverty trends
Poverty in Viet Nam is measured using either expenditure poverty lines defined by the
World Bank together with General Statistics Office (GSO/WB) or the income poverty line
set by the Government. The Government has raised the income poverty line for the
2011-2015 period, resulting in an increase in the proportion of poor households.
Expenditure poverty lines of the World Bank and GSO
Poverty reduction in Viet Nam has been impressive. In the 1993-2008 period
national poverty incidence declined from 58.1 percent to 14.5 percent according to
GSO/WB poverty lines while the “poverty gap” 6 has also narrowed, from 18.5 percent
to 3.5 percent. Access to basic social and infrastructure services (education, health,
electricity, road, portable water, and environmental sanitation) also improved significantly.
Table 1.1 shows how the pace of poverty reduction has slowed in recent years. Rural
poverty incidence has declined at an average of less than one percentage point annually
between 2006 and 2008, compared to three to four percentage points in previous
years. Poverty incidence among ethnic minority groups has declined slowly and remains
high; estimated at more than 50 percent in 2008. The fact that poverty reduction has
slowed and is uneven across regions and ethnic groups presents a challenge to policy
makers. The expenditure poverty lines used since 1993 are now out of date, are lower
than international and regional poverty lines and need to be brought into line with the
new household’s expenditure structure and expectations in Viet Nam 7 . If the poverty line
is raised to international levels the poverty picture in Viet Nam changes substantially.
TABLE 1.1. Percentage of people living in poverty in Viet Nam, using GSO/WB
expenditure poverty lines, 1993-2008 (%)
1993 1998 2002 2004 2006 2008
All of Viet Nam 58.1 37.4 28.9 19.5 16 .0 14.5
Urban 25.1 9.5 6.6 3.6 3.9 3.3
Rural 66.4 44.9 35.6 25.0 20.4 18.7
Kinh and Hoa 53.9 31.1 23.1 13.5 10.3 9.0
Ethnic minorities 86.4 75.2 69.3 60.7 52.3 50.3
SOURCE: GSO, “Results of Viet Nam Household Living Standards Survey 2008”, Statistics Publishing House,
Hanoi, 2010
- “Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam: Achievements and Challenges”, Poverty Assessment Synthesis Report 2008-
2010, Viet Nam Academy of Social Sciences, October 2010.
6 The “Poverty Gap” Index indicates the gap between the average expenditure of the poor group and the
poverty line.
7 The expenditure poverty line defined by the WB and GSO in 1993 has been updated in the years in which
Viet Nam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) was conducted. At the time of this report, no official
updated statistics on expenditure poverty from VHLSS 2010 because GSO is considering to increase the
expenditure poverty line to be suitable to household expenditure structure in Viet Nam in the new context.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
26
The Government’s national income poverty line
Poverty in rural Viet Nam fell in the 2004-2010 period, according to the Government’s
2006-2010 income poverty line. At the end of 2010 the Government adopted a new
poverty line for the 2011-2015 period, according to which rural households and urban
households with an income per capita less than or equal to 400,000 VND and 500,000
VND per month respectively are considered poor. Raising the income poverty line
increases the rural household poverty rate by four percentage points (Table 1.2).
TABLE 1.2. Poor household rates in Viet Nam using the Government’s income
poverty line, in the period 2004-2010 (%)
Old income poverty line
New income
poverty line
2004 2006 2008 2010 2010
All of Viet Nam 18.1 15,5 13,4 10.7 14.2
Urban 8.6 7.7 6.7 5.1 6.9
Rural 21.2 17.0 16.1 13.2 17.4
Source: GSO, “Key results from Viet Nam Household Living Standards Survey 2010”, June 2011
Note:
• The income poverty line for the period 2006-2010 was set at an average income of 200,000 VND person
month in rural areas and 260,000 VND /person/month in urban areas. The poverty rate in 2004, 2006,
2008 and 2010 was measured by GSO using the poverty line for 2006-2010 with some adjustment due
to price changes in the corresponding year.
• The Government’s income poverty line for the 2011-2015 period is set at an average income of up to
400,000 VND/person/month in rural areas and 500,000 VND/person/month in urban areas (Decision No.
09/2011/QD-TTg dated 30/1/2011 of the Prime Minister).
Poverty reduction was uneven in the 2006-2010 period. Poverty rates fell most
rapidly (4-5% annually) in areas with diverse livelihoods, favourable conditions for
commodity production, migrant labour and local casual jobs. Poverty rates remain high
among ethnic minority groups living in remote mountainous areas.
According to the new poverty line the poverty rate at the monitoring points
in late 2010 rose sharply. Figure 1.1 shows the proportion of poor households in
some villages of the Kh’Mu, H’Mong, Thai, Raglai, and Van Kieu in northern mountainous
and central provinces is more than seventy percent. These villages are far from socioeconomic
centres, main roads, schools, commune health stations and markets. Most
have an unstable agricultural model, are prone to natural disasters and disease and
have few sources of non-agricultural employment. Ensuring basic food security remains
a challenge for local people. Villages face unique difficulties such as no access to the
national grid or problems with illegal drugs.
Perception of life changes
The proportion of people who feel their lives have improved over the last
five years is high in most monitoring points (Table 1.3). Four reported reasons
are: availability of labour, favourable market prices, improved access to loans, and the
introduction of new seed varieties.
Only a small proportion of respondents felt their lives had got “worse” in the
last five years (nine percent of the 600 households). The four most reported reasons
for a decline in living standards were: labour shortage (household members are elderly,
disabled or ill), natural disasters, a shortage of capital, and unfavourable prices. Price
volatility improved the lives of some households (higher sale prices for produce), and
hurt others (the price of inputs and essentials rose faster than produced outputs).

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
TABLE 1.3. Feelings about life changes, 2007 - 2011
Commune Life over the last
Reasons for improvement (%)
five years (%)
Better Same Worse Do not Access Having Having Knowledge Favourable Good Less Less Others
know to capital man new of farming prices irrigation affected epidemics
sources power suitable
varieties
technique
system by
disasters
and pests
Thuan Hoa 68 28 3 0 27 54 66 44 27 2 12 15 0
Ban Lien 68 28 3 0 54 56 41 22 66 7 7 5 5
27
Thanh Xuong 75 18 7 0 40 80 31 31 31 4 20 22 2
Luong Minh 73 17 10 0 36 45 45 36 25 7 9 5 27
Duc Huong
73 17 10 0 36 45 45 36 25 7 9 5 27
Xy 85 15 0 0 6 69 12 18 47 0 65 33 0
Cu Hue 52 45 3 0 29 48 26 39 65 0 39 13 3
Phuoc Dai 38 53 7 2 52 48 26 17 30 30 43 9 0
Phuoc Thanh 27 45 22 7 44 94 0 0 19 19 44 0 0
Thuan Hoa 52 38 10 0 13 90 19 16 26 6 23 10 0
Average 55 34 9 2 33 64 32 26 40 6 27 14 7
SOURCE: Household interviews
1.2. Household poverty reduction strategies at the monitoring points
Poverty trends at the monitoring points are linked to labour division strategies.
Macro level factors have affected all households. These include improved infrastructure,
increased economic opportunities,
FIGURE 1.1. Poverty rates in 20 surveyed more non-agricultural jobs and
villages according to new poverty line, 2010 better educational, health and
agricultural extension services.
At the household level, effective
labour division strategies are of
decisive significance. Household
labour division strategies vary between
communes, villages and households,
and often involve a combination of
agricultural and non-agricultural jobs
and study depending on the age of
household members (Figure 1.2).
• Agricultural employment:
Diversification and intensive farming
in agricultural production and making
use of land advantages (Thuan Hoa-
Ha Giang, Ban Lien-Lao Cai, Thanh
Xuong-Dien Bien, and Cu Hue-
Dak Lak). Increasing income from
agriculture remains a popular strategy
in mountainous areas, particularly
among middle-aged and elderly
people.
• Non-agricultural employment:
SOURCE: Poverty statistics provided by communes

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
28
Mostly working away from home, local jobs (casual or more permanent), trading
or small businesses. Most migrant workers concentrate in the lowland and Kinh
dominated areas (Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, and Thuan Hoa-
Tra Vinh). Most are young or middle-aged.
• Education: Use of income from agricultural and non-agricultural work to invest
in children’s and young people’s education (at most monitoring sites).
The exercise summarizing direct reasons contributing to better life at the
monitoring points. The methodology “life history interviews” in the last five years
(2007-2011) was applied in in-depth interviews of households selected in the survey
Non-agricultural employment
(incl. migration)
Children, young
HHs
Youth, middle-aged
Middle-aged, elderly
Education
Agricultural employment
Infrastructure improvement
Market, employment opportunities
Social and productive services
round in 2011. The responses of 110 households are summarized in Table 1.4.
TABLE 1.4. Reasons for better life at the monitoring points, 2007-2011
No. Direct reasons for better life over the last five Frequencies
years
1 Diversified, intensive commodity production 66
2 Gradual accumulation from livestock breeding 42
3 Local casual jobs 29
4 Working away from home 27
5 Benefiting from Government’s support policies (in housing 25
construction, raising children with disabilities, social
assistance and allowance...)
6 Expanding area of productive land 23
7 Having more man power 13
8 Trading, business and agricultural services 9
9 More goods exchanges, purchase 7
10 Households with members who are in detoxification
3
centres or working away from home
11 Getting married to foreigners 1
SOURCE: In-depth interviews of selected households

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
Diversified intensive commodity production. The strategy of diversifying and
combining short-term and long-term crops was common to households who reported
improved living conditions (such as combining rice and tea in Ban Lien-Lao Cai, maize
and coffee in Cu Hue-Dak Lak, rice and vegetables in Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, rice and
subsidiary crops in Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh). In mountainous ethnic minority communes,
diversification helps households manage risk and increases the effective use of labour
and land. In lowland Kinh dominated communes the introduction of new varieties and
farming techniques has increased crop yields, helping many households escape from
poverty (Box 1.1).
29
BOX 1.1. Escaping from poverty thanks to the application of improved
techniques in production
Mr. D.T.M’s family from Huong Tan village, Duc Huong commune (Vu Quang, Ha Tinh)
suffered a series of traumatic events. In 2006 Mr D.T.M’s wife had an accident. In
2007, his father was hospitalized due to serious illness, and in 2008 his child also
suffered serious illness. Mr D.T.M used all his savings for medical treatment.
In early 2009, Mr. D.T.M. was elected as head of the Village Farmers’ Association
Branch, and had an opportunity to take part in training courses on subsidiary crop
production. Thanks to investments in manure and by sowing a more suitable density
of seeds, the yield of his peanuts increased from 0.15 to 0.19-0.2 ton/sao. In 2009,
after making a profit of 20 million VND Mr D.T.M bought more cows and rented another
two sao of land for farming. In 2010 his household made a profit of 50 million VND.
He rented another four sao of land and bought a corn threshing machine. In 2011,
he rented one mau of land (from villagers’ 5% allotted land and from households with
a shortage of labour) and bought a milling machine. He estimated he would make a
profit of 80 million VND in 2011. Improved production techniques helped Mr D.T.M’s
household escape from poverty.
Relative
living
standards
Well-off
Effective application of
peanut farming techniques and
investment, profit of 20 million
Head of Farmers’
Association Branch, took
part in training courses
Average
Poor
Wife
illness
Father
illnes
Children
illness
Continue d applying
advanced
techniques and
leased more land,
profit of 50 million.
Invested in maize
threshing machine
Rented more
land, bought a
milling machine.
(estimated profit
of 80 mil)
Extremely
poor
s
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Accumulating capital from livestock breeding. Cattle breeding plays an important
role in the lives of rural farmers, particularly those in mountainous and ethnic minority
areas. It is a profitable investment and provides draught and manure for agricultural
production. At the monitoring points, most of the loans granted by the Social Policy Bank
in the past five years were used by households to invest in livestock. Accumulation from
livestock helps households invest in building houses, purchasing property, expanding
productive land, and investing in children’s education (Box 1.2). However, the profit
rate from cattle breeding is low (buffalos and cows only gives birth once a year), and is
subject to adverse weather and disease. Two cold spells in 2008 and 2011 destroyed
the livestock of many households. Pig and poultry breeding are similarly vulnerable.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
30
BOX 1.2. Households gradually accumulate from livestock
Ms L.T.X., of the Tay ethnic group escaped from poverty with buffalo and pig farming
in Doi 1 village, Ban Lien commune (Bac Ha, Lao Cai). Between 2007 and 2009 she
and her husband grew tea on an upland farm. Every year, her household was short of
food for 2-3 months.
Over the next few years Mrs L.T.X. sold pigs and cattle to purchase more productive
land. In April 2010, she sold four pig litters and bought one hectare of land to grow
tea. In August 2010, she sold a buffalo calf. In October 2010, she received 9 million
as compensation for land used for road construction. She bought more land worth 3
million VND, paid a debt of 1.2 million, and used the remaining money to buy paddy.
In 2010, her household registered to grow 0.5 ha of pine trees and aims to harvest
them in 2015.
In November 2011, her buffalo gave birth to another calf. She still has an outstanding
bank loan of 12 million VND. She and her husband intended to sell a calf to pay the
outstanding loan: “We will sell a one-year old calf to pay the debt. After paying debt,
we can escape from poverty. Our life is better thanks to pig and buffalo breeding.”
Relative
living
standards
Average
Gets
married
Has baby
Borrowing
money from
Social Policy
Bank to buy a
buffalo and
piglets
Four pig
litters
Uses 9 million dong from
land compensation to buy
wet rice land and clear
debt
Uses profits from
pigs to buy tea
planting land
Wet rice land
affected by
road
construction
Poor
Another
buffalo was
delivered
Moves to a new house
A new buffalo
was delivered
Extremely
Poor
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Migrant work and local casual jobs. Over the past five years wages from local casual
work for both men and women have increased in line with inflation. At some monitoring
points casual jobs depend on the weather, seasons and individual projects. Incomes
from local casual work is typically spent on necessary expenditures such as rice, food,
and school fees. Savings tends to be low. In contrast remittances from men and women
working away from home contributes significantly to increasing household incomes,
providing for daily necessities, housing improvements and children’s education.
Migratory labour is most prominent in lowland and Kinh areas such as Duc Huong-Ha
Tinh, Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh and Cu Hue-Dak Lak, where many households have escaped
poverty. Poor mountainous and ethnic minority households tend to lack the social
relations, education and health necessary to secure migrant jobs. See Section 5 “Labour
Mobility and Gender Impacts”.
Expanding productive land. Households with surplus labour expand productive land

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
by reclaiming, buying or renting land. In northern mountainous and ethnic minority areas
(Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang, and Ban Lien-Lao Cai), many people try to reclaim small terraced
fields in well watered places. In Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, many households rent land from
state-owned farms. In Ban Lien-Lao Cai, some households bought tea hills from those
with surplus land. The second round of land plot merging and exchange in 2009 in Duc
Huong-Ha Tinh provided land-shortage households with more land to till. In Duc Huong-
Ha Tinh, some households rented land from those lacking labour (particularly the elderly
or those with children working away from home) to expand production. Land expansion
is limited by population growth and an increasing shortage of arable and irrigated land.
31
Benefiting from direct government support policies. Government policies for
housing construction (Decision 167), concessional loans, support for disabled children
and social assistance (Decree 67) have helped many poor people (Box 1.3).
BOX 1.3. Households with disabled children benefit from Government
assistance
Mr. H.T.H is head of a poor Kh’mer household with no productive land in Thuy Hoa
village, Thuan Hoa commune (Cau Ngang, Tra Vinh). He has three children. The
youngest son is ten years old and severely disabled. Mr. H.T.H earns a wage carrying
rice husks and goes fishing for his household’s daily food. His wife cannot do physically
arduous work, but earns occasional income doing small jobs.
In 2008, his eldest daughter went to work in a garment factory in Binh Duong province.
In late 2009, with Government assistance, his son moved to a specialist centre for
disabled children in Tra Vinh Province. As a result Mr H.T.H no longer has to purchase
food, clothing and, most importantly, medical treatment for his son. Mr. H.T.H said, “He
can go to school. He is now at second grade and is an excellent student. He can read
and write now. Since he went to Tra Vinh, our family life has been much less difficult.”
In 2010, he received assistance to build his house under Decision 167. His relatives
also provided support. In late 2010 his wife had an accident and could no longer
work. In early 2011, their second son also went to work in Binh Duong, and, along with
his sister, now sends money home every month.
Relative
living
standards
Average
Youngest son with
disabilities nurtured
by the State
Constructing house
under Decision 167
Second son
goes to work in
Binh Duong
Poor
Eldest daughter working
in Binh Duong
Wife can no
longer work
Extremely
poor
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Investment in education is not matched economic efficiency for rural households.
Investment in children’s education has increased in most of the monitoring points in the
past five years (2007-2011). However, for many the returns have proved unsatisfactory.
In the short run, households face higher costs. In Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, for example,

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
32
many households secured large loans to fund college or university education for their
children. However, after graduating, young people could not find work and returned
home to work on the family farm or in casual waged employment. There are a number
of reasons for graduates’ failure to find work: subjects studied are often only suitable for
public services, which have few available positions or which require “relations” to find a
job; there are few job opportunities in local enterprises, and some graduates do not want
to work away from home; education for rural young people, particularly those who study
at colleges and secondary vocational schools at provincial level, is often of low quality.
1.3. Diverse poverty groups
Disadvantaged groups are classified as the “chronically” poor 8 , temporarily poor (those
who can possibly escape from poverty), vulnerable poor, and near-poor /people who
just escaped from poverty.
The “Chronically” poor
FIGURE 1.3. Poverty trends in 20 surveyed
villages, 2007 - 2010
There are many “chronically
poor” people in ethnic minority
groups in remote areas (Figure
1.3). In lowland, Kinh villages the
percentage of the chronically poor
is very low (Dong Tam village-ĐL,
M’Hang village-ĐL, and Chan Nuoi 2
village-ĐB). On average 23 percent
of the surveyed households are
“chronically poor”.
Chronically poor households
often suffer from a shortage of
labour, because their members
tend to be elderly, have small
children or suffer illness or disability.
The chronically poor ethnic minority
people often have little or poor
quality land, are unable to speak
Vietnamese and mostly work as
wage labourers. Other chronically
poor households have members with
drug dependency problems.
The chronically poor are
particularly
vulnerable.
Chronically poor households are
often short of food, have no savings
and rely on relatives and the local
SOURCE: Statistics of household interviews
Note: Poverty Statistics 2007-2010 according to the old
income poverty line of the Government.
community for support. As a result they are particularly vulnerable to illness, disease or
natural disasters. Many also have difficulty accessing credit.
Chronic poverty is intergenerational. Families with many children, little productive
land and who cannot invest in their children’s education remain poor across generations
(Box 1.4).
8 “Chronically” poor households are those classified as poor households for four consecutive years (2007
- 2010). Households which are not included in the list of poor households for four consecutive years are
considered “non-poor”. The remainder regularly change status.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
BOX 1.4. Some Chronically poor households have many children
33
Mr. T.M, 39 years-old, of the Kh’mer ethnic group in Soc Chua village, Thuan Hoa
commune (Cau Ngang, Tra Vinh) heads a chronically poor household with no
productive land. He earns a living as a tractor driver. Mr T.M has 11 children who are
responsible for feeding themselves. His eight school-age children do not go to school.
Before 2007, Mr T.M’s household was often short of food. In 2008, Mr T.M. tried to
breed cows and ducks but with little success. In 2009, his wife gave birth to their
eleventh child. Their eldest daughter, who was 14 years old, had to leave school in
the 7 th grade to work as a maid in the city. She was occasionally able to send one or
two million VND home to help buy food. Two sons moved to Chau Thanh district to
tend ducks for an acquaintance’s family. They send about 700,000 VND per month.
The younger children, who do not attend school, occasionally work cleaning rice,
“assisting people by holding rice bags”.
In 2010, Mr T.M. had a vasectomy. With their children’s money he and his wife began
breeding chicken and tended two cows on contract for other people. They bought a
second-hand motorbike. They also sent two children to primary school.
In 2011, they tended four cows and sold cow dung. They also gained access to
electricity. His wife had an accident and she had to stay at home. Mr T.M’s household
also struggled with inflation and rising costs: “Text books cost us more than 200,000
VND, and contribution to school was 70,000 VND. Currently we owe 4 million VND of
rice, seasoning powder, and cooking oil”.
Relative
living
standards
Average
Poor
Poultry breeding
Gave birth
to 11 th
child
Eldest
daughter
stopped
school at 7 th
grade to go to
work
Working
children
remit
money
home
Wife had
accident
Extremely
poor
Second and third son tend ducks for
wages, send home money monthly
Chicken breeding,
bought second hand
motorbike, sent two
children to school
Tended cows
which gave birth to
2 calves, had
electricity meter
installed
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
The temporarily poor
Households in the “temporarily poor” group make up the largest proportion
poor households. The temporarily poor have labour and the desire to improve their
lives, but lack capital, technical knowledge, and access to markets. Typical households
are young newly established families. Such households, if provided support can probably
escape from poverty. Many households have made use of Govvernment support or
market opportunities and, when possible, apply advanced farming techniques.
Poor households with specific vulnerabilities
Some households are poor for specific reasons. These include those who live in disasterprone
areas, those who live in isolation, drug users and the Kh’mer, who have limited or
no productive land.
The poor in disaster-prone areas. In disaster-prone areas poor households who

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
34
live in very low-lying land, on the banks or edges of streams, and on mountain slopes
are vulnerable. Most poor households are short of food between harvests, and when
faced with natural disasters food is even more scarce. Poor ethnic minority groups are
particularly vulnerable as they have minimal proficiency in the Vietnamese language,
lack audio-visual devices, and have limited access to information on natural disasters.
Some households choose not to move from dangerous areas due to their practice of
upland farming and the advantages of living close to water sources. When men work
away from home women and the elderly are forced to cope with natural disasters alone.
People living in isolation. These include those newly arrived in the commune, recently
separated households, households with upland fields and elderly or sick members who
are unable to return home every day and households who rely on forests for a living.
Isolated households in ethnic minority areas often live in temporary houses and have
limited access to crucial infrastructure and services (for example, electricity, water,
schools and health care). They also tend to participate less in in community activities. It
is difficult to communicate and disseminate policies and laws to these households.
People with limited or no productive land. This is a difficulty faced by poor Kh’mer
people in the Mekong River Delta. Due to a lack of productive land, most Kh’mer work
away from home or are engaged in local casual jobs. The Government issued Decision
74 on allocating residential land and farmland to poor ethnic minority households in the
Mekong River Delta. However, the Decision has not been implemented effectively in
Thuan Hoa commune-Tra Vinh, as there is no fertile land for sale and banks are slow to
grant credit. Local authorities have unsuccessfully sought to encourage households to
breed livestock.
Drug use, is a particular problem for the Thai in Luong Minh-Nghe An and Thanh Xuong-
Dien Bien. In Luong Minh-Nghe An, improved roads have caused the spread of drug use
to remote Kh’Mu villages. Households with drug users are disadvantaged in a number
of ways. Drug users tend to sell household property and spend household income on
drugs. Households lack labour. As the majority of drug users are men, women face an
extra burden, and some children give up school in order to support their family. At
present, community-based detoxification measures are ineffective. Almost 100% of
people taking part in short-term detoxification in the two surveyed communes (Luong
Minh-Nghe An, Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien) relapsed. In Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, the Dien
Bien Provincial HIV/AIDS Centre has since 2010 piloted the use of methadone with some
initial success.
The near-poor
Adequate support policies are not available for the near-poor or those who
have just escaped from poverty. A “near-poor” household has an average per
capita income within 130% of the income poverty line. In mountainous ethnic minority
areas, near-poor households often have unstable incomes as agricultural production is
dependent on weather conditions, and seasonal labour. In addition, the near-poor are
vulnerable to changing prices, illness and the high cost of education.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
TABLE 1.5. Near-poor, 2008 - 2011 (%)
Commune According to old poverty line According to new poverty
line
Late 2008 Late 2009 Late 2010 Late 2011
Poor
HHs
Nearpoor
HHs
Poor
HHs
Near
poor
HHs
Poor
HHs
Nearpoor
HHs
Poor
HHs
Nearpoor
HHs
Thuan Hoa 42.8 - 35 7.3 62 15 56.4 15.8
Ban Lien 59.9 10.4 54.5 3.7 82.7 - 63 10.8
Thanh Xuong 11.2 3.5 8.2 0.6 11,7 6 7.5 5.6
35
Luong Minh 78.7 - 83.6 9.2 94 4.3 85.3 9.1
Duc Huong 40.6 31.7 28.4 23.6 52.5 19 43.3 18
Xy 49.8 18.9 42.2 26.7 73.5 8.1 72.1 6.1
Cu Hue 11.9 13 8.7 14 15.4 17.9 11.4 14
Phuoc Dai 58.4 32.9 58.2 10 64.2 11.9 57.8 16.6
Phuoc Thanh 56.5 32.7 52.8 16.5 77.2 7.4 70.9 11.8
Thuan Hoa 33.9 12.1 28.5 19.3 32.7 16.5 26.7 6.5
SOURCE: Statistics of the poor and near-poor households are provided by communes
Note: (-) no statistics available.
There are currently two policies supporting near-poor households: (i) members of nearpoor
households are entitled to a 50 percent discount on the cost of voluntary health
insurance; and (ii) children in near-poor households are entitled to concessional loans
to pursue vocational training or secondary and tertiary education. The second policy
appears to be the most effective. Households whose children are in further education
are often given priority for near-poor status, so that they can access concessional
loans. There is little interest in the health insurance subsidy. Households lack funds and
information and the opportunity to purchase health insurance.
1.4. Vulnerability
In 2011, rural people felt natural disasters and epidemics/pests were the two primary
difficulties they faced. As in 2008 inflation was also a problem in 2011 (See Section 4
“Coping with price volatility”).

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
36 TABLE 1.6. Feeling of local residents facing risks that greatly affect their lives,
2007-2011 (%)
Commune
Percent
of HHs
facing
risks
2007 2011 Natural
disasters,
drought,
flood
Key risks greatly affecting household lives in 2011
Epidemics, Unfavourable
pests, disease prices
Under
employment,
unstable jobs
Ineffective
use of
loans
Ineffective
application of
new varieties
techniques
Illness,
accident
Thuan Hoa 48 33 10 95 10 5 0 0 15 0
Ban Lien 56 67 19 92 30 0 5 0 8 11
Thanh Xuong 20 24 31 46 8 0 0 0 77 8
Luong Minh 66 72 93 79 43 12 43 5 26 0
Duc Huong 63 35 73 55 46 14 5 0 55 0
Xy 26 61 75 86 39 8 3 3 28 3
Others
Cu Hue 58 35 5 62 43 5 5 10 33 0
Phuoc Dai 43 69 60 62 45 7 5 2 21 2
Phuoc Thanh 63 59 76 55 36 6 3 0 6 0
Thuan Hoa 40 42 21 46 13 42 13 13 29 8
Average 48 49 52 70 34 10 10 3 26 3
SOURCE: Household interviews
Natural disasters
Households at the monitoring points experienced adverse and unforeseen weather
conditions such as storms, floods, drought, lasting rain and severe cold. This appears to
suggest the increasing impact of climate change.
Severe storms and floods. During the historic double flood in late 2010, Duc Huong
commune-Ha Tinh was submerged. Infrastructure was destroyed, houses and buffalo
stables were demolished or seriously damaged, property and livestock was washed
away and agricultural produce and materials were water damaged. Following the flood,
livestock feed was scarce and straw to feed buffalos and cows cost as much as paddy.
Some households were forced to sell property and livestock to buy straw for their cattle.
Unusual and prolonged hot spells and drought. In 2010, seven communes were
hit by severe and long hot spells, compared to only two communes in 2009. In some
communes such as Luong Minh-Nghe An, Xy-Quang Tri, and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan
hot spells were one or two months longer than in 2009 and temperatures 3-4 0 C higher.
Harvests suffered, income from agricultural production fell and water was scarce.
Prolonged rainfall. In 2010, five communes (compared to six 2009) experienced
unusually prolonged rain and hurricane force winds, sometimes lasting for seven days.
In remote communes such as Luong Minh-Nghe An, Xy-Quang Tri and Phuoc Dai-Ninh
Thuan, heavy rain destroyed crops, and affected other sources of income such as wild
vegetables and bamboo shoots, hunting in forests, fishing, collecting dried cow dung or

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
local casual jobs of poor households. In some areas (Cu Hue-Dak Lak, Thuan Hoa-Tra
Vinh) yields of rice, corn and coffee fell. In 2011 in Luong Minh, Nghe An heavy rain
caused landslides along many roads, and the suspended bridge linking rural areas to the
commune centre was seriously damaged. The headquarters of Luong Minh commune
People’s Committee and all households in Xop Mat village had to be moved to escape
the landslides.
37
Repeated long, severe cold spells at some monitoring points in mountainous areas
in early 2008 and early 2011. According to local cadres and residents the two cold
spells were distinctly different. In early 2008, the cold lasted nearly 40 days leading to
a shortage of cattle feed and, partly because of poorly constructed stables, the loss of
large numbers of cattle. In 2011 the cold spell was shorter, but because temperatures
dropped quickly (from 10 o C to 0 o C), despite improved cowsheds and feed reserves,
many cattle died (Box 1.5). In Ban Lien-Lao Cai, 210 buffalos died in 2008 and 243 died
in 2011. Most poor households had borrowed money from the Social Policy Bank to
buy livestock, so when their buffalos and cows died, they struggled to repay their debts.
Reduced numbers of buffalos also increased the price of calves, making it difficult for
people to replenish their herds.
BOX 1.5. Difficulties coping with cold weather
Following the severe cold spell in late 2007 and early 2008 that killed 18,760 cattle
in Lao Cai province, local authorities have tried to help people protect their cattle in
cold weather. Nevertheless, a cold spell in late 2010 and early 2011 killed a further
14,030 cattle in the province. The following suggestions may help farmers cope with
cold weather:
• Farmers require support and training to grow and tend grass to provide food for
cattle in winter
• Farmers should store dried straw for winter cattle feed
• Farmers require guidance to prepare fine feed for cattle
• Distribute leaflets with instructions on ways to protect cattle from the cold
• Provide farmers with enough canvas to cover cowsheds
• Provide support and funds to build solid cowsheds
Cutting expenditures, increasing purchases on credit and diversifying
livelihoods are ways to manage the risk of natural disaster. In ethnic minority
areas many people use traditional techniques to manage the risks posed by potential
natural disasters. These include:
• Labour exchange to grow crops in time,
• Intercropping (beans and corn), contour hill-side farming (maize on the upper
tier, vegetables in the middle and rice on the lowest tier) to prevent soil erosion
or landslides, diversification of food crops,
• Increased use of local varieties in order to reduce investment,
• Bringing cattle and poultry to upland fields to avoid disease,
However, such measures, whist useful, cannot completely eradicate the risks presented
by natural disasters.
Direct and timely support by relatives, community, authorities and benefactors
helps households cope with natural disasters. Local authorities and benefactors
provide seeds, food, necessities, and household appliances. However, post natural
disaster relief work still has limitations that need to be addressed (Box 1.6).

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
38
BOX 1.6. Post natural disaster relief in Duc Huong commune
Following floods in September and October 2010, people in Duc Huong commune
(Vu Quang, Ha Tinh) received 90 tons of rice, clothing, food, household utensils and
assistance from Government, agencies, mass organizations and benefactors.
Nevertheless, the relief operation was problematic in a number of ways:
• Too many relief delegations visited the commune at the same time, causing
confusion
• Aid was delayed by a month
• The promise of aid meant some households did not attend to their farms. In
2010, the commune harvested only 90 of a potential 200 ha of winter corn
crop.
• Although the first instalment of aid went to poor households and households
seriously affected by the floods later instalments for better off households
were of higher values.
• Aid was not distributed equally: “Households with only one person received
the same amount as those having six members” (poor men in Huong Tho
village, Duc Huong commune).
Community-based natural disaster risk management has not yet been given
sufficient attention. At most monitoring points, support measures only focused on
post-natural disaster relief. There are no systematic measures addressing mitigation,
prevention, adaptation and restoration, or which focus on community-based natural
disaster risk management (under Decision 1002). Risk management has not yet been
integrated into local socio-economic development planning.
The “4-on-spot” measure 9 remains difficult. A typical case is Duc Huong, Ha Tinh.
Although a “4-on spot” plan is made every year, it has proved difficult to implement for a
number of reasons. These include rudimentary equipment, insufficient information, poor
communication, limited food and manpower and insufficient community awareness of
how to prevent natural disasters.
Pests, diseases, and epidemics
Pests and diseases are more complicated. In 2009, four communes were attacked
by pests compared to two communes in 2008. There were fewer pests and diseases in
2010 and 2011, although most monitoring points were still affected. The spring rice yield
in Thuan Hoa -Ha Giang (2009), Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh (2009) and Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien
(2009 and 2010) was reduced by 20-30%. The poor appeared to be disproportionately
affected, as they did not use pesticides in time, or did not use them properly. Support
activities undertaken by all localities to help people prevent pests and diseases have not
proved effective. Improved farming systems (IPM, SRI and ICM 10 ) have been introduced
into some areas, but are very rarely applied (Box 1.7).
9 The 4-on-spot disaster prevention guideline comprises on-spot direction, on-spot forces, on-spot means
and materials and on-spot logistics.
10 IPM is integrated pest management. SRI is system of rice intensification. ICM is integrated crop management,
also known as “3 reductions, 3 increases” approach; in which “3 reductions” include reduction of the quantity
of seeds or volume of water used, reduction of urea used, and reduction of pesticide; “3 increases” are
increase of crop yields, increase of quality of agricultural produce, increase of economic efficiency over an
acreage unit.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
BOX 1.7. Difficulties applying Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in
Thanh Xuong commune
39
Using too much of one variety sensitive to pests and diseases. In Thanh Xuong
commune (Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province), both well-off and poor households
grow Bac Thom rice variety - the sale price is higher but it is susceptible to pests
and diseases. The Dien Bien District Division of Agriculture and Rural Development
recommended people diversify rice varieties. They suggested the Bac Thom variety
should not cover more than 45% of the total rice acreage. However, many farmers
grow 70% - 80% Bac Thom rice.
High rice planting density. In Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien the density of planted rice
is too high. Four to five kilograms of rice seeds are recommended for 1000 m 2 . Rice
plants grow well, with strong stems and are highly resistant to pests and diseases.
However, many households plant 8-12 kg of seeds per 1000 m 2 . The high density
means the plants suffer from high humidity, brown pests and flecked-dry disease .
Using fertilizer improperly. Many people use too much urea leading to weak rice
leaves and stems and increased susceptibility to brown pests, leaf spots and blights.
Excessive chemical fertilizer also causes rapid soil degeneration.
Abuse of pesticide. Many households use pesticides as a “preventative” measure,
often spraying ten or even fifteen times per crop. Some pesticide sale agents
recommend farmers spray different types of pesticide at the same time. Frequent
spraying or often improper sprays damages plants and does not kill pests. Poor
households also choose cheap low quality pesticides that can be harmful.
Careless field cleaning. Fallow periods between rice crops are often too short. Most
farmers do not clean their fields, or properly prepare soil. As a result pests often
survive between crops.
Agricultural extension is not effective. Many commune agricultural extension
workers do not have the capacity or knowledge to properly support farmers.
Over the last five years there have been fewer epidemics affecting cattle.
However, pigs and poultry suffer disease more frequently. Diseases such as
congestion, Foot-and-mouth and fluke worm, prevalent before 2011, have been
controlled. However, pigs and poultry are suffering more frequent epidemics. 2007-
2010 saw outbreaks of Pasteurellosis, Typhoid and “blue-ear pig epidemic” (pigs) and
Newcastle and E.coli (poultry). In 2011, there were no large scale epidemics but there
were pockets of disease. Due to epidemics and unfavourable prices, many households
cannot or have chosen not to resume pig farming.
Lack of measures for effective management of epidemics and development of
cattle herds. Farming practices in many mountainous areas create difficulties for the
management of cattle herds and vaccination programmes:
• There are no cowsheds, and cattle are allowed to graze freely.
• Vets are only contacted when cattle become seriously ill. Some communes do
not have veterinary workers, and in others capacity is weak.
• In mountainous areas, grazing areas are planning nor mapped.
• Cattle are transported freely between regions facilitating the spread of disease.
• Grass growing models for cattle during winter have often not been maintained.
• Adverse weather conditions (abnormally hot and cold with high humidity)
facilitate the spread of disease.
• There are no systems in place to control and monitor epidemics.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
40
Local authorities have undertaken some measures to overcome those problems, but
their effectiveness was limited.
Risks associated with unstable agricultural production
Increasing pressure on the land has led to shorter fallow periods in upland
fields and declining soil fertility. Drought and lasting heavy rain in mountainous
communes (Luong Minh-Nghe An, Xy-Quang Tri, Phuoc Dai, and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh
Thuan) has further degenerated upland land. In communes close to river estuaries
(Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh), drought has resulted in increased salt water infiltration. Improper
agricultural farming has also affected soil fertility. In Xy commune, Quang Tri cassava
farmers have not invested in fertilizer since 2003. In some lowland communes (Thanh
Xuong-Dien Bien, Cu Hue-Dak Lak, and Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh) farmers have overused
chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Attempts have been made to improve soil quality such as the provision of bio- fertilizer
for cassava (Xy-Quang Tri) and tea (Ban Lien-Lao Cai); and the introduction of composting
techniques (Cu Hue-Dak Lak). However, farmers have found such initiatives costly in
terms of time, money and resources and they have yet to prove successful.
Unstable market price makes production unsustainable. Many farmers introduce
new crops too quickly in response to changing prices. In Cu Hue-Dak Lak, for example,
in the early 2000s when the price of coffee fell farmers replaced coffee trees with corn,
vegetables and subsidiary crops. When prices recovered farmers expanded coffee
production, often on unsuitable land. Prawn farming in Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh without
sufficient planning and farming techniques, is an example of the difficulties farmers face
when they respond rapidly to price changes (Box 1.8).
BOX 1.8. Unstable rice-prawn model in Thuan Hoa commune
Thuan Hoa commune (Cau Ngang, Tra Vinh) is located on a river estuary close to the
sea. Every year, part of its farmland is infiltrated with salt water during the dry season.
The commune began tiger prawn farming in 2004.
In 2008, 278 households in the commune farmed tiger-prawns. However, high
feed and low sale prices meant many households made losses and ceased farming.
In 2009, there were only 105 farms. Only the wealthier households were able to
continue farming. However, in 2009 the price of tiger prawns rose to double the
2008 price, and, in 2010, the number of farms increased. However, cold weather and
insufficient water salinity meant 87 households made losses. Most did not resume
farming. Continued high prices in 2011 brought the number of prawn farmers to 320
households.
Many local people and officials think that the prawn-rice model in Thuan Hoa commune
is unsustainable for the following reasons:
• Poor farming techniques. Most farmers rely on their own experiences and
word of mouth.
• Ineffective disease control. Farmers use a common water source fed
directly from the canal to their farms without filtering tanks, resulting in the
spread of diseases such as white spots, red body and black gills.
• Fluctuating prices. High feed prices in 2010 and 2011 prevented many
households from investing in their farms. Some households secured high
interest loans from feed agents.
• Limited access to credit. Banking credit controls in 2011 meant many
farmer households lacked capital.
• Adverse weather. Drought, heavy rains, and abnormal temperatures meant it
was difficult to control water salinity, which can easily kill young prawns.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
Partnerships between enterprises and farmers can be beneficial. In a number of
cases farmers with contracts with enterprises benefit from higher prices and technical
support. In 2010 in Ban Lien-Lao Cai, tea enterprises exported organic tea with the Fair
Trade marque at a premium price. Since then they have been able to raise the price of
fresh tea purchased from farmers. In Phuoc Dai-Ninh Thuan, a sugar cane company has
increased the supply of sugar cane on contract from 54 ha in 2009 to 100 ha in 2010.
Other arrangements have been less successful, including corn seed in Cu Hue-Dak Lak,
and corn seed and peanuts in Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh (Table 1.7).
41
TABLE 1.7. Characteristics of contracted farming models at the monitoring
points
San Tuyet
tea in Ban
Lien-Lao
Cai
Time
Since
2006
Product
characteristics
Organic tea,
no chemicals
used; products
processed for
export
Forms of joint
venture and
support
Multi-stakeholders
(enterprises,
farmer groups,
tea cooperatives,
households)
Training provided
by enterprises;
activities of support
groups, cooperatives;
registered organic tea
Advantages -
Disadvantages
Clear commitments
between factories and
farmers in fresh tea
purchase
Factories’ support policy in
building organic tea areas.
Increased income thanks to
higher tea price
Rice seeds
in Thanh
Xuong-
Dien Bien
Since
2007
IR 64 and Bac
Thom No. 7
varieties verified;
highly intensive
farming
Concentrated (Seed
selection station signs
contracts directly with
farmers)
Technical assistance;
sale of original seeds
to farmers on late
payment
Close partnership between
stakeholders: Seed
selection station provides
technical assistance, buys
products; farmers strictly
follow commitments written
in contracts
Farmers have highly
intensive farming
experiences.
Rice seeds have stable
price
Cassava
cash crop
in Xy-
Quang Tri
Since
2003
Processed into
starch for export
as raw material;
farmers practice
extensive farming
Concentrated
(Enterprise signs
contracts directly with
farmers).
Training; support of
new seed model, NPK
fertilizer; building
farmers‘ group
Two-way sale of goods
Main crop generating
income in areas where rice
cannot be grown.
Factory purchases
products; registered
harvests as scheduled;
support in means of
transport; Purchase price is
made public
Cassava price is unstable,
fluctuating abnormally
Cotton in
Cu Hue-
Dak Lak
Since
2005
Finished cotton
products for home
consumption;
requirement for
highly intensive
farming
Concentrated
(Enterprise signs
contracts directly with
farmers).
Technical assistance;
advance seeds and
fertilizer
The price of cotton is stable
in recent years
Sugar
canes in
Phuoc
Dai-Ninh
Thuan
Since
2009
Processed into
sugar for home
consumption;
requirement for
highly intensive
farming
Concentrated
(Enterprise signs
contracts directly with
farmers).
Technical assistance;
advance seeds,
fertilizer
Clear commitments
between enterprise and
farmers in purchase of
products
Make use of newly
reclaimed land which
cannot grow wet rice.
Generate stable income for
farmers

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
42
Maize
seeds in
Thuan
Hoa-Tra
Vinh
From
2001 to
2009
Maize seeds for
home consumption;
requirement for
highly intensive
farming
Multi-stakeholders
(enterprises,
cooperatives, farmers).
Technical assistance;
advance seeds,
fertilizer
Due to price volatility,
enterprise could not sell
products, thereby could
not continue contracted
farming
Maize
seeds in
Cu Hue-
Dak Lak
In 2008,
failed
and
stopped
Maize seeds
for domestic
consumption;
requirement for
highly intensive
farming
Concentrated
(Enterprise signs
contracts directly with
farmers).
Technical assistance;
support seeds
The quality of seeds
introduced was not good,
without experiments in
locality.
Farmers suffered losses in
time, energy and investment
Peanut
in Thuan
Hoa-Tra
Vinh
From
2007 to
2008
Processed into
final products for
home consumption;
requirement for
highly intensive
farming
Concentrated
(Enterprise signs
contracts directly with
farmers)
Loose partnership between
stakeholders: No contracts
signed between enterprises
and farmers in purchase of
products.
Price increases, farmers
do not sell products to
enterprises but traders
It is difficult for the poor to benefit from such arrangements as it requires large scale,
intensive farming that requires more labour than poor households can usually provide.
The sustainability of contracted farming should be taken into consideration carefully For
example, although cassava is often associated with poverty reduction it poses many
risks to the poor such as soil degradation, unstable prices, and susceptibility to drought,
pests and disease.
Other risks
In 2011 over a quarter of surveyed households suffered illness or accidents
that proved costly in terms of medical costs and lost income (Table 1.6), There are
many potential causes of illness at the monitoring points. Adverse weather and shortages
of food and warm clothing can cause digestive and respiratory diseases, particularly in
children. In flood-prone areas (Duc Huong-Ha Tinh), post-flood epidemics often break
out (eye diseases, diarrhoea). Working in forests and sleeping without mosquito nets in
mountainous areas increases the risk of contracting malaria (Xy-Quang Tri). Drug use is
a cause of HIV/AIDS (Luong Minh-Nghe An, Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien). Strenuous physical
work, insufficient food, and unsafe labour conditions can also be harmful. A lack of clean
water, and drinking water that hasn’t been boiled or under cooked food is a cause of
digestive diseases.
Mining projects expose a threat to the local environment. Some projects have are
poorly designed, badly managed and do not abide by original commitments. In Thuan
Hoa-Ha Giang, for example, broken waste water tanks from a ferrous ore mining project
have polluted the environment, heavy trucks have damaged inter-commune roads and
the mine has taken valuable farming land.
Delayed or suspended plans discourage investment. Infrastructure development
projects and new commune centres (Ban Lien-Lao Cai) or district administrative centres
(Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien) often affect the land and housing of many households.
However, when projects are delayed households can suffer. Residents are reluctant to
undertake house repairs or invest in long-term crops. Poor households in planning areas
don’t even receive support for housing construction under Decision 167.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
1.5. Gender Relations
Household labour division and decision-making
43
Gender roles have not substantially changed at the monitoring points over
the last five years. Gender roles are determined by culture, long-standing values,
stereotypes and prejudices. Men are still expected to undertake “heavy tasks” that require
“technique”, “calculation” and “social relations”. Women are generally responsible for
tasks that are time-consuming and are identified as “light” or “small”. In poor households,
women undertake a larger share of the labour and care for family life, preventing them
from engaging fully in production and social activities.
However, there are some changes among younger people. Many ethnic minority
young men share house work and children care with women because they are better
educated, work away from home more and have better social understanding and
contacts (Ban Lien-Lao Cai, Xy-Quang Tri, Phuoc Thanh and Phuoc Dai-Ninh Thuan).
Investment in infrastructure projects help reduce the labour burden for women.
In Luong Minh commune-Nghe An a project to improve the water supply has reduced
the distance women have to travel to fetch water. In Xy commune-Quang Tri, a new road
completed in 2009 enables men to use motorbikes to carry firewood and fetch water
for women. In Ban Lien commune-Lao Cai, electricity newly supplied from the national
grid, allows households to use machines in production (weeding machines, tea driers)
and use electric appliances (rice cookers) in the home, lessening the domestic work
load for women.
New household assets provide women with more leisure time. In lowland areas
such as Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh, and Cu Hue-
Dak Lak, more households own gas stoves and fridges.
Responsibility for household decision-making varies between monitoring points.
In lowland and Kinh dominated areas such as Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, Duc Huong-Ha Tinh,
and Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh, major household decisions are based on consensus between
husband and wife. Some Kinh or Kh’mer women make their own decisions regarding
household affairs when their husbands are away. In remote mountainous ethnic minority
areas such as Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang, Ban Lien-Lao Cai, and Luong Minh-Nghe An and Xy-
Quang Tri, men still dominate household decision-making. However, over the last five
years women are participating more in household affairs. In matriarchies such as the Ede
in Cu Hue-Dak Lak, Raglai in Phuoc Dai and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan, women remain
the dominant decision makers with regard to major events such as marriage, inheritance
and the purchase of major household assets.
Gender and market relations
Women dominate the production and sale of high demand short-term crops
and low-value products. These include cassava and vegetables in Thuan Hoa-Ha
Giang, tea in Ban Lien-Lao Cai, rice and vegetables in Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, beans
and peanuts in Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, squash and bamboo shoots in Luong Minh-Nghe
An, banana in Xy-Quang Tri, corn in Cu Hue-Dak Lak, beans in Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan,
bamboo shoots in Phuoc Dai-Ninh Thuan, and vegetables in Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh (Figure
1.4). Men tend to dominate the production and sale of long-term crops or high
value products such as buffalos, cows, pigs, coffee, pepper and tiger prawns.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
44
FIGURE 1.4. Participation of women in market chains in 2011

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
More ethnic minority women participate in buying and selling than five years ago.
The main reasons are improvements in infrastructure, communication and information;
the emergence of more markets, shops, and street vendors; and improved education for
young ethnic minority women.
45
In Xy commune-Quang Tri a new asphalted road (completed in 2009) running through
the commune brought an increase in the number of shops and street vendors in the
commune, providing Van Kieu women with opportunities to access markets. More
women now understand and play a role in managing household finances.
In Ban Lien-Lao Cai, ethnic minority women take are more involved in buying and selling.
In 2007, H’Mong men often kept money and undertook transactions. However, by 2011
many H’Mong women knew how to keep money and sell and buy small things worth
less than 100,000 VND. In Tay villages, in 2008, Ban Lien market, established in the
commune centre, helped improve the market participation (Box 1.9).
BOX 1.9. Impacts of the newly built market on women in Ban Lien
commune
Ban Lien (Bac Ha, Lao Cai) is a remote commune. Before 2007, women had little contact
with the outside world. Since 2008, Ban Lien market has provided opportunities for
women in the commune:
• Women spend less time going to market: “In the past, we had to walk to Bac Ha
in the middle of the night, lighting torches, as flashlights were not available, and
the road was difficult to walk. Today it is very convenient, buying and selling in the
commune. If we have money we can buy everything. Fish and meat are available
every day”.
• People have more opportunity to buy and sell products: “In the past, there was
only a butcher. He forced us to sell tea to him at a low price while selling meat to
us at high price. Now that the market is established, there are more traders and
we can sell our tea at a higher price and meat, seasoning powder, and soap is
cheaper”.
• Women can sell many products in the market: “In the past households with surplus
vegetables gave them away as they could not be sold. Today, they can sell in the
market to new households who are not yet able to grow vegetables”.
• Increasing accessibility to market information of women: “Today women can
update information very quickly. People talk to each other: “I can sell tea at a
price of 50,000 VND while you only sold it for 40,000 VND “. We know what prices
are doing”.
• Improving capacity of communication and calculation of women: “Now only
women go to the market. Women can take hold of more money because they sell
tea at the market. Some, who did not know about money, now know about it. At
the market we can talk to each other more and more”.
Domestic violence
There are fewer cases of physical violence at all monitoring points. In 2007,
in communes such as Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh, Phuoc Thanh, Phuoc Dai-Ninh Thuan, Xy-
Quang Tri and Cu Hue-Dak Lak, domestic violence was common. In some cases women
required medical treatment. By 2011, local people and officials agreed that physical
violence was on the decline, with fewer cases brought to the commune headquarters for
settlement. In Pa Dong village, Thanh Xuong commune, Dien Bien in 2008, 6 domestic
violence cases were brought to the commune for settlement. In 2011, there was only
one case. In Cu Hue, Dak Lak, there were nine cases of domestic violence cases in 2009
and none in 2011. Similarly, in Thuan Hoa, Tra Vinh, there were seven recorded cases in
2007 and none in 2011.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
46
Community perceptions of domestic violence have changed. In 2007, people
often thought that domestic violence was a family affair that should be resolved by
families themselves. People now talk about domestic violence more openly, and display
more sympathy for victims of domestic violence. In many places, women report acts of
violence to the village head (Phuoc Dai, Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan, Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh,
Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang, and Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien) or confide in other women during
Women’s Union’s meetings.
There are many reasons for reduced physical violence. The Women’s Union has
played an important role communicating the importance of the prevention of domestic
violence. Local governments have been increasingly involved in protecting victims of
domestic violence. Phuoc Dai-Ninh Thuan, for example, established a 24-hour police “hot
line” for villagers wishing to report cases of domestic violence. Improved living standards
and women’s increased participation in business are also important factors. Community
institutions have also contributed to reducing domestic violence. In Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh,
the Women’s Union has incorporated communication on the Law on Gender Equality and
the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control in the meetings of Sang Khum
Association. In Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, communication on the Law on Domestic Violence
Prevention and Control was integrated in meetings of inter-family groups facilitated by
community facilitators. In the inter-family groups, there are regulations on sanctions
against acts of domestic violence. Happy Family Clubs (Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, Thuan Hoa-
Ha Giang, and Cu Hue-Dak Lak) and information points (Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh) funded by
ActionAid are effectively communicating the Law on Gender Equality and the Law on
Domestic Violence Prevention and Control.
Mental violence is not visible. Training and communication activities have raised
awareness of forms of mental violence among local cadres and residents. However,
women are more reluctant to report their husbands for mental violence. As a result it is
difficult to form a true impression of the incidence of mental violence at the monitoring
points.
Implementation of the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control
is limited. In some places interviews revealed commune officials are not aware of
regulations related to domestic violence prevention and control. Communication on the
Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control has targeted women, the primary
victims of domestic violence, but has paid little attention to other high-risk groups such
as people dependent on alcohol drugs, or gambling and engaged couples. Sanctions
against domestic violence are weak at most monitoring points. In most instances police
issue warnings, or encourage “reconciliations”, and fail to take timely “preventive” or
“protective” measures.
Representation and participation in social activities
The proportion of women in politics at commune level has increased slightly in
the last five years. Most lowland and Kinh communes and district centres now have
at least 20% women on commune People’s Councils or at least 15% women on Party
Executive Committees, two key targets of the National Strategy for the Advancement
of Women 2001- 2010. Most mountainous ethnic minority communes have not yet met
these targets. In the 2011-2015 term, the proportion of women members appears set to
increase further, although at a slower and more uneven rate (Table 1.8).

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
TABLE 1.8. Proportion of women in commune councils and committees 2007-
2010-2011 (%)
Commune
Commune
Party Executive
Committee
Commune People’s
Council
Commune
People’s
Committee
2007 2010 2011 2007 2010 2011 2007 2010 2011
Thuan Hoa 20 20 20 12 12 21 16 21 23
Ban Lien 7 5 5 7 11 20 7 16 16
Thanh Xuong 7 11 11 11 21 21 7 12 12
Luong Minh 7 13 13 10 13 23 15 29 26
47
Duc Huong 7 13 13 17 17 4 16 21 21
Xy 11 11 11 7 7 7 20 20 20
Cu Hue 8 24 24 9 9 6 24 24 24
Phuoc Dai 29 33 33 25 25 30 19 21 28
Phuoc Thanh 13 0 0 14 14 14 44 21 33
Thuan Hoa 23 33 33 9 9 21 16 21 22
SOURCE: Statistics provided by Commune Office and Women’s Union, 2007-2011
Ineffective selection and improvement of capacity for women cadres. Grassroots
cadres often argue that women lack the education and experience required for
leadership positions. In Phuoc Thanh commune-Ninh Thuan, no women participate in the
Party Executive Committee. Even the experienced and trusted Chairperson of Phuoc
Thanh commune Women’s Union did not finish primary education and, therefore, has not
yet been admitted to the Communist Party. Table 1.9 shows the proportion of women
aged 18-40 finishing upper secondary school has increased over the last five years.
However, most women who meet the educational criteria are young and professional
and have yet to be selected and trained for election to the Party Executive Committee
or Commune People’s Council.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
48
TABLE 1.9. Educational qualifications of women aged 18 to 40, 2007-2011 (%)
Commune
Never
went to
school
Not having
completed
primary
school
(first level)
Having
completed
primary
school
(first level)
Having
completed
lower
secondary
school
(second
level)
Having
completed
upper
secondary
school
(third
level)
High
school,
college,
university
2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 17 8 23 18 34 31 21 20 6 21 0 2
Ban Lien 35 35 34 22 20 24 9 17 2 2 0 0
Thanh Xuong 9 6 31 19 12 9 29 37 10 22 9 7
Luong Minh 14 23 59 28 16 26 2 15 7 6 2 2
Duc Huong 0 2 0 0 5 12 41 22 45 54 9 10
Xy 59 39 20 24 7 10 13 12 2 14 0 2
Cu Hue 13 11 25 21 34 25 15 21 9 16 4 7
Phuoc Dai 38 25 22 37 23 22 17 14 0 2 0 0
Phuoc Thanh 49 53 24 24 20 16 7 6 0 2 0 0
Thuan Hoa 4 8 42 36 27 24 18 24 7 6 2 2
Average 25 21 28 23 20 20 17 19 9 14 3 3
SOURCE: Household interviews
Persistent gender stereotypes are an important explanation for low proportion of
women in authority. At most monitoring points, people still think that it is hard for women
to take part in social activities and that men are more effective in leadership positions.
The Committee for the Advancement of Women is not effective. The Committee
for the Advancement of Women is not operational in seven of the ten communes. In
the remaining three communes, the Committee only runs term-end review meetings. Its
activities are considered the responsibility of the commune Women’s Union, and are not
incorporate in other sectors and branches of local government.
Women in local government struggle to make themselves heard. Women deputies
often lack the confidence to contribute to government meetings. The Chairperson of
the Ban Lien commune Women’s Union, Lao Cai province, said she rarely spoke in the
commune Party Executive Committee’s meetings: ‘‘At the meetings, sitting alone with the
men, I feel shy. I never raise my hand to speak and never speak for fear of saying the wrong
thing. I can do everything I am told, but not speak at meetings”. Women also lack respect
because they are minorities in local agencies, and very rarely hold leadership positions.
Only one commune (Phuoc Dai, Nghe an) had a woman as Vice Chair of the Commune
People’s Committee, and one commune (Thuan Hoa -Tra Vinh) has a women as Chair of the
Commune People’s Council and Vice Chair, and only one commune (Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh)
has a woman as member of the Commune Party Executive Committee as Vice Secretary.
Activities of Women’s Union
Activities of the Women’s Union have seen positive changes in the last five years.
At most monitoring points, membership of the Women’s Union is increasing; Women’s

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
Union cadres at commune and village levels are younger and are better educated.
The Women’s Union has launched many movements and activities attracting women’s
participation. It plays the role of both encouraging and helping women in household
economic development and mobilizing them to build happy families.
49
The impact and capacity of the Women’s Union varies (Table 1.10). The Women’s
Union is strongest in Cu Hue-Dak Lak and Duc Huong-Ha Tinh. The Women’s Union
chairwomen in these two communes are educated and active and often organize activities
attracting women’s participation such as innovation competitions. The Women’s Union
chairwomen are also very dynamic, coordinating with other agencies such as Education
and Health. The heads of the village Women’s Union branches are also devoted to their
work although they receive no allowances. Members of the Women’s Union branches
are also very active in the Union’s activities. They understand that participation in such
activities is beneficial to themselves and their family. Many women, who have time,
organize volleyball teams or art troupes.
The Women’s Union is average in Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang, Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, Thuan
Hoa-Tra Vinh, and Phuoc Dai-Ninh Thuan. The capacity of commune and village Women’s
Union cadres is good, but participation of women members of Union branches is low. As
many women work away from home, are busy during harvesting, or with house chores,
Women’s Union activities are not well attended.
The Women’s Union is weak in remote areas such as Luong Minh-Nghe An, Xy-Quang Tri,
Ban Lien-Lao Cai, and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan. These communes have difficult economic
conditions, the capacity of Women’s Union cadres is limited and local people do not have the
time to participate in the activities of mass organizations. As villages are located far from the
commune centre it is difficult for the Women’s Union to organize meetings or launch movements.
TABLE 1.10. Synthesis of Commune Women’s Union’s activities in surveyed sites
Strong Women’s
Union
Average Women’s
Union
Weak Women’s
Union
Commune Cu Hue-Dak Lak; Duc
Huong-Ha Tinh
Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang,
Thanh Xuong-Dien
Bien, Thuan Hoa-Tra
Vinh,
Phuoc Dai-Ninh Thuan
Luong Minh-Nghe
An, Xy-Quang Tri,
Ban Lien-Lao Cai,
Phuoc Thanh-Ninh
Thuan
Activities,
movements
• Women’s Union
Branches organize
periodical meetings
once every quarter
• Women’s Union
coordinates with
ActionAid Project
in communication
on gender equality,
domestic violence
prevention and running
a household
• Organizes activities
on March 8 and
October 20, with active
participation of women
• Established a credit fund
for women, implement
the movements “5 Nos 3
Cleans”, “Rice Saving Jar”...
• Women’s Union
Branches meet once
every quarter
• Women’s Union
integrates activities in
ActionAid project but
has not yet achieved
expected results
• Most Women’s Union
branches organize
artistic, cultural
and sport activities
on March 8 th and
October 20
• Some Women’s Union
branches have not
yet established credit
funds
• Some Women’s
Union Branches
do not organize
meetings
• Very few Women’s
Union activities of
(except ActionAid
Project sites in Ban
Lien-Lao Cai). No
activities on March
8 or Oct. 20
• Most Women’s
Union branches
have not
established credit
funds. Some places
raise fund through
“common upland
fields” in 2008-
2009 and then did
not sustain it.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
50
Capacity of
Women’s
Union cadres
• Most commune
Women’s Union
chairwomen have
intermediary and higher
level qualifications
• Most heads of Union
branches finished 12 th
grade
• Most commune
Women’s Union
chairwomen have
intermediary
and higher level
qualifications (both
regular and on-thejob
training)
• Most heads of Union
branches finished
lower secondary
school
• Some Women’s
Union chairwomen
finished primary
school. Others
are studying
complementary
school, 12 th grade
• Some heads of
Union branches
finished primary
school, and some
are still illiterate
Participation
of Union
members
• Active, self-motivated
Establishes and
launches own
movements
• Participate in
commune Women’s
Union activities, but
not very active
• Women are too
busy to attend
meetings
1.6. Participation and Empowerment
Effective poverty reduction requires better participation and empowerment so that each
impoverished individual, household, and community can take ownership of their development
to make sure it suits their culture and identity. At monitoring points, visible improvements in
participation were witnessed in the last five years, although challenges remain.
Access to information
People have better access to policies, programmes and projects at most monitoring
points. Information is delivered through direct channels such as village meetings and
mass organizational meetings and activities (mainly organised by the Women’s Union).
Other sources of information include audio-visual media such as televisions, radios,
and loudspeakers. The proportion of households with access to these channels has
increased over the last five years. Paper-based sources such as newspapers, magazines,
leaflets, brochures, announcements, and posters are less popular (Table 1.11).
TABLE 1.11. Proportion of households having access to information, 2007 - 2011 (%)
Commune TV Loudspeakers
Newspapers,
magazines
Village
meetings
Officials’
visits
Leaflets,
brochure
distribu-ted
to HHs
Meetings,
activities
of mass
organizations
Announcements,
posters
in village
centres or
public places
2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 46 80 22 52 10 52 93 100 70 35 16 2 7 41 42 77
Ban Lien 22 73 8 12 13 13 98 93 65 40 18 8 0 12 33 20
Thanh Xuong 47 85 37 52 18 40 88 98 53 82 17 23 3 32 10 7
Luong Minh 42 35 53 15 27 5 90 77 80 50 33 20 30 3 27 43
Duc Huong 50 83 53 72 16 5 84 98 - 95 16 20 3 22 24 64
Xy 45 57 3 7 13 15 95 100 75 57 10 53 2 25 25 18
Cu Hue 57 85 35 77 7 18 75 92 28 72 3 18 3 17 13 25
Phuoc Dai - 48 - 65 - 3 - 83 - 35 - 23 - 0 - 32
Phuoc Thanh - 30 - 65 - 8 - 88 - 38 - 37 - 5 - 43
Thuan Hoa 73 82 57 50 3 12 75 57 50 57 38 38 33 18 30 42
Average 48 66 34 46 13 17 87 89 53 56 19 24 10 17 25 37
SOURCE: Household interviews

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
Information Requirements
51
Information requirements depend strongly on people’s living standards and
knowledge. People in lowland and Kinh dominated areas (Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien,
Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, Cu Hue-Dak Lak, and Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh) are more interested
in information on employment, agricultural extension, infrastructure policies, laws and
local contributions and financial expenditures. Ethnic minorities (Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang,
Ban Lien-Lao Cai, Luong Minh-Nghe An, Xy-Quang Tri, Phuoc Dai and Phuoc Thanh-
Ninh Thuan) are more interested in direct support policies such as poverty reviews,
concessional loans, assistance in housing construction and seed supplies.
Participatory approaches in policies, programmes and projects facilitate the
people’s information requirements. People, particularly those in mountainous
ethnic minority areas, do not seek out information that is not vital to them, such as
local socio-economic development plans, economic restructuring plans, and land use
planning. However, participatory approaches tend to stimulate interest. For example,
the application of participatory socio-economic development planning at the commune
level (such as in Luong Minh-Nghe An, and Xy-Quang Tri) have enhanced people’s
interests in general information on local socio-economic development. According to a
commune cadre in Luong Minh-Nghe An, “After the Lunar New Year Festival in 2011, the
commune conducted communication activities in outlying villages. Many villagers asked
about the Policy 30a. They also wanted to know about funding for the construction of the
commune headquarters and when the commune moves to another place… In the past,
they only asked about what benefited them.”
Perception of people on effectiveness of information channels
In group discussions, participants discussed the effectiveness of existing information
channels according to criteria (Table 1.12).
TABLE 1.12. Effectiveness of each information channel
Information
channels
Village meetings
Frequencies
Once every
1-2 months,
extraordinary
More
information
Ranking by criteria 11
Quick,
timely
Meets
needs
Large
audiences
Twoway
exchanges
Advantages,
disadvantages
5 4 3 5 5 Uses local language for
explanation
The poor speak up
less, and remember the
content less
TV Daily 3 4 3 2 1 Number of TV sets
increased
It’s easier to understand
with images. Ethnic
minority language TV
channel
General information, not
specific
Officials’ visits
When it is
urgent
3 1 4 4 4 Detailed, specific
information
Fewer households have
access
Loud-speakers Not regular 3 4 4 3 2 Number of villages having
loudspeaker systems
increased
Low effectiveness
11. The rating scale for each criterion is 1-5: 5-Very good, 4-Rather good, 3-Average, 2-Poor, 1-Very poor.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
52
Organizational
meetings/
activities
Periodical,
depending
on each
organization
3 2 2 3 4 The poor can easily
exchange information in
small groups
Newspapers,
magazines
Provided
free of
charge
2 1 1 2 1 Many poor people are
illiterate, not interested in
small-typed information
Leaflets,
brochure
distributed to
households
Very few,
depending
on each
programme/
project
1 2 1 1 1 Beautifully printed
information, can be kept
(hung, posted at home)
Many poor people are
illiterate
Announcements
at commune
centres, public
places
When there
is new information
2 1 1 1 1 Not very attractive
formats
Many poor people are
illiterate, very rarely go to
commune headquarters
Word of mouth Regular 2 2 3 2 2 Information is informal,
often biased when
passed on from one
person to another
Group meetings
Periodical,
extraordinary
SOURCE: Men and women group discussions in surveyed sites, 2011
3 3 2 4 5 Small scale, easy to
organize
The poor feel confident
to participate
Village meetings are ranked highest for “more information”, “larger audiences”,
“meets needs” and “two-way exchanges”. Information provided in village meetings
is often related to general community issues, Government policies, and on-going
programmes and projects in the village. Other information provided concerns agricultural
extension, employment, labour export, laws and health issues. The percentage of
household representatives attending village meetings is often between 50 and 60%
and in some places 80-90%. In some villages (Ban Lien-Lao Cai, Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien,
and Luong Minh-Nghe An ) people who do not attend the village meetings are fined.
In Ban Lien-Lao Cai, some Tay villages have even elected a “village liaison” officer to
invite villagers to meetings. In ethnic minority villages, commune officials often take
part in meetings to communicate and explain policies that affect the village. The village
head can communicate in local languages, so it is easier for the poor and women to
understand.
Mass organizational and group meetings are a form of two-way information
exchange. Mass organizational meetings are a chance to share information on
organizational movements and family advantages and disadvantages. Group meetings
are very effective in populated villages or isolated population clusters. The group leader,
after receiving information from the village management, shares it with group members.
Participants in group meetings often live in the same neighbourhoods and routinely
interact with each other, so are very active in discussion and tend not to discriminate
between wealthy and poor households. Many poor people feel confident to express
their own views and opinions.
Television is assessed as an information channel with large audiences. The
proportion of households with a TV set is increasing. Ethnic minorities who cannot
speak Vietnamese can watch VTV 5, the ethnic minority language channel of Viet
Nam Television, or provincial TV channels broadcast in local languages. Information
disseminated over TV is very diverse, however, it tends to be quite general and not
always relevant to local people.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
Loudspeakers are an information channel with large audiences and up to date
information. At present, two thirds of the 20 surveyed villages have loudspeakers,
and eight communes have loudspeaker systems. The advantage of loudspeakers is
information can be regularly (daily or 2-3 times a week) delivered in ethnic minority
languages. Typical announcements concern the seasonal calendar, prevention and
control of natural disasters, pests and epidemics, and village and commune meetings.
53
Officials’ house-to-house visits can give information more rapidly, because
information is transmitted directly from the messenger to the receiver, for example
direct beneficiaries from programmes, policies or people with special circumstances
who are unable to attend village meetings. However, this channel is small-scale.
The printed word is not an effective source of information. Newspapers and
magazines are still unfamiliar to people at the monitoring points. Those with access
to newspapers and magazines are commune and village officials and a few wealthy
households. Leaflets and brochures are rarely distributed to people. Many people from
ethnic minority groups cannot read the Vietnamese language, and few go to commune
centres to read published information.
Participation in the implementation of policies, programmes, projects
In half of the surveyed communes, ratio of people felt their increased
participation in 2011 is bigger than the ratio of people having the same
response in 2007. The two main reasons cited are: the “capacity of local officials is
higher” and “information on policies is clearer and more specific” (Table 1.13).
TABLE 1.13. Perception of households in the implementation of policies,
programmes, projects in communes and villages over the past 12 months (%)
Commune
Better
participation
Reasons for “better participation” over the past 12 months,
2011 (%)
2007 2011 Enhanced
capacity
of local
officials
Clearer
and more
specific
policy
informa-tion
Increased
interests
among
villagers
Commune and
village levels
becoming
more active
Supports
and
monitoring
by
province
and
district
Villagers
have more
opportunities
to
voice their
opinions
Villagers have
more opportunities
to take
part in training,
discussions,
and monitoring
Thuan Hoa 42 18 18 46 91 0 55 64 0
Ban Lien 18 52 74 68 23 0 74 10 13
Thanh Xuong 45 40 71 33 54 42 13 50 38
Luong Minh 48 10 83 67 67 0 50 17 0
Duc Huong 60 52 57 57 40 37 50 33 3
Xy 7 48 86 66 31 59 48 28 7
Cu Hue 17 23 43 71 79 14 14 36 36
Phuoc Dai 15 13 63 75 13 38 50 25 25
Phuoc Thanh 15 17 40 100 30 10 30 60 10
Thuan Hoa 17 34 90 58 26 42 32 26 16
Average 28 31 67 61 41 29 43 32 15
SOURCE: Household interviews

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
54
People participate more in designing and planning programmes and projects. In
2007 villagers were only invited to meetings to be informed of a programme or project’s
implementation. By 2011 local residents were more involved in the design and planning
phases. A typical example is the ‘Housing support for the poor’ programme under
Decision 167, which provided households with the opportunity to select the design
and take part in planning the construction of their own houses. Household beneficiaries
under Decision 167, with assistance from relatives and village, spent more on materials
and labour in digging foundations, levelling the floor, transporting materials and mixing
mortar for the construction of their house.
Some provinces (Nghe An, Quang Tri) are applying participatory approaches to improve
socio-economic planning and the delivery of demand-driven public services. See Section
8 “Participatory socio-economic development planning and decentralized investments
at commune level”.
However, people’s participation in the designing and planning phases is still
limited for many investment projects. Projects funded by district and province are
managed by contractors: local residents, and commune and village cadres have little
opportunity to contribute to the design and planning phase. As leaders of the People’s
Committee of Luong Minh commune-Nghe An reported on a rural road project in the
Settlement and Sedentary Farming Programme in a local village: “The district came to
implement the project without informing our commune. After completing it, the contractor
told the commune that he had just built a road in Cham Puong”.
Community-based monitoring of investments is not effective in many places.
When the investor is the commune, community-based monitoring is effective. However,
for projects funded at higher levels, with no local contributions of cash or labour,
contractors make it difficult for the Community Supervision Board to carry out its
monitoring responsibilities. In Cu Hue-Dak Lak contractors undertaking construction
projects in the commune in 2009 and 2010, did not inform the Community Supervision
Board of the project’s progress. Community Supervision Boards had similar experiences
in Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang, Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien and were reported by Fatherland
Front cadres in Luong Minh-Nghe An. In some other cases members of the Community
Supervision Board lacking an understanding of construction techniques are unable to
read construction drawings and are unclear about the division of responsibilities.
After five years participation in project management and operation is still
limited. Many projects, after construction, do not have regulations regarding
participatory management and operation. In others regulations aren’t implemented,
adversely affecting the quality and efficiency of the project. On the other hand in some
villages with a strong sense of community project management and operation has been
implemented well (Box 1.10).

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
BOX 1.10. Project management and operation: advantages and
disadvantages
55
Water supply project in Khu Chu Tung 1 village - a favourable case
In 2005, the H’Mong people in Khu Chu Tung 1 village, Ban Lien commune (Bac
Ha, Lao Cai) were supported by a Programme 135 water supply project. After
receving the water system from the contractor, the village elected a three person
management team. Members of the team are re-elected annually. Households pay
management fees of 5 kg paddy/rice/ household/ year (10 kg since 2011). All
households who use the water pay full management fees.
The project management team divides the work among its members. Whenever it
rains and the water pipeline is blocked, the team members visit, clean and clear it.
The team reminds users to use water reasonably and consider the uses of other
households. After six years of operation, the water supply project is still operating well.
Maintenance of the main road in Cu Hue commune- a difficult case
The portion of the main road running through Cu Hue commune (Eakar, Dak Lak),
funded by the province, was completed in 2009. In late 2010, local authorities and
households living along the road joined forces to repair it. By September 2011, the
repairs was completed.
The road can only bear 10 tons, but many lorries of more than 15 or even 40 tons
use it, causing significant damage. The Dong Tam village Management Board has
fined some lorries about 200 - 300,000 VND but large lorries continue to use the
road. Residents are very concerned but do not know who to report the problem to.
For community-initiated small construction projects, local residents show
their good ownership through their self-motivated and active participation in
the whole project implementation process. In the last five years, at the monitoring
points, there have been many community initiatives, contributed and implemented by
local people themselves, for example the community house project in Minh Phong
village (Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang) in 2008, the concrete road built by the inter-family group
No. 6 in Huong Tho village (Duc Huong-Ha Tinh) in 2009, the Cultural House in Chan Nuoi
2 Village (Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien) in 2010, bridge spanning the stream in Chan Puong
village (Luong Minh-Nghe An) in 2011... With community initiatives, people participate
very actively in designing, planning, contribution of cash and labour, locally available
materials, project monitoring and supervision and operation and maintenance. Active
participation helps these projects have high quality, showing the common intelligence
and strength of the community.
Role of community institutions in enhancing people’s participation
Community institutions play an active role enhancing people’s participation in
programmes and projects. In the last five years, some community institutions have been
maintained and developed effectively; but others are fading away and reducing their
role in community life.
Village heads
Village heads play the most important role in promoting villagers’ participation.
Village heads organize people’s participation in village activities. They play different
roles, such as the head of the reconciliation team, member of the Fatherland Front and

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
56
head of the credit groups. They also serve as a focal point, providing feedback to the
commune and welcoming visitors. In mountainous ethnic minority communes, village
heads are also heads of some mass organizations. Most village heads feel they have a
very heavy work load, and are sometimes forced to neglect household chores.
Allowances for village heads are low. Allowances for village heads at most monitoring
points increased in early 2011 and range between 60% and 100% of the minimum wage
(830,000 VND per month in late 2011) depending on the province. Allowances only
cover travel and communication costs. Many people do not want to take the position of
village head because allowances are too low.
Village heads have had little opportunity to participate in comprehensive
training, so have limited understanding of relevant policies. Most have completed
lower or upper secondary school, although some did not complete primary school. In
mountainous ethnic minority areas (Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang, Ban Lien-Lao Cai, Luong Minh-
Nghe An, Xy-Quang Tri, Phuoc Dai and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan), village heads have only
a limited knowledge and understanding of regulations and policies. Statistics, records
and data are not kept systematically by village heads. Most village heads expressed
a desire to attend more comprehensive training on policies, and management skills
so as to better fulfil their roles. However, there are few advanced training courses on
professional skills for village heads. This is a vital issue if village heads are to increase
people’s participation and empowerment.
Village patriarchs
Village patriarchs play an important role in mobilizing villagers. At present, “village
patriarchs” are either “traditional” and elected according long-standing community
practices or “modern”, a result of recent Government policy 12 . An important requirement
is to understand traditional customs, traditions and rituals. Therefore, village patriarchs
tend to be elderly people. In some villages, as custom and tradition plays a diminishing
role village “traditional patriarchs” have become less important. For modern village
patriarchs, age is not considered the most important criterion. Some are young but
trusted and elected by villagers (such as the one in Doi 1 village, Ban Lien-Lao Cai who is
just 37 years old). The role of village patriarchs is mostly to assist the Village Management
Board communicate and mobilize people to implement Government policies and local
guidelines, and resolve conflicts in the village.
Farmers’ groups with community functions
Groups with community functions are highly sustainable in the last five years,
as they stem from direct interests of local residents, help maintain community functions
which are really needed by the people, and operates on voluntary basis and consensus
of members, not dependent on external financial support. In fact, in surveyed sites, there
are many farmers’ groups with community functions such as Community Forest Protection
Group, Construction Board, Water Project Management, Community Development
Club, Inter-Family Group etc. which are operational very well. These forms of informal
community cooperation may promote the participation and empowerment of villagers
in the implementation of policies, programmes, and projects as appropriate to local
customs, practices, and socio-economic conditions. The development of operational
regulations which are clear and binding responsibilities among members also help the
groups to operate more effectively.
12 According to Instruction 06/2008/CT-TTg dated 1 February 2008 of the Prime Minister on promoting the
roles of the respectful people in ethnic minority areas. Each village can elect one “respectful person” (so called
“patriarch”).

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
A good example of effective farmers’ groups at the monitoring points in the
last five years is the Inter-family Group in Duc Huong commune-Ha Tinh. This
is a form of groups very successful in increasing people’s participation in community
activities. Households join the inter-family group voluntarily, the group has its regulation
and sanctions against violations. Normally, the inter-family group meets once every
month or every two months to discuss related activities (Box 1.11).
57
BOX 1.11. Inter-family groups are increasingly sustainable and
effective
In 2005 the Ha Tinh Centre for Community Development - HCCD in coordination with
Vu Quang District People’s Committee organized a study tour of the inter-family group
model in Ky Anh district for members of four project communes. Following the study
tour, Vu Quang District People’s Committee assigned the District Police the task to
develop a plan for the establishment of inter-family groups in communes. Inter-family
groups were officially established in Vu Quang in 2006.
At first the functions of the inter-family groups were to ensure social order and
security, maintain the spirit of solidarity and good village relations. Over time the
group has taken on other functions such as: contributing labour to build small village
infrastructure facilities, cleaning up the village, encouraging children in their study,
selecting households to receive relief aid, participating in reviewing the list of poor
households and helping households in difficult circumstances. By the end of 2011,
there were fifty inter-family groups in Duc Huong commune.
Reasons for successful Inter-family groups which help increase people’s participation
include:
• Inter-family group meetings can be held quickly and in a very flexible way. The
meetings are held in the evening at a member’s house. Each group member
is expected to host a meeting.
• Both husbands and wives attend meetings, helping to improve gender
equality. In fact, 60% of women are heads of Inter-family groups and most
deputy heads are women.
• Issues discussed in inter-family groups are relevant to local residents,
improving the quality of their participation.
• The poor have the opportunities to participate more, and feel confident to
speak as inter-family groups are small - only 7-25 members.
• Activities of inter-family group help reduce the work load of village cadres.
• The heads or deputy heads of inter-family groups attend monthly meetings of
the commune Fatherland Front, ensuring people’s voices are heard.
• With support from HCCD to build rotating funds and production models,
communication activities through inter-family groups attract local residents.
Inter-family groups are in close coordination with Community Learning
Centres, Village Community Development Committees, interest groups, and
clubs.
Community Learning Centres
Community Learning Centres have been established in communes under Decision
09/2008/QĐ-BGDĐT 13 to improve opportunities for people to access continuing
education (from literacy, continuing education, to legal communication and training
13 Community Learning Centres in communes, wards and district towns are stipulated in Paragraph 1 Article
46 of the Law on Education and Decision No. 09/2008/QĐ-BGDĐT dated 24/03/2008 of the Minister of
Education and Training on issuance of Regulation of organization and activities of the centers in communes,
wards and district towns.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
58
on agricultural extension). A Community Learning Centre has a director (often a
commune vice chairperson in charge of cultural-social affairs) and 1-2 deputy directors
(teachers or full time officers). Community Learning Centres are operational under the
management of the commune People’s Committee, and professional guidance from the
District Education and Training Division.
At the monitoring points, some Community Learning Centres have made some
improvements in their activities in the last five years. According to assessments in
2007, Community Learning Centres at the monitoring points operated ineffectively and
in a formalistic way due to lack of funding, poor facilities and no specific plans of action.
But in the 2008-2011 period, in some areas implementing Reflect Project - Literacy and
community development funded by ActionAid (in Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang, Thanh Xuong-
Dien Bien, Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, Cu Hue-Dak Lak and Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh), Community
Learning Centres are linked to Community Development Clubs with an aim to increasing
the role and activities of Community Learning Centres, while enhancing the possibility
of sustaining clubs. At present, these Community Learning Centres play the focal point
role in collecting learning needs from community/clubs to be incorporated in their plans
of action, or transferred to relevant agencies (such as agricultural extension, health,
education...). Activities of Community Learning Centres considered effective include:
organization of trainings on livestock breeding, cultivation, gender equality, HIV/AIDS
prevention; support to members of clubs and interest groups to access revolving funds
from Micro Credit Funds.
In addition to the Community Learning Centres mentioned above, activities of the
remaining Community Learning Centres at the monitoring points (Ban Lien-Lao Cai, Luong
Minh-Nghe An, Xy-Quang Tri, Phuoc Dai and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan) in the last five
years are in general rather weak, just stopping at some activities such as communication
and dissemination of knowledge. Current biggest difficulties and challenges to effective
activities of Community Learning Centres include:
• Lack of proper care and direction from local Party committees and authorities.
• Activities of Community Learning Centres are not yet incorporated in the
commune plans of activities. Therefore, in the annual socio-economic
development planning and budgeting, most of the communes have not yet paid
attention to planning activities for Community Learning Centres and including
them in the corresponding budget lines, thus fund is not allocated to activities
of these centres 14 .
• Community Learning Centres are currently not considered a focal point in
implementing related local communication, training and livelihoods support
activities. Functional agencies and projects continue to carry out activities on
their own channels, without coordination with Community Learning Centres.
Legal Aid
In the last five years, legal aid has been implemented in surveyed sites through various
channels (by the commune judicial committee) and Programmes 135 and 30a 15 . People’s
needs for legal aid often concentrate on areas like land, marriage and family, prevention
of domestic violence and adoption of children...
14 Under Circular 96/2008/TT-BTC dated 27/10/2008, Community Learning Centres are provided once
with VND30 million at inception. Centers established in ethnic minority and mountainous communes receive
VND20 million/year for Category I communes and VND25 million/year for Category II and III communes.
15 Decision No. 112/2007/QĐ-TTg dated 20 July 2007 and Decision No. 52/2010/QĐ-TTg dated 18 August
2010 of the Prime Minister

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 1: Poverty Trends and Key Themes of Rural Poverty Reduction
Forms of legal aid are rather diverse. Most of the communes integrated legal
communication and dissemination in village meetings or organizational meetings.
59
Some communes have conducted mobile legal communication sessions and provided
direct legal aid to local residents in villages. In Cu Hue, Dak Lak, the justice sector has
had many forms of legal communication such as news bulletin, brochures, coordination
with information points (funded by DANIDA Administrative Reforms Project, implemented
by ActionAid and local partners) to answer questions about administrative procedures to
local residents. In addition, the district Judicial Section, in coordination with the Farmers’
Union, organized advanced training on legal knowledge to commune clusters.
The effectiveness of legal aid is limited. Most of the people are not really interested
in and proposed their needs for legal aid. The form of legal communication is not lively,
mostly through reading legal documents by local cadres, no visual aid and almost no
illustrative cases. Most local resident interviewed did not have good understanding of
legal information after attending communication sessions. The village heads have limited
legal knowledge, so their presentations at village meetings are often not comprehensive.
There is a “legal bookshelf” at the office of the People’s Committee, but it is not regularly
used by village heads because of their limited educational background and because
they are generally busy and live far from the People’s Committee office. Mountainous
communes are large and scattered; commune cadres only receive a very low level of
allowances to conduct mobile communication. In Luong Minh commune (Nghe An), the
commune legal aid and communication committee received an aid package of 200,000-
500,000 VND/legal communication session in all villages; meanwhile some villages are
an hour motorbike drive away from the commune centre; therefore, the plan is a legal
communication session is given to a village per a quarter, but in fact only a session a
year was held.
The legal aid clubs are not established. According to regulations of Programme
135, each commune receives 2 million dong per year to establish one legal aid club
and organise mobile legal communication sessions. In reality no commune at the
monitoring points established the legal aid clubs. The cited reasons are inadequate
budget, difficulties in mobilising local cadres and people, lacking detailed instructions
from functional agencies and commitment of commune leaders for establishment and
sustained operation of the clubs.

Part 2
Challenges to Rural Poverty
Reduction in Viet Nam

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty
Reduction in Viet Nam
63
Changes at the monitoring points in the past five years suggest key challenges to rural
poverty reduction in Viet Nam.
• The multi-dimensional nature of poverty. Multi-dimensional poverty analysis
will help policy makers develop more effective policies specific to different
groups.
• As Viet Nam becomes a low middle income country, designing effective social
security systems becomes increasingly important.
• Coping with inflation and price volatility.
• Labour mobility in Viet Nam is increasing, helping create more diversified
livelihood strategies.
• Demand-driven agricultural extension services play an increasingly
important role in improving effective and sustainable livelihoods in rural areas.
• Education for children to improve the quality of human resources is of decisive
significance to sustainable rural poverty reduction in the future.
• Participatory planning and decentralized financing at the commune level
would improve public services that support poverty reduction policies.
Extension
Labour mobility
Quality of human resources
Education
Investment efficiency, public services
Sustainable livelihoods
Multi-dimensional
poverty
Risk management
Price volatility
Vulnerability reduction
C-SEDP and CDF
Social security

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
64
2. MULTI-DIMENSIONAL POVERTY ANALYSIS
Multi-dimensional poverty is not only related to income or expenditure. Multi-dimensional
analysis will help policy makers identify target groups and develop policies relevant to
them.
2.1. Multi-dimensional poverty measurements in the world and in Viet Nam
Multi-dimensional poverty
measurements are being
adopted worldwide. The UNDP
Human Development Report
2010 used the “Multi-dimensional
poverty Index” (MPI). The MPI is
based on three dimensions of
poverty: education, health and
living standards, and includes
ten sub-indicators associated
with the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) 16 . The indicator of
each dimension has the same
weight, and each dimension is
also attributed the same weight
(Figure 2.1). As of 2011, the MPI
has been used in 109 countries 17 .
FIGURE 2.1. Indicators of the Multidimensional
Poverty Index MPI
In 2008, the General Statistics
Office (GSO) calculated multidimensional
children poverty
indicators based on data from
VHLSS 18 . In 2009, UNDP funded the Project “Support to in-depth urban poverty survey
in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City” (UPS-2009). The Project applied a multi-dimensional
poverty measurement approach using eight indicators: income, education, health,
access to social security, housing quality and space, housing services, participation in
social activities and social security 19 .
2.2. Multi-dimensional nature of rural poverty at monitoring points
Multi-dimensional analysis of rural poverty is conducted at the monitoring points in
the following way:
1. Examine multi-dimensional poverty indicators as perceived by local residents
and cadres in ten surveyed communes. For each indicator, identify a “cut-off
point”. Those under this point are regarded by local residents and officials as
“poor” (Table 2.1).
2. Develop a table on poverty dimensions and poverty indicators for each
dimension using data from the interview sample of 600 households in ten
surveyed communes (Table 2.2).
3. Calculate data for each poverty dimension from 2007 to 2011. Poverty
dimensions have the same weights.
16 UNDP, Human Development Report 2010 “Real Wealth of Nations: Road to Human Development “, second
edition Nov. 2010. MPI Index was developed by OPHI and UNDP Human Development Report Agency based
on Alkire and Foster approach (http://www.ophi.org.uk/research/multidimensional-poverty/).
17 http://www.ophi.org.uk/policy/multidimensional-poverty-index/mpi-data-methodology/
18 GSO, “Results of Household Living Standard Survey 2008”, Statistics Publishing House, Hanoi, 2010
19 UNDP, “Urban Poverty Assessment in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City”, 2010

TABLE 2.1. Multi-dimensional poverty indicators in communes as felt by local residents and grassroots officials
Thuan Hoa-Tra
Vinh
Xy-Quang Tri Cu Hue-Dak Lak Phuoc Dai,
Phuoc Thanh-
Ninh Thuan
Luong Minh-
Nghe An
Duc Huong-Ha
Tinh
Thanh Xuong-Dien
Bien
Ban Lien-Lao
Cai
Groups of criteria Thuan Hoa-Ha
Giang
Land Land acreage Land acreage Land acreage Shortage of land
Quality of land Quality of land
Assets Cattle Cattle Cattle Cattle Cattle
Housing, Housing Housing Housing Housing Housing
Durable assets Durable assets Durable assets Durable assets Durable assets Durable assets
Living conditions
Living conditions Living conditions Living conditions Living
conditions
Living conditions Living
conditions
Education of
household heads
Education of
household
heads
Education of
household heads
Education of
household heads
Education of
household heads
Education Education of
household heads
Education of
children
Education of children Education of
children
Education of
children
Education of
children
Health Health Health Health Health Health
Awareness,
ways of doing
business
Awareness,
ways of doing
business
Awareness, ways of
doing business
Awareness, ways
of doing business
Awareness, ways
of doing business
Awareness, ways of
doing business
Awareness,
ways of doing
business
Awareness, ways of
doing business
Labour Labour Number of
dependents
Number of
dependents
Labour Number of
dependents
Application
of improved
techniques
Application
of improved
techniques
Application
of improved
techniques
Application
of improved
techniques
Application of
improved techniques
Application
of improved
techniques
Intensive farming Application
of improved
techniques
Hiring services,
hire labour, using
machines
Hiring
labour, using
machines, tools
Hiring services,
hiring labour
Farming
practice
Machinery,
production tools
Hiring labour,
using machines,
tools
Investment in
intensive farming
Investment
in intensive
farming
Investment in
intensive farming
Investment in
intensive farming
Food Investment
in intensive
farming
Crop yield Crop yield Crop yield
Occupations,
income
Diversified
income,
employment
Occupations,
income
Income sources -
wages
Income sources -
wages
Livelihood/
Employment
Buying and selling
methods
Access to markets Buying and selling
methods
Risks (sickness,
epidemics,
diseases)
Risks Risk coping
capacities
Voices, selfconfidence
Voices, selfconfidence
Participation Voices, selfconfidence,
participation
Loans
Efficient use of
capital
Efficient use of
capital
Efficient use of
capital
Capital Efficient use of
capital
SOURCE: Group discussions of cadres and residents, 2011
65

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
66
4. Calculate head count index (H) according to the dimensions (K).
5. Analyse variations for each poverty dimension between 2007 and 2011
combining data collected from questionnaires and qualitative information
collected from fieldwork.
TABLE 2.2. Poverty dimensions and specific criteria used in this report
Poverty
Specific indicators
dimensions
1. Income Households listed as “poor” according to Government
income poverty line in the 2006-2010 period in rural
areas (average income is less than VND 200,000/person/
month)
2. Assets Households living in temporary houses, or
Households with no motorbikes and cattle
3. Living conditions Households not using electricity as main lighting source,
or
Households using water from ponds, lakes, rivers, streams
as main domestic water sources, or
Households with no latrines or temporary latrines
4. Children’s
Households with children aged 6 to15 not going to school
education
5. Health Households suffering illnesses and hospitalized in the last
12 months and who lack access to satisfactory health
services
6. Food security Households with regular food shortages (one month or
more) in the last 12 months
7. Agricultural
employment
8. Access to
markets
9. Access to
information
10. Risk
management
Households whose only source of employment is farming
(no non-agricultural livelihood sources)
Households selling no products in the last 12 months, or
Households buying no agricultural materials in the last 12
months
Households with no TV sets and no telephone
Households facing risks that greatly affect their lives in the
last 12 months
Note:
• Poverty indicators and the “cut-off point” for each indicator is based on the results of group
discussions with local residents and officials in ten surveyed communes.
• Due to the data limitation of household questionnaires in the 2007-2011 period in ten surveyed
communes, illustrative data on multi-dimensional poverty used in this report do not cover important
poverty dimensions and indicators (such as malnourished children, healthcare services are not
affordable, social relations, gender equality, participation and empowerment...), nor present “quality”
aspects of poverty criteria (such as: education quality, quality of assets, livelihood quality ...).
• Data from the results of survey of repeated random sample of 600 selected households in 20
villages in ten surveyed communes in 2007 and in 2011. As for the proportion of “poor households”
taken from the statistics of 2007 and 2010 (because in 2011 the Government revised the poverty
line, thus unable to compare it with 2007).
• Data from the questionnaires filled by 600 households are only used for illustration (the selection
of sample of households in the village is on a random basis, but the selection of sample of villages
and commune is purposeful

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
General picture of multi-dimensional rural poverty at monitoring points
in the last five years
67
People’s living standards at the monitoring points have improved in the last five years
(Figure 2.2) Education, assets, food security and access to information have improved
the most since 2007. Assets (housing, motorbikes, and cattle) and access to information
(TV, telephone) have seen the biggest improvements in the last five years. Living
conditions (electricity, safe water, latrines), agricultural employment, access to market
(selling products and buying agricultural materials) and managing risks have improved
the least.
FIGURE 2.2. Percent of shortage by dimensions of poverty at the monitoring
points, 2007-2011 (%)
SOURCE: Household interview, 2007-2011
Table 2.3 shows rural residents are in households suffer in the most dimensions.
Ethnic minority groups suffer in more dimensions than the majority Kinh.
According to Table 2.3, 18% of Kinh households , 41% of Kh’mer, Tay, Thai and Ede
households and 63% of Van Kieu, Raglai, Kh’Mu, and H’Mong households suffer in least
four dimensions.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
68
TABLE 2.3. Head count index (H) by dimensions (k), 2011
Head count k=1 k=2 k=3 k=4 k=5 k=6 k=7 K=8 k=9 k=10
index (H)
General index 0.99 0.93 0.72 0.45 0.25 0.09 0.04 0.01 0.00 0.00
Of which:
Kinh 1.00 0.79 0.45 0.18 0.05 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Kh’mer, Tay,
Thai, Ede, Nung
0.99 0.96 0.73 0.41 0.24 0.07 0.05 0.01 0.00 0.00
Van Kieu,
Raglai, Kh’Mu,
H’Mong
1.00 0.98 0.86 0.64 0.37 0.14 0.07 0.01 0.00 0.00
SOURCE: Household interviews
Income
Income poverty has fallen, but remains uneven. Table 2.4 shows that in communes
with cash-commodity production and diverse income sources (Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien,
Cu Hue-Dak Lak, Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh, Xy-Quang Tri and Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang) poverty
declined 4-5% a year on average. In some ethnic minority communes and remote and
disaster-prone areas, the poverty rate declined at 2% a year.
After the Government raised the poverty line in 2010 the percentage of poor households
in most surveyed sites increased to over 70% in remote mountainous ethnic minority
communes (Ban Lien-Lao Cai, Luong Minh-Nghe An, Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan and Xy-
Quang Tri). In 2011 the percentage of poor households according to the new poverty
line declined.
TABLE 2.4. Proportion of poor households in 2005 - 2011 at monitoring points (%)
Commune
Main ethnic
groups
According to old poverty line
According
to new
poverty line
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Thuan Hoa Tay, H’Mong 78.7 69.5 58.3 42.8 35.0 62.0 56.4
Ban Lien Tay, H’Mong 65.9 61.0 60.7 59.9 54.5 82.7 63.0
Thanh Xuong Kinh, Thai 33.9 22.8 14.7 11.2 8.2 11.7 7.5
Luong Minh Thai, Kh’Mu 77.4 74.7 72.5 78.7 83.6 94.0 85.3
Duc Huong Kinh 39.6 39.6 31.6 40.6 28.4 52.5 43.3
Xy Van Kieu 81.5 71.1 54.0 49.8 42.2 73.5 72.1
Cu Hue Ede, Kinh 28.1 24.7 16.8 11.9 8.7 15.4 11.4
Phuoc Dai Raglai 68.8 51.7 44.2 58.4 58.2 64.2 57.8
Phuoc Thanh Raglai 74.3 69.2 58.1 56.5 52.8 77.2 70.9
Thuan Hoa Kh’mer, Kinh 41.1 32.7 37.2 33.9 28.5 32.7 26.7
SOURCE: Statistics of annual review of poor households provided by communes

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Possession of family assets
Shortages in basic family assets fell strongly. Table 2.5 shows that the percentage
of households living in non-solid and temporary houses 20 , with no motorbikes or cattle
fell in the last five years. The quality of housing for poor households in mountainous
areas improved, benefitting from the Temporary Housing Elimination Programmes under
Decision 134, and 167. Concessional loans from the Social Policy Bank are used by
poor households in mountainous ethnic minority areas to buy cattle. In some lowland
areas (Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, Cu Hue-Dak Lak, and Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh) where
mechanized services are popular, the percentage of households with no cattle is high,
although in these areas not owning cattle does not reflect poverty. People tended to
buy motorbikes following improvements in local roads. However, in general, the assets
of poor households tend to be of low quality.
69
TABLE 2.5. Shortage of assets of households, 2007-2011
Commune
Temporary
houses(%)
No cattle (%)
No motorbikes(%)
2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 24 10 5 8 64 20
Ban Lien 6 2 9 4 72 19
Thanh Xuong 17 0 81 69 28 13
Luong Minh 61 55 52 39 89 71
Duc Huong 8 0 10 14 55 31
Xy 67 28 42 35 63 26
Cu Hue 4 2 75 67 22 7
Phuoc Dai 16 0 11 7 53 47
Phuoc Thanh 24 0 31 20 87 43
Thuan Hoa 55 17 67 71 53 36
Average 29 12 39 34 59 31
SOURCE: Household interviews
Some poor households built new houses and purchased assets they could not realistically
afford. In many cases, poor households who received financial support to build houses
under Decision 167 became over indebted.
Living conditions
Living conditions remain poor at most monitoring points.
Many households lack latrines or own only temporary latrines. Few households
use composting and or semi-composting latrines (Table 2.6). The Government issued a
support policy to help households build latrines (VND 1 million /household concessional
20 According to the guideline of the household survey procedures introduced by the Ministry of Labour,
Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) review of poor households, “simple houses” are houses having three main
structures (bamboo pillars, roof and walls) made of non-durable materials; “non-solid houses” are houses
having only one of the three main structures made of durable materials.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
70
loans from the Social Policy Bank) under the National Target Programme on Rural Safe
Water and Sanitation, linked with the Programme on building new rural areas 21 .
Many residents do not understand the importance of sanitation. As a result improving
environmental sanitation in rural areas is an urgent issue, involves behaviour change
and requires the participation of commune health stations and the primary healthcare
network. The support programme for the construction of latrines should be revised to
focus on empowering residents and training village masons to build latrines which meet
standards at low cost. It should also increase funding for communication and training
and specifically target women and children, the key beneficiaries.
TABLE 2.6. Shortages in living conditions, 2007-2011
Commune
Non-use of
electricity (%)
Use of unsafe
water (%)
No latrines
or temporary
latrines (%)
2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 15 10 46 40 100 92
Ban Lien 43 2 54 39 98 98
Thanh Xuong 0 0 89 65 72 70
Luong Minh 41 29 5 27 100 100
Duc Huong 0 0 71 53 53 53
Xy 7 2 26 28 100 96
Cu Hue 6 0 96 89 76 69
Phuoc Dai 11 2 51 22 87 89
Phuoc Thanh 20 6 85 63 100 94
Thuan Hoa 5 0 3 0 82 62
Average 15 5 52 42 87 83
SOURCE: Household interviews
The percentage of households using unsafe water for drinking and cooking remains
relatively high. At some monitoring points, a high proportion of surveyed households
use water from ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, canals and mountain creeks for drinking
and cooking (Table 2.6). There have been substantial investments in centralized tap
water facilities. However, mountainous topography, adverse weather conditions and
poor maintenance and management mean many people still do not have access to safe
water. In many mountainous ethnic communities, the quality of water is poor, due to
the fact that people living upstream pollute the water supply with solid waste and cattle
dung. The policy promoting the “Participatory Irrigation Management” (PIM) model has
so far been ineffective at the monitoring points.
Many households now have access to electricity at most monitoring points. More
households are now connected to the national grid and no longer rely on small hydroelectric
generators as in the past, especially in Ban Lien-Lao Cai. Many residents have
bought TV sets, pumping machines, and tea drying and crushing machines. Access to
electricity and lighting has also facilitated children’s study, village meetings and other
21 Under Decision 800/QĐ-TTg dated June 4, 2010 approving the National Target Programme on building
new rural areas 2010 - 2020, the goal “supply enough safe water to residents, schools, health stations, offices
and public service areas” is numbered 17 in the national new rural criteria.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
business activities.
Education
71
More children are going to school at most monitoring points. However, the
percentage of children aged 6 to 15 who do not go to school remains high in some
mountainous ethnic minority communes with specific difficulties such as Ban Lien-Lao
Cai, Phuoc Dai and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan. See Section 6 “Improvement of access to
education service”.
Difficulties with the Vietnamese language remains a problem for some adults.
Illiteracy limits access to useful information and knowledge of science and technology.
In mountainous ethnic minority communes women are more likely to be illiterate than
men, limiting their ability to participate in the family and wider society (Table 2.7).
TABLE 2.7. Vietnamese language skills of the respondents, 2011 (%)
Commune Speaking and
Reading
Writing
listening
Males Females Males Females Males Females
Thuan Hoa 100 100 88 74 83 26
Ban Lien 100 91 77 55 74 45
Thanh Xuong 95 100 95 85 100 85
Luong Minh 100 90 69 65 67 65
Duc Huong 100 100 100 100 100 100
Xy 70 54 55 38 77 23
Cu Hue 100 100 96 81 96 78
Phuoc Dai 100 100 72 60 76 60
Phuoc Thanh 97 100 51 32 54 32
Thuan Hoa 100 100 76 73 76 64
Average 95 96 75 71 78 64
SOURCE: Household interviews
Health
Healthcare has improved in the last five years. There were fewer reported
epidemics and diseases. The incidence of Malaria, in particular, has fallen in many
mountainous communes. In most surveyed sites, there are medical doctors at commune
health stations. Since 2009 in specially disadvantaged communes such as Ban Lien-Lao
Cai, Luong Minh-Nghe An, Phuoc Dai and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan, since 2009 medical
doctors have been dispatched under the Ministry of Health’s Project 1816. The Village
Healthcare Network and population collaborators now cover all villages and in some
places there are even nutrition advisors. An increasing proportion of women give birth
in commune health stations and have gynaecological and pre-natal check-ups. Many
people in ethnic minority areas, who traditionally made ceremonial offerings in order to
treat disease now use local health facilities.
Table 2.8 shows the percentage of households with members hospitalized in 2011 was
lower than in 2007. Fewer respondents find healthcare services “unsatisfactory”, mainly
because ethnic minorities in difficult circumstances receive free medical insurance
cards. Primary healthcare at grassroots level has also been improved.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
TABLE 2.8. Access to and perception of healthcare services, 2007-2011
72
Commune
Illnesses leading to check
ups and treatments at health
facilities (%)
Perception of healthcare
services as “unsatisfactory”
(%)
2007 2011 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 71 70 29 2
Ban Lien 70 65 3 6
Thanh Xuong 63 69 18 14
Luong Minh 51 45 20 0
Duc Huong 92 92 47 18
Xy 84 88 0 2
Cu Hue 58 67 29 14
Phuoc Dai 93 67 5 0
Phuoc Thanh 98 63 9 6
Thuan Hoa 81 71 4 0
Average 76 69 16 6
SOURCE: Household interviews
In lowland communes such as Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, Duc Huong-Ha Tinh and Cu
Hue-Dak Lak, the percentage of people who feel healthcare services are unsatisfactory
remains high. As many people in these communes also use district and province health
services their standards are higher. Typical issues are the attitudes of doctors when
people use medical insurance cards, overcrowding in hospitals, and the range and
quality of medicines available with medical insurance.
The malnutrition rate among children under five has fallen, but remains high in
some specially disadvantaged communes, such as Ban Lien-Lao Cai, Xy-Quang Tri,
Phuoc Dai and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan (Table 2.9). In the surveyed sites people lack
fresh food and vegetables. A month after giving birth many mothers leave their baby at
home and return to upland farming. Babies are therefore weaned early.
TABLE 2.9. Percent of malnourished children under 5 years old, 2007-2011
Commune Percent of malnourished children under 5 (%)
2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 25 22
Ban Lien 50 39
Thanh Xuong 19 17
Luong Minh 32 19
Duc Huong 19 16
Xy 57 50
Cu Hue 20 12
Phuoc Dai 53 36
Phuoc Thanh 41 33
Thuan Hoa 21 18
SOURCE: Statistics of malnourished children are provided by commune health stations

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Food security
Food security improved at most monitoring points. Where livelihoods involved
wet rice farming, commodity production, waged labour or migratory employment, few
people faced food shortages (such as Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang, Ban Lien-Lao Cai, Thanh
Xuong-Dien Bien, Xy-Quang Tri, Cu Hue-Dak Lak, Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh). In some remote
areas dependent on unstable upland hill-side farming with frequent poor weather such
as Luong Minh-Nghe An the proportion of households facing food shortages increased
(Table 2.10).
73
TABLE 2.10. Regular food shortages, 2007-2011
Commune
Percent of households facing
regular food shortages
(%)
Number of months of regular
food shortage (among people
suffering food shortage)
2007 2011 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 5 0 2.7 0
Ban Lien 11 9 3.3 2.0
Thanh Xuong 28 7 2.9 5.0
Luong Minh 49 73 5.0 6.1
Duc Huong - 5 - 4.0
Xy 35 2 3.8 1.5
Cu Hue 4 0 3.5 0
Phuoc Dai - 33 - 4.8
Phuoc Thanh - 35 - 3.9
Thuan Hoa 5 0 5.0 0
Average 23 16 3.3 4.9
SOURCE: Household interviews
Some people are always short of food particularly the vulnerable (disabled, long
term sick, elderly living alone and single mothers) who also lack productive land or live
in disaster-prone areas. For this reason, the percentage of households in regular food
shortage reduces sharply but the number of months of regular food shortage (of the
remaining households in “poverty cores”) increased at some monitoring points.
Agricultural employment
The percentage of households relying on agriculture declined slightly, but
remains high. Agriculture-based employment (with no alternative income sources) is
an important poverty indicator as felt by local residents at the surveyed sites. Table 2.11
shows the percentage of agriculture-based households in the survey sample declined
slightly in the last five years. In many remote mountainous areas (Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang,
Ban Lien-Lao Cai, and Luong Minh-Nghe An), the percentage of agriculture-based
employment in 2011 was high, over 30%.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
74
TABLE 2.11. Percent of households without non-agricultural income sources,
2007-2011 (%)
Commune 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 56 33
Ban Lien 67 67
Thanh Xuong 15 19
Luong Minh 54 38
Duc Huong 35 28
Xy 37 30
Cu Hue 29 46
Phuoc Dai 22 24
Phuoc Thanh 28 28
Thuan Hoa 12 7
Average 36 32
SOURCE: Household interviews
None of the twenty surveyed villages is strong in food processing, small industry or
handicrafts. Some activities such as forging metal, embroidery and weaving are only for
self-consumption. Non-agricultural income is mainly from wages, allowances, casual jobs
and migrant work (see Section 5 “Labour mobility and gender impacts “).
Farming and the rural economy has been slow to restructure in mountainous
areas. For households engaged primarily in agriculture the chosen farming model, scale
of production, level of investment in intensive farming and application of improved
techniques determines the income gap between households. Most residents in remote
mountainous sites are still dependent on upland, hill side farming, which produces only
one crop a year and is subject to significant risk. “Crop rotation”, “inter-cropping”, and
“crop expansion” are techniques used by ethnic minorities to diversify incomes and
manage risk. However, increasing pressure on the land has reduced the length of time
land is left fallow. In delta communes such as Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, Cu Hue-Dak Lak
and Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh, people have better land, capital, market information and risk
coping capacities. Many combine rice, maize, vegetables, subsidiary crops and shortterm
and long-term industrial crops. Investments in intensive farming have increased the
number of crops to 2-3 a year.
Access to markets
Access to markets has improved, but differences remain between surveyed sites. The
proportion of households who sell no products and buy no agricultural materials has
declined slightly in the last five years (Table 2.12).

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
TABLE 2.12. Percent of households selling no products and buying no
materials, 2007-2011
75
Commune
Selling no products in the
last 12 months (%)
Buying no agricultural
materials in the last 12
months (%)
2007 2011 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 42 17 10 2
Ban Lien 9 26 20 17
Thanh Xuong 48 7 17 0
Luong Minh 96 89 93 89
Duc Huong 22 8 10 8
Xy 26 9 98 98
Cu Hue 7 15 7 20
Phuoc Dai 51 33 56 58
Phuoc Thanh 44 43 85 89
Thuan Hoa 52 48 50 41
Average 40 30 45 42
SOURCE: Household interviews
Improvements in infrastructure, information and communication has improved market
access for many people. New markets in Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang (2008), Ban Lien-Lao Cai
(2008) and along the road from Ky Son district through Cham Puong, Luong Minh-Nghe
An (2010) has provided people with the opportunity to buy and sell produce. However,
local residents in remote mountainous ethnic minority areas participate less in
the market than Kinh in lowland areas, as they still rely on traditional upland farming
for domestic consumption and do not use commercial supplies. In Luong Minh-Nghe An
and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan, the proportion of people with access to markets is the
lowest, and poverty incidence the highest.
The capacity to engage in market transactions with few intermediaries leads
to increased incomes. In lowland communes, with favourable transport roads, people
have more choices for selling agricultural produce or purchasing agricultural supplies.
In Cu Hue-Dak Lak, people can sell agricultural produce (hybrid corn, coffee and pepper)
directly to agents or traders. They can also buy agricultural supplies directly from private
sales agent networks. In remote communes, local shops play a very important role. People
can borrow rice, seeds, fertilizer and other necessities for home consumption. They can
even borrow money to attend weddings and funerals and to pay children’s school fees.
Although repayment is often in kind, interest rates tend to be high (up to 3-4%/month).
The Government no longer supports households with transportation or price subsidies,
but, since 2010, provides cash or kind of 80,000 VND per person per year in Category
II communes and 100,000 VND per person per year in Category III communes (Decision
102). Most communes at the monitoring points apply for in-kind support, based on the
stated needs of poor households. However, the system has had some difficulties: as
funds were not disbursed in time the costs of seeds increased as a result of inflation
and seeds were provided too late for planting. In a number of instances prices for
agricultural output rose slower than inputs, reducing farmers’ purchasing power (see
Section 4 “Coping with Price Volatility”).

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
76
Access to information
Access to information via TV and telephones has improved. The number of households
with no TV or telephone has fallen significantly (Table 2.13). In some communes (Thuan
Hoa-Tra Vinh, Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, Cu Hue-Dak Lak, Thuan
Hoa-Tra Vinh) almost all households have telephones, and many individual household
members have a mobile phone.
TABLE 2.13. Percent of households with no TV set or telephone, 2007-2011
Commune No TV sets (%) No telephones (%)
2007 2011 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 58 28 93 7
Ban Lien 70 31 100 19
Thanh Xuong 2 4 52 11
Luong Minh 75 50 100 55
Duc Huong 25 2 86 6
Xy 37 21 95 44
Cu Hue 9 2 56 18
Phuoc Dai 36 18 80 27
Phuoc Thanh 54 19 94 56
Thuan Hoa 24 3 79 26
Average 39 18 84 27
SOURCE: Household interviews
Many remote villages are still not connected to the national grid and have no telephone
coverage, so few households have TVs or telephones, for example Luong Minh-Nghe
An. Elsewhere coverage is weak and unstable.
The efficiency of access to information depends on the information channel.
Although television is a useful source of regularly updated information with large
audiences, the quality of information is often limited. The most effective source of
information on policies, programmes and projects are village and organizational
meetings and activities (see Item 1.6 “Participation and empowerment”).
Risks
The only dimension that has worsened over the last five years is the ability
to manage risk. Some communes witnessing a sharp increase in the percentage of
households reporting facing risks that greatly affect their lives in the last 12 months are
Ban Lien-Lao Cai, Luong Minh-Nghe An, Xy-Quang Tri and Phuoc Dai-Ninh Thuan (Table
2.14).

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
TABLE 2.14. Percentage of local residents reporting facing risks that greatly
affect their lives in the last 12 months, 2007-2011 (%)
77
Commune 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 48 33
Ban Lien 56 67
Thanh Xuong 20 24
Luong Minh 66 72
Duc Huong 63 35
Xy 26 61
Cu Hue 58 35
Phuoc Dai 43 69
Phuoc Thanh 63 59
Thuan Hoa 40 42
Average 48 49
SOURCE: Household interviews
Risks and shocks increasing people’s vulnerability are the biggest challenge to sustainable
poverty reduction. Risks in the last five years include natural disasters, pests, disease,
illness, inflation and adverse weather. Poor living conditions and nutrition can also pose
health problems for the poor. In some communes (Luong Minh-Nghe An, Thanh Xuong-
Dien Bien), many households have members who suffer from drug use, leading to labour
shortages and other difficulties. See Item 1.4 “Vulnerability”.
Other poverty dimensions
Other important poverty dimensions include social capital, land, financial capital,
participation and empowerment and gender equality. The following discusses social
capital, land, and financial capital. Participation and empowerment and gender equality
are mentioned separately in this report.
Social capital based on community relationships is maintained at most
monitoring points. In ethnic minority villages, people suffering food shortages prior to
crop harvests can get small food grants or borrow food from relatives and neighbours.
Whole villages support households who face unanticipated hardship or have to host
major social events by providing labour, rice, wine or money. In many places, the practice
of labour exchange is well maintained. Village funds comprised of contributions from all
villagers are used to lend to the poor who are short of food or support households with
sick members. The practice of tending buffalos and cows on contract is beneficial to both
the owners and the contractors. Many clans play well the role of encouraging learning
and helping relatives in need. Formal and informal groups help members to participate
in learning and sharing experiences and develop social contacts. In some places, people
contribute labour, materials and money to build and repair public facilities that benefit
the community (such as bridges over streams in Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang, Luong Minh-Nghe
An, expanded village roads and a new village headquarters in Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien).
Where many people seek waged employment in informal sectors (such as in Thanh
Xuong-Dien Bien, Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh) networks are indispensable.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
78
In some places, market factors have eroded social capital. In lowland communes
the use of services and mechanization has reduced the practice of labour exchange.
Well-off households who have more land tend to hire labour and mechanization services.
In places where people work away from home, the effective operation of local groups
is a major challenge. The attendance of weddings, death anniversaries, grand birthdays,
and regular birthdays now requires “gift money”, a heavy burden for poor households.
Land acreage and quality is an important poverty dimension. Population growth
and changing land use is putting pressure on available land in mountainous ethnic
minority areas. New households, or households that lack labour tend to own the poorest
quality land as fertile land and land close to water sources are already occupied. In
lowland areas the re-division of land in the early 1990s means land remains evenly
distributed. However, those born since the 1990s, or women from outside the province
newly married to local men do not have access to productive land.
Programme 30a aims to grant the poor access to productive and forest land. However,
its impact has been limited as there is little available fertile land that can be reclaimed, a
lack of funding for granting of land use right certificates and for documenting contracted
land and protected forest.
Natural resources, important to ethnic minorities, are increasingly scarce. Ethnic
minorities in remote areas rely on natural resources such as rattan, bamboo, bamboo
shoots, leaves, forest vegetables, fish, and wild animals for domestic consumption and
sale. Shrinking forests and increased forest protection means hunting and gathering are
increasingly restricted.
Concessional credit policies have improved access to capital. In 2009 the average
loan was 12 million VND. In 2011 it was 15 million VND (Table 2.15).
TABLE 2.15. Bank loans and purchase on credit, 2009-2011
Commune
Percent of HHs
having outstanding
bank loans (%)
Average bank
loans (million VND)
Percent of HHs
purchasing on
credit from
shops/agents (%)
2009 2011 2009 2011 2009 2011
Thuan Hoa 56 43 8 11 13 8
Ban Lien 68 63 9 13 12 22
Thanh Xuong 52 35 9 17 43 20
Luong Minh 80 90 8 10 42 58
Duc Huong 73 71 20 29 60 56
Xy 35 35 12 8 48 45
Cu Hue 43 41 18 18 55 62
Phuoc Dai 50 52 12 13 42 49
Phuoc Thanh 58 55 12 13 65 68
Thuan Hoa 63 68 10 13 37 50
Average 58 55 12 15 42 44
SOURCE: Household interviews

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Some households do not have bank loans. Some do not need them. Others worry they
will struggle to repay both principal and interest. Some “chronically” poor households
are unable to persuade possible guarantors - leaders of mass organizations and heads
of saving and credit groups - that they will be able to repay their debts.
79
Borrowers take out loans for different reasons. In mountainous ethnic minority
communes, some people use loans for daily expenses. In delta areas such as Duc
Huong-Ha Tinh many people use loans to fund children’s education. At present, there
are many overlapping credit policies that limit the repayment rates. Often borrowers
take out new loans to repay old ones, or take informal high interest loans to repay bank
loans. Many then immediately take new bank loans to repay informal loans.
Local residents at the monitoring points can borrow small amounts from micro credit
funds such as funds of mass organizations, village funds, and revolving funds funded by
donor projects. People also often buy daily necessities and goods from shops on credit
or borrow money to pay tuition fees, and repay debts following harvest.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
80
3. BUILDING SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEMS
Social security (or social protection in broad terms) 22 systems include three circles
of support: the innermost system consists of “protective” measures through social
assistance, the next circle consists of “preventive” measures through insurance
schemes, and the outermost circle consists of “capacity-building” measures focusing
on active labour market measures. As Viet Nam becomes a low middle income country
comprehensive social security systems will be a crucial source of support for the poor
and vulnerable.
3.1. Target-oriented social security policies
Current target-oriented criteria
The target-oriented mechanism in social security policies in Viet Nam is complicated.
Each policy has its own mechanism for targeting different groups. For example, social
assistance policy under Decree 67 and Decree 13 combines two criteria for “poor
people” and “poor households”: “poor single parents with young children” must belong
to poor households; “people with serious disabilities who are unable to work and serve
themselves” do not necessarily belong to poor households. The policy of free health
insurance under the Health Insurance Law combines three criteria “poor people”, “poor
households” and disadvantaged “areas”: “children under six-year old “, or “people of
poor households”, or “ethnic minorities living in areas of socio-economic difficulties or in
special circumstances “ (Table 3.1).
TABLE 3.1. An example on the “target-oriented” social security policies
Policies
Social assistance
(Decree 67/ND-CP
and Decree 13/
ND-CP)
Health insurance
(Health Insurance
Law No. 25/2008/
QH 12)
Target groups receiving assistance
People receiving monthly assistance:
• Must belong to poor households: elderly and alone; over
80 years of age without pension or social insurance allowances;
people living with HIV/AIDS unable to work; single parents with
young children
• Do not need to belong to poor households: people with
serious disabilities who cannot work or look after themselves;
people with mental health problems.
People receiving free medical insurance cards:
• Children under six years old
• Members of poor households
• Ethnic minorities living in areas of socio-economic difficult
conditions or in special circumstances.
Limitations of the target-oriented mechanism based on the “poor
household” list
The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affair’s list of “poor households” is used to
identify households who will benefit from social security and other policies. However,
observations at the monitoring points suggests relying on the list of “poor households”
can be problematic.
22 According to ILSSA/GIZ (2011), Social protection is “the set of public (social insurance/social assistance)
and private interventions (non-statutory or private measures) designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability; it
comprehends the enhancement of capacity of people and society in protecting themselves against hazards
and interruption or loss of income; and assures social stability, development and equality”.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Many households do not want to be removed from the list of poor households.
Annual poverty surveys and reviews in each village are difficult. Many people are reluctant
to disclose their true income as they wish to be included in the poor household list. Those
on the list receive free medical insurance cards, concessional loans, seeds, temporary
housing elimination support, financial support for children’s nursery and general school
fees, financial support during Tet (traditional Lunar New Year) and electricity subsidies.
81
Poverty surveys and reviews face a number of difficulties. The annual poverty review
follows MOLISA procedures. Officials and local residents proposed several reasons for
inaccurate poverty reviews:
• The current income poverty line does not correspond to people’s basic
expenditures, particularly in periods of high inflation.
• There is a fine line between poor and near-poor households.
• The capacity of grassroots officials is limited, particularly in mountainous ethnic
minority communes, and training for the poverty review is not conducted
carefully.
• Pre-determined “poverty reduction” targets and plans also put pressure on
grassroots cadres.
• Local residents prefer to remain on the poverty list in order to receive assistance.
The "poor household“ list is not separated from the "targeting criteria“ of
support policies. According to current regulations, households with an average income
of less than 400,000 VND per person per month are classified as "poor households“
and are eligible for supports designated for the poor. This situation makes the poverty
reviews being difficult and heavy, because there is a big incentive difference between
the households in the list and those not in the list.
The poor need to be further categorised for more effective support. There are many
reasons households are poor. Assistance should be tailored to the needs of households
with specific characteristics:
• The extremely poor tend to be disabled, suffering long-term illness, elderly
and single, or single parents with young children. They tend to have limited or
poor quality land, low levels of education, minimal proficiency in the Vietnamese
language and no skills. Most are in the “chronically poor” group and are unable
to escape poverty, are regularly short of food and relying on small grants from
relatives and villagers. Regular social assistance policies do help some extremely
poor households. However, by increasing the amount of regular social assistance,
tending to the needs of extremely poor households minimal living standards can
be assured 23 .
• The temporarily poor are the largest proportion of poor households. The
temporarily poor have labour, but lack capital, technical knowledge, and access
to markets to escape poverty. Effective policy should target capacity building, the
generation of opportunities and the reduction of direct grants for the temporarily
poor group.
• The vulnerable poor are typically households who live in disaster-prone
areas. Policies should focus on mitigating risks associated with natural disasters,
particularly as a result of climate change. Vulnerable households are also
susceptible to sickness, epidemics, pests, diseases, and accidents. Others have
specific social characteristics; for example they are geographically isolated
23 The “Social Security Floor” initiative, jointly sponsored by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and
the World Health Organization (WHO), is to promoting integrated strategies in order to ensure minimum level
of social security for all, including ensuring access of everyone to basic social services and income security.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
82
or drug users. Assistance should concentrate on mitigating specific risks and
supporting sustainable livelihoods.
• The near-poor include also the households who have just escaped from
poverty, and their living standards are not much higher than those actually in
poverty. The near-poor also tend to lack savings. As a group they require a
system of support policies similar to the temporarily poor in a certain period (2-3
years) for sustainable poverty reduction.
Poverty reviews conducted at the end of the year excludes households who
fall into poverty at other times of the year. Near-poor and vulnerable households
can easily fall into poverty at any time of the year. In principle, the list of poor households
can be updated during the year, but because of complicated procedures and paper
work, this is not done at all monitoring points. The current policy on support for people
who face unanticipated difficulties is also weak in terms of its coverage and funding.
Other limitations in targeting groups
The target-oriented mechanism is too complicated, creating a management
burden. The group of cadres in Vi Xuyen district-Ha Giang commented “Mechanisms
and policies should be synchronised. There are too many policy documents, for example
those relating to tuition fee exemptions and reductions for poor students in Category III
communes under Decree 49. The files of beneficiaries are too thick”.
“Cash transfer (conditional or unconditional)” programmes based on targets
are not available. In Viet Nam, there is direct cash support for education expenses for
poor students, orphans and students living in border, highland, and island areas and in
specially disadvantaged communes under Decree 49. However, the level of support
under Decree 49 is too low, and has limited impact. Other possible recipients
include the mother and child healthcare which currently has no cash support policy.
Although conditional cash transfers have proved successful in other countries they can
be difficult to manage and monitor.
3.2. Social assistance
In general, social assistance has been duly provided to the right beneficiaries
already listed at the monitoring points. Households in difficult circumstances reported in
interview that they were happy to receive regular assistance under Decree 67, helping
them to partially cover their daily expenses. In addition, the Government has also
provided ad hoc support to people and households who have suffered natural disasters
or food shortages.
The level and coverage of social assistance policies has been increased. Decree
13 (effective 13 April 2010, and which revises and supplements Decree 67) has:
• Increased the basic level of assistance from 120,000 VND per month to
180,000 VND per month
• Removed the requirement that disabled people who are no longer able to work
or look after themselves must be a “a member of a poor household”
• Lowered certain requirements for people with mental health problems
• Provided tuition and education materials to social assistance recipients who
are attending school.
According to the Law on the Elderly, starting in early 2011, people over the age of
80 (previously 85) are entitled to social assistance. This is a step forward in social
assistance policy. However, the level of basic assistance of 180,000 VND/month
is too low compared to the cost of living at present.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
The coverage of social assistance policies is limited. At most monitoring points, the
percentage of households in the survey sample receiving social assistance is low
(Table 3.2). Social assistance policies under Decree 67 only target groups with special
“structural” characteristics (elderly, disabled, orphans, single parents with young children),
and do not cover vulnerable groups who are, nevertheless, able to work. Guidelines and
implementation of policies do not fully take into account customs of ethnic minorities
and social prejudices in localities.
83
TABLE 3.2. Proportion of households with members receiving social assistance,
2011 (%)
Commune Pension Assistance to
people with
nationally
recognized
merits
Poor
HHs
Nonpoor
HHs
Poor
HHs
Nonpoor
HHs
Assistance
to Agent
Orange/
Dioxin victims
Poor
HHs
Nonpoor
HHs
Assistance
under Decision
67/CP
Poor
HHs
Thuan Hoa 0 0 0 0 4 7 9 0
Ban Lien 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Thanh Xuong 0 39 0 0 0 0 7 9
Luong Minh 0 18 0 0 0 0 25 9
Duc Huong 0 14 16 38 3 0 16 7
Nonpoor
HHs
Xy 5 17 17 22 2 0 12 11
Cu Hue - 0 - 0 - 0 - 2
Phuoc Dai 0 0 10 27 2 9 6 0
Phuoc Thanh 0 10 4 30 4 0 4 0
Thuan Hoa 0 3 0 0 0 0 4 0
Average 1 11 6 8 2 1 10 4
SOURCE: Household interviews
The capacity of cadres in charge of social work at the commune level is poor.
Until 2010 cadres in charge of social work in seven communes were aged between 40
and 50 and only educated until lower secondary school. As a result administration was
slow and many people eligible for social assistance missed out or experienced delays
in receiving benefits. By 2011, four communes saw changes to personnel in charge
of social work under Decree 92. Newly appointed cadres are young with intermediate
or higher educational qualifications. However, they still lack experience and in depth
knowledge of legal documents and policies.
Training on social assistance policies for grassroots cadres has not been given
sufficient attention. Many surveyed communes only received one training workshop
in the implementation of Decree 67 in 2008. Some ethnic minority cadres, who received
training, do not remember how many target groups there are. Information on social
assistance was only delivered verbally at briefings of commune and village cadres.
In many villages, many people who are eligible for social assistance were ignored,
particularly “poor single women with young children”. In some cases the deceased
remained on lists of those eligible for social assistance.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
84
Calculation of the level of assistance for some target groups is complicated,
particularly inter-ministerial Circular No. 24/2010/TTLT-BLĐTBXH-BTC dated 18 August
2010, guiding the implementation of Decree 67 and Decree 13. Many commune cadres
in mountainous ethnic minority areas do not know how to calculate the level of assistance
for people or households eligible for more than one type of assistance.
There is limited openness and transparency in the implementation of social
assistance policies. Most respondents at the monitoring points do not know the details
of social assistance policies.
People in ethnic minority areas who do not speak or write Vietnamese cannot
complete application forms. Many ethnic minorities reported the wrong age in their
ID cards and in permanent residence books, and lack required documentation such as
birth certificates, and certificates attesting to their wartime contributions. Procedures to
obtain “disability” certificates to be eligible for social assistance are also complicated.
Lack of local funding for the management of social assistance recipients under
Decree 67. For example Tuong Duong district-Nghe An has more than 5,000 social
assistance recipients; in 2011 alone, more than 1,700 cases were reviewed under
Decree 13. Due to a limited local budget, the district Department of Labour, Invalids
and Social Affairs faced many difficulties covering management costs. Decree 54 states
departments receive 1.92% of the total disbursement as management fees.
Mountainous districts do not have the adequate resources to provide occational
aid to households in need. According Decree 67, the “district has to cover the cost”
with support, if necessary, from the province, of providing occational aid to households
experiencing risks or who have other urgent requirements such as burial costs. However,
some districts, particularly the more remote lack the necessary resources.
3.3. Insurance
Voluntary social insurance policies are not yet popular in rural areas. Farmers and
those working in the informal sector lack understanding of voluntary social insurance
policies, and the level of periodic contribution is still high.
Health insurance policy for all. Poor, ethnic minority people in disadvantaged areas,
and children under six-years-old can benefit from health insurance subsidies introduced
as part of the Health Insurance Law. However, very few near-poor households buy
voluntary medical insurance cards (with a 50% or sometimes 80% subsidy). The
largest proportion (30% in 2011) near-poor households buying health insurance is in
Duc Huong commune, Ha Tinh.
Providing and distributing medical insurance cards and informing people of
the benefits of health insurance is problematic. Few grassroots cadres sufficiently
understand available health insurance to advise local residents. An alternative would be
village population and health collaborators who could help persuade villagers to buy
health insurance, and issue medical insurance cards to children under six years old.
There are also delays in issuing medical insurance cards in mountainous communes for a
number of reasons: delay in the listing of beneficiaries by communes; names, particularly
of ethnic minorities, are recorded incorrectly; long distances from remote villages to
commune center; children under six-years-old don’t have birth certificates; and delays
transferring the list of poor households from Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs agencies
to social insurance agencies. The services of selling health insurance, including selling
subsidised health insuarance for the near poor, are not yet user-friendly.
The benefits of health insurance for the poor are limited. The poor still face extra

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
costs for medical examination and treatment in higher-level hospitals (including travel,
accommodation and food). Patients also have to pay a proportion of the cost (5% for poor
households, 20% for near-poor households) according to the new Health Insurance Law.
This regulations make difficulty for the poor, near poor patients in ethnic minority areas.
In Vi Xuyen district-Ha Giang, the district People’s Committee has to pay the district
hospital 50 VND million for the “joint payment of cost” scheme for poor and near-poor
ethnic minorities.
85
The quality of healthcare services provided to patients using medical insurance
cards is poor. In the deltas, most people go to district and provincial hospitals for
health check-ups and treatment, putting pressure on hospital resources. Patients are
also concerned about the ethics of some medical doctors.
3.4. Community-based social security
Direct and immediate community support is important to the poor. At most
monitoring points, the most popular community support measures for the poor who
face difficulties are visits, spiritual encouragement and food provision (grant or lending)
(Table 3.3). In many places, clan members, mass organizations and the wider village
community raise money for households in difficulty. In some mountainous ethnic minority
areas communities hep out by providing labour (Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang, Ban Lien-Lao Cai,
Xy-Quang Tri, Phuoc Dai-Ninh Thuan, and Cu Hue-Dak Lak).
TABLE 3.3. Support measures undertaken by relatives, villagers, mass
organizations and local authorities for households facing risks, 2011
Commune Support measures to help people who face risks in the last 12 months (%)
Cash Food In kinds Labour Training,
showing
how to
do business
Vocational
training,
seeking
jobs
Information
House
visits,
Spiritual
encouragement
Thuan Hoa 44 25 0 38 0 0 13 38 0
Ban Lien 50 30 10 40 10 20 30 60 0
Thanh Xuong 11 0 0 33 11 0 56 100 0
Others
Luong Minh 7 85 5 17 2 0 29 55 2
Duc Huong 40 35 10 15 40 5 15 60 5
53 44 0 56 100 0 41 78 0
Xy
Cu Hue 0 0 0 50 0 0 0 50 50
Phuoc Dai 37 67 4 15 15 0 4 33 0
Phuoc Thanh 46 79 29 0 0 4 0 58 0
Thuan Hoa 57 43 0 14 14 29 14 14 14
Average 35 56 7 24 11 3 22 57 3
SOURCE: Household interviews
In remote communes, community based social security institutions remain
strong. Many community-based support activities are effective. Villages raise and
manage common funds in cash or kind. Funds are used for many purposes such as
payment for village positions, welcoming guests, parties and support for activities of
mass organizations and community (art and sport activities, Mid-Autumn Festivals, Great

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
86
Solidarity Day, customary rituals etc.) and especially to help households who are short of
food prior to harvests, visits to households who have sick members or where someone
has recently died (Box 3.1).
BOX 3.1. Village paddy fund plays the role of community security net
in Ban Lien commune - Lao Cai
“Village Paddy Fund” is an effective community security form in Doi 1 village, Ban Lien
commune (Bac Ha, Lao Cai). The paddy fund was established in 2002 with 35 kg, by
2011 it rose to 870 kg. Under the village convention, a married couple separated
into a household (by house roof) contributes 15 kg paddy. The fund is used to lend to
households in the village prior to harvests with an interest rate of 20% a year (2kg per
10kg borrowed). Those households who borrow paddy for weddings or funerals do
not have to pay interest. Most poor households in the village have borrowed paddy
from this fund. In 2011,14 households borrowed between 22kg and 70kg from the
fund. The paddy fund is managed by the Village Fatherland Front Committee.
Some ethnic minority communities (Xy-Quang Tri, Luong Minh-Nghe An),
distribute assistance from programmes and projects equally between households
or according to household size. The experiences of some communes suggest that in
some cases the poor would benefit if provided with a greater than average share.
Religious organizations play an important role in times of hardship. Typical
examples are the Sang Khum association of Kh’mer people (in Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh),
Catholicism and Buddhist Pagodas. For example, in 2010, in Cu Hue, Dak Lak, the
Buddhist Shanga raised funds to help a household whose house was burnt down.
Community based security institutions are in decline in lowland communes.
Mechanisation and the availability of surplus labour has caused a reduction in the
practise of labour exchange. Poor households are also less dependent on extended
family members and relatives because they can borrow from shops and sales agents.
More and more people work away from home which also make community security
institutions difficult to be maintained. The impacts of natural disasters, epidemics,
disease, and inflation are becoming too complex for community institutions alone.
3.5. Vocational training
Vocational training in remote mountainous ethnic minority areas is limited.
Crucial information about vocational training (providers, policies and possible jobs for
those who have received training) is poorly communicated. Most poor people are not
interested in vocational training as they need daily works for immediate cash to feed
their families, do not have the time or literacy to benefit. A number of courses also have
little relevance to the local economy. As they are short (2-3 months), and the level of
training is limited, many courses are not very effective. There is no system of monitoring
and evaluation and so it is difficult to assess the quality of the courses.
Although Resolution 30a on “Support Programme to rapid and sustainable poverty
reduction for 61 poor districts” and Decision 1956 on “Support to vocational training
for rural labourers by 2010” have strengthened vocational training for rural labourers
vocational training for the poor remains a challenge.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
4. COPING WITH PRICE VOLATILITY
High inflation rate is a hot issue in Viet Nam since 2007. In particular, in 2008 and 2011 24 ,
inflation was a great challenge to macroeconomic stabilization as well as people’s lives.
This section presents the trend of price volatility in 2011 and its impacts on people’s
lives and livelihoods at the monitoring points.
87
4.1. Price volatility and the role of market agents
Price volatility in 2011 at monitoring points
The correlation between the price of agricultural produce, agricultural supplies
and food varies between monitoring sites. In communes with favourable conditions
for large-scale commodity production (Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, Cu Hue-Dak Lak and
Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh), compared to 2010 the average sale price in 2011 of rice and
maize increased by 25-30%, coffee 50% and key agricultural supplies by 25-30%. In
other communes, the price of agricultural inputs rose faster than outputs. In 2010-2011
in Duc Huong-Ha the price of peanuts, the main product, increased by 5%, while the
price of fertilizer increased by more than 30%. In mountainous areas (Luong Minh-Nghe
An, Xy-Quang Tri and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan) where rice from self-production is
insufficient, the prices of rice increased by 25-30%.
Strong seasonal price volatility is severely affected by natural disasters,
epidemics, diseases and world markets. At the monitoring points, the price of rice,
maize, and coffee at the end of the harvesting season is at least 20-30% higher than that
of the beginning of the season or main crop harvest. The quality of agricultural produce
greatly affects its price. A typical example is the price of fresh cassava in Xy-Quang Tri in
September 2011 which fluctuated between 900 VND/kg and 2,000 VND/kg depending
on the concentration of starch. The “blue-ear” epidemic in pigs in 2010 was the main
cause of high price of piglets in the first months of 2011. Changing world markets have
rapid and strong impacts on the price at the monitoring points, such as the daily change
in price of coffee in Cu Hue-Dak Lak which closely follows the world coffee price.
The role of market agents in the wake of price volatility
Enterprises cannot help farmers with volatile prices. Enterprises purchase products
from farmers (tea processing enterprises in Ban Lien-Lao Cai, cassava processing
enterprises in Xy-Quang Tri, and coffee export enterprises in Cu Hue-Dak Lak). Enterprises
support the production process (training, technical assistance, provision of seeds and
fertilizer), however most enterprises purchase agricultural produce at prevailing market
prices.
Sale agents reduce the amount of lending agricultural supplies in the wake of
price volatility. People in many places (Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien, Duc Huong-Ha Tinh,
Cu Hue-Dak Lak, and Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh) can buy fertilizer, rice, food, sundries from
sale agents on credit and pay later at a price that includes interest. Some sale agents
lend agricultural supplies and purchase produce at a discount. Price volatility in 2011
meant many sale agents lent less to farmers. The volume of fertilizer sold in 2011 fell
in in Duc Huong-Ha Tinh (by 20%) and Cu Hue-Dak Lak (by 30%). Changing prices also
affect buyers. In Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, the price of peanuts (25,000 VND/kg) and green
beans (24,000 VND/kg) fell by 5,000 VND/kg in 2011. Many agents who had bought and
hoarded produce made a significant loss.
24 Average consumer price index in 2008 increased 22.97% against that in 2007. Average consumer
price index in 2011 increased 18.58% against that in 2010; in which the price index of agro-forestry
produce and aqua products was up by 31.8%; and the price index of inputs and fuel used for production
21.27%; the price index of transportation cost 18.52%. Source: GSO website, http://www.gso.gov.vn/default.
aspx?tabid=413&thangtk=12/2008 and http://www.gso.gov.vn/default.aspx?tabid=507&ItemID=12128

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
88
Cooperatives and farmers’ groups can help farmers cope with changing prices,
but this form of assistance is small and not very popular. Only 2 of the 10 monitoring
points (Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien and Duc Huong-Ha Tinh) have cooperatives or mass
organizations which are active in selling fertilizer to members through partnership with
Agricultural Material Companies (Box 4.1). Due to fixed prices at the time of fertilizer
delivery and late payment between 3 and 6 months with bank interest rate, members
of cooperatives or mass organizations can lessen their difficulties when the price of
fertilizer increased. In Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, in 2011, the price of fertilizer increased a
lot, but the price of peanuts declined sharply, agents reduce the amount of fertilizer
lent to farmers, therefore many households shifted over to borrowing fertilizer from the
Farmers’ Association. In late 2011, the volume of fertilizer lent to farmers by the Farmers’
Association in Duc Huong commune-Ha Tinh was more than double that at the same
time in 2010, making up 25-30% of the local fertilizer market share.
BOX 4.1. Cooperatives support farmers in fertilizer
Before 2009, members of the Management and team leaders of the Agricultural
Cooperative in Thanh Xuong commune (Dien Bien district, Dien Bien province) had
to use their personal red book as collateral for bank loans to buy fertilizer for its
members. Since 2010, the purchase of fertilizer has been easier because the Dien
Bien Provincial Agricultural Material Company has agreed to allow the Cooperative
to guarantee for farmers to buy its supplies on credit and repay after crop harvests.
One or two months prior to the crop, farmers register the amount of fertilizer needed to
the head of the village (who is also the manager of the cooperative), and then villages
report the total amount to the cooperative to sign a contract with the Agricultural
Material Company. The price of fertilizer is fixed at the time of delivery to farmers.
The interest rate of delayed payment is calculated according to the interest rate
applied by the Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development at the time the contract
is signed (in the 2010 Summer-Autumn crop it was 1.25%/month, that in 2011 was
1.68%/month). In addition, the Company gave a head of village VND50,000 per ton of
fertilizer registered by farmers.
In the context of high fertilizer price, partnership between Agricultural Material
companies, cooperatives and villages in the sale of fertilizer on credit with delayed
payment has helped households have more opportunities to invest in their production.
By the end of 2011, 21 of 24 production teams in the whole commune registered to
by fertilizer through the Cooperative totalling nearly 105 tons (accounting for 70% of
the total volume consumed by the commune). Cooperative cadres and local residents
said all households repaid on time.
--- “The whole group borrowed fertilizer through the village head, following the
announcement of the village head all villagers went to the store to get fertilizer. In the
Spring-Summer crop, we have to repay on July 15, and in the Summer-Autumn Crop,
October 15. Everyone repaid fully...” (poor men and women groups in Pa Dong village,
Thanh Xuong commune).
Small shops and vendors are not affected by price volatility. Shops and vendors form
a supply network of rice, food, and necessities. They also purchase small amounts of
agricultural produce in remote areas. A popular activity is to buy goods in district towns
to be resold to local residents in cash or on credit with interest at a 10-30% profit. Poor
households can only buy small amounts on credit, and they must repay quickly. Many
of the poorest households are not allowed to buy on credit. Small volumes and rapid
payment mean shops and are not affected by price volatility.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Selling and buying practices of the poor
Cash shortages and limited access to formal credit means that the poor often
have to borrow rice, food, necessities, seeds and fertilizer from shops and sale
agents on unfavourable terms. When selling their produce to shops and sales agents
in part repayment of loans they often have to accept prices up to 10% lower than the
market price. The poor also lack the means to store or preserve produce so are forced
to sell at prevailing prices.
89
4.2. Impacts of price increase on livelihoods
Impacts on productivity
Intensive commodity rice farmers increased income. In the Kinh villages in Thanh
Xuong-Dien Bien with a high level of intensive farming, fertile land in Dien Bien valley,
favourable weather conditions, good irrigation for two rice crops a year, farmers often
harvest bumper crops with average rice yield of above 6 tons/ha/crop. With the current
price, the income (without calculating labour) of rice farmers in Thanh Xuong-Dien Bien
from the main rice crop in 2011 was 30% higher than that in 2010 (Figure 4.1).
FIGURE 4.1. Production accounting of 1 ha of rice in Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien
SOURCE: Statistics provided by people and sales agents of Thanh Xuong commune-DB, November 2011
Coffee growers had increased incomes. In Cu Hue-Dak Lak, the average price for
coffee beans rose by 50% between in October 2010 and October 2011, increasing
incomes by 20%. Some farmers stored coffee, waiting for higher prices.
Commodity maize producers had reduced incomes. Input prices (seeds, fertilizer,
services and labour) increased faster than the price offered for the first maize crop (from
April to July) in 2011 in Cu Hue-Dak Lak. Farmers calculated their incomes to be 10-15%
than in 2010.
Cassava producers saw their incomes from their main crop increase in 2011,
but fall following the second crop. In Xy commune-Quang Tri, the price of fresh
cassava in late 2010 and early 2011 was 2,200-2,400 VND/kg - an increase of about
40% over the same period of 2010. From mid-2011, the price of cassava fell in response

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
90
to prices in the Chinese market. By October 2011 the price of cassava was 1,500VND/kg -
only 7% higher than October 2010, compared to a 30% increase in the price of rice. The
price of cassava continued to decline to only 800 VND/kg in late 2011 and early 2012.
Pig farmers earned unstable incomes as a result of volatile prices. In March and
April 2011 in Thuan Hoa-Tra Vinh, the price of live pork increased, encouraging farmers
to invest in pig farming. However, the price then fell from the middle of 2011 while the
price of feed, rice and piglets continued to increase.
FIGURE 4.2. Accounting of pig farming for 100kg of live pork in Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh
SOURCE: Statistics provided by people in Thuan Hoa commune-TV, Oct. 2011
In real terms the purchasing power of most farmers declined. In Thanh Xuong-
Dien Bien both incomes and the price of rice rose by 30% between 2010 and 2011.
Maize, cassava and pig farmers in most monitoring sites saw total incomes rise less than
the rice price. The price of meat also increased significantly in 2011.
The poor are sensitive to higher input prices and benefit little from increasing
agricultural prices. The poor have little cash, and normally they use little fertilizer and
other commercial supplies. Due to low risk coping capacities, the poor further reduce
the use of fertilizer and commercial supplies when their price increases, leading to low
crop yield. Moreover, the poor often have small-scale production (little land area under
commodity crops). All of these factors make the poor having less product for sale,
together with their weak market positions, thus enjoying little from the increasing price
of agricultural produce.
Impacts on production modes
Toward a low-investment model. In response to the rising price of agricultural supplies
farmers reduced fertilizer costs by using manure and turning to locally sourced seeds.
In Cu Hue-Dak Lak, poor Ede households moved from maize and coffee to cassava or
intercropped taro, saffron and young coffee trees to increase incomes.
Diversifying livelihoods, relying more on nature. In mountainous ethnic minority
areas, the poor turn to fishing and gathering in response to rising food prices. As natural
resources become more scarce, people have to travel further. Others turn to local
casual jobs or migrant labour. The average daily wage in 2011 was 100,000 VND/day,

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
an increase of 20-30% over 2010 (70-80,000 VND/day). Unfortunately, local casual jobs
are few and unstable. Ede women in Cu Hue-Dak Lak make use of their leisure time by
doing low paid (about 20-30,000 VND/day) casual work such as peeling cashew nuts.
91
Reducing intensive pig farming. High prices for piglets and feed, volatile prices for
live pork and frequent epidemics and disease has forced a reduction in intensive pig
farming. In Cu Hue-Dak Lak for instance, the number of pigs farmed fell from 8,000 to
5,000 between 2010 and 2011. In many mountainous areas farmers began to breed
local pigs (“black pigs”) rather than hybrid pigs (“white pigs”). Extensive local breed pig
farming can make use of locally available products such as maize and cassava without
the need for expensive commercial feeds. Local pigs grow slowly but can be sold at
higher prices than hybrid pigs. In Duc Huong-Ha Tinh, some households have shifted
over to raise dogs as puppy breeders instead of pigs.
Farmers sometimes react too quickly to changing prices. Farmers tend to expand
the production of crops with rising prices such as cassava, coffee and pepper. In Cu
Hue-Dak Lak, for example, following a year on year increase of 40% in the price of
cassava at the beginning of 2011 many Ede households grew more cassava. However,
once the price fell in the middle of 2011 many farmers found themselves in financial
difficulty. This is a common problem across the monitoring sites, and as well as financial
losses results in inefficiency of land use.
To reduce costs in the face of rising prices people exchange labour (such as in
cassava harvesting in Xy-Quang Tri, in rice harvesting in Thuan Hoa-Ha Giang and Phuoc
Dai-Ninh Thuan, tea tending and harvesting in Ban Lien-Lao Cai...), and share transport
(in Cu Hue-Dak Lak, Ede villagers are travelling to upland fields).
Price rises have increased awareness of the importance of quality. Traders are
now more demanding. In Xy-Quang Tri, the practise of labour exchange helped farmers
harvest their cassava quickly in order to prevent a reduction in the quality of starch.
Similarly, in Ban Lien-Lao Cai, labour exchange in harvesting tea in time to achieve
the standard of “1 bud 2 leaves”. In Cu Hue-Dak Lak, farmers are more aware of the
importance of harvesting ripe coffee beans and processing maize so that it is cleaner
and drier and so commands a higher price.
Impacts on consumption
The common coping measure of the poor is saving expenses in the context of
inflation. Changes in consumption at the monitoring points in 2011 are as follows:
Rice. Rice is important to household life. Although the price of rice increased in 2011,
few households were short of rice .
Where farmers face difficult conditions (Luong Minh-Nghe An, Xy-Quang Tri, Phuoc Dai
and Phuoc Thanh-Ninh Thuan), the poor tend to be short of food in immediately prior to
harvests. Following the rise in the price of rice local residents purchased poor quality
rice, borrowed money from shops, gathered bamboo shoots and firewood for sale or
took waged employment. Some poor households mixed rice with cassava and maize for
their meals.
Meat, fish. All of the poor at the monitoring points consumed less meat and fish, turning
nstead to cheaper protein foods such as eggs, soy bean curds and dried fish. In some
communes, poor households added to their food sources by trapping wild animals in
forests or fishing in rivers and streams.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
92
Other food. The poor also reduced their consumption of other foods such as instant
noodle, seasoning powder and cooking oil, turning instead to using animal fat or buying
small bags of cooking oil worth only 2,000-3,000 VND each.
Reducing other expenses. The poor also spent less on electricity, clothing, weddings
and funerals. Poor households are especially interested in the education costs, many
people have to reduce the extra classes of their children. However, no cases of poor
children dropping out from schools at the monitoring points are observed due to high
inflation.
Relevant support policies
The poor in mountainous areas who are in short of food often receive “relief rice” from
the Government prior to harvests. When prices rise, they can receive ad hoc support
under Decision 471/QD-TTg 25 . However, there are no similar policies for social assistance
recipients (under Decree 67 and Decree 13). Although most social assistance recipients
are classified as poor some people are not (people over 80 years old, handicapped
people who are unable to earn a living or care for themselves), yet face many difficulties
in the wake of price increase.
When the government readjusted the electricity price in March 2011, poor households,
and low-income households are subsidized with every poor household receiving 30,000
VND/month under Decision 268/QD-TTg 26 . Most of the poor at the monitoring points
received this assistance. But it is difficult for households who share the same electricity
meter to receive this assistance because it is unable to identify households using less
than 50 Kwh/month (without separate electricity bill for each household). An example is
Phuoc Dai commune, Ninh Thuan. Of the 123 poor households in Ta Lu 1 village, only
several households have separate electricity meters, and the rest share meters (4-5
households/meter); in Ma Hoa village only 20 of 131 poor households have separate
meters.
25 Under Decision 471/QĐ-TTg dated 30 March 2011 of the Prime Mister: the level of assistance is 250,000
VND/person for civil servants, and armed forces... that have wage coefficient of 3.0 and less; pensioners and
social insurance recipients of 2.2 million VND/month and less; and people who rendered great services to the
revolution and receive regular allowances. The level of assistance of 100.000 VND/person for recipients of
dead allowances. The level of 250,000 VND/household for poor household according to new poverty line.
26 Under Decision 268/QĐ-TTg dated 23 Feb. 2011 of the Prime Mister, households regularly use electricity
not more than 50 kWh/month can register with electricity supplier to enjoy concessional electricity price (993
VND/kWh) and poor households receive price subsidy for 50kWh/month, the level of assistance is 30,000
VND/household/month.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
5. LABOUR MOBILITY AND GENDER RELATIONS
Labour mobility in Viet Nam, understood in this report as “migration for employment
purpose” is increasing rapidly (Box 5.1). Labour mobility creates diversified livelihoods
and is an increasingly important driver of poverty reduction in rural areas. This section
presents the trends, motivations, and risks of labour mobility at the monitoring points,
including working away from home (regular and seasonal), local casual jobs, and labour
export. The data and analysis are gender-disaggregated within possible capacity.
93
Box 5.1. Increasing migration in Viet Nam
Migration is the most important contributor to urbanization in Viet Nam, contributing
up to 57% to the urban population growth. Most national surveys underestimate
the level of migration. The Population Census includes permanent migrants, but not
temporary or seasonal migrants.
According to the latest Population Census, domestic migration has increased from
4.5 million people in 1999 to 6.6 million in 2009. Migration between urban areas and
from rural to urban areas doubled between 1999 and 2009. The Central Highlands
and the Southeast are two major destinations for migrants. Most migrants are seeking
work. The majority of rural to urban migrants areas are young with an average age
of 25. Increasing numbers of migrants are women. It is estimated that there are from
400,000 to 500,000 Vietnamese workers temporarily working in regional countries
and in the Middle East.
It is forecast that the number of migrants will increase, and there will be 10.4 million
migrants in 2019, accounting for 12% of the total population. The ratio of rural
migrants to the total urban population will increase from 9% in 2009 to 11% in 2019.
Source: UNDP, “Social services for human development – Country Report on Human
Development 1022”, November 2011; and General Statistics Office, “Viet Nam Population and
Housing Census 2009: Major findings”, June 2010.
5.1. Working away from home
Trends
More people are working away from home and for longer. Most migrate to other
provinces. In the surveyed communes the proportion of people working away from
home rose from 5% to 8% over the five years of the survey. (Table 7.1). The lowland
communes, with high number of Kinh or Kh’mer ethnic people (Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, and
Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh) have the highest proportion of migrant workers. People migrate
for at least three months a year (82%) and most find jobs outside their home province
(78%)
Ethnic minority people in mountainous communes rarely work away from home.
Those that do, do so for up to three months and most do not leave their province. In
border communes, (Luong Minh - Nghe An, Xy - Quang Tri) some ethnic minority people
go to Laos to work.
More men work away from home than women, although the proportion of
migrant women is rising. Table 5.1 shows that men tend to go further in search
of work than women. Destinations where women often go to are low-land areas. The
number women of Kh’mer women working away from home has increased significantly
in the last five years.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
94
TABLE 5.1. Percent of people working away from home, 2007-2011 (%)
Commune General Males Females
2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 2 1 3 2 1 0
Ban Lien 1 3 2 5 0 2
Thanh Xuong 4 6 7 8 2 3
Luong Minh 1 12 2 15 1 8
Duc Huong 17 19 24 28 10 11
Xy 2 2 3 3 0 0
Cu Hue 8 7 8 9 8 5
Phuoc Dai 2 4 3 7 1 1
Phuoc Thanh 1 2 1 2 1 1
Thuan Hoa 15 23 16 26 15 20
Average 5 8 7 10 3 5
SOURCE : Household interviews
Most people working away from home are young (18-35) and unmarried. In
ethnic minority mountainous areas, most migrants seek seasonal and informal work in
rural areas. In low-lying areas migrants also seek work in formal sectors in urban areas.
Motivations for working away from home
Migrants seek better jobs and higher incomes. In urban areas, industrial zones or areas
with a high concentration of commodity production, there is a strong demand for low
and unskilled labour. Urbanization goes together with re-division of labour. Essential
services in the informal sector that are not wanted by urban people (such as house
maid, sales support, mason, cargo loading, street vending, scrap vending) have become
opportunities for rural migrants. Better transport, communications and ease of migration
regulations are promoting migration (Box 5.2).

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
BOX 5.2. Why migrate?
• Flooding (Duc Huong - Ha Tinh) and droughts (Luong Minh - Nghe An, Phuoc Dai
- Ninh Thuan) are increasingly unpredictable and cause more damage, resulting
in heavy looses to plantations and livestock.
• No or little productive land (Kh’mer people in Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh). Mechanization
of agriculture also reduces the demand for local workers, whilst demand for house
maids and sales support in urban areas is increasing, creating opportunities for
Kh’mer women.
• Most young people finishing secondary education (Duc Huong - Ha Tinh) or
primary education (Thuan Hoa Tra Vinh) do not have the opportunity to continue
their studies, so many migrate to the city to find work and help their families.
• Better transport and new inter-provincial bus routes make it easy for migrant
workers to return home (Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, Luong Minh - Nghe An, Cu Hue -
Dak Lak, Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh).
• Mobile phones mean people working away from home can easily connect with
employers, job brokers, and family.
• In Luong Minh - Nghe An, men want to avoid temptations such as drug use, and
women want to find husbands elsewhere.
• In coffee harvest season in the Central Highlands, farming season (weeding,
planting, harvesting corns, cutting sugarcanes, picking cashew nuts), there is a
big demand for unskilled workers, which are seasonal opportunities for people
who have time available due to a lack of land for production, or those that can
only harvest 1 season a year (Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh, Phuoc
Dai - Ninh Thuan, Phuoc Thanh - Ninh Thuan).
• After the global financial crisis in 2009, many companies went to rural areas, even
far ethnic minority mountainous areas (Luong Minh - Nghe An), to recruit workers
with little education.
95
Few ethnic minority mountainous people work away from home. Few have access
to the social networks and information necessary to find work. As historically there have
been few ethnic minority migrants there are no trusted and known contacts in low-lying
areas. Some young people want to work away from home, but have to rely on unknown
job brokers, which can be risky. Long distances and travel costs are also an obstacle.
Traditional gender roles mean there are fewer ethnic minority migrant women. Married
women rarely leave the house unaccompanied, and are expected to work at home,
taking care of their husbands, children and household farms. Women tend also to be
less educated and are less likely to speak Vietnamese (Box 5.3). The priority for selfsufficiency
of food and under developed labour market in ethnic minority mountainous
communities also discourages migration. In some villages, households with members
working away from home and leaving their fields under-farmed are regarded as “lazy”.

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96
BOX 5.3. Reasons for not working away from home in Ban Lien
commune (Bac Ha, Lao Cai)
Few people of the Tay and H’Mong ethnic groups work as migrant workers for the
following reasons:
1. Limited social relations, no broker. “There are no job brokers that we know
so nobody can go anywhere. There are young people who want to go, but their
parents do not want to lose children”.
2. No education, low skill. “The people in the town understand things quickly.
We learn more slowly. In Ban Lien commune, there nobody has the skills to
work in construction, so we just work as porters, carrying cement and bricks.”
3. Afraid of going too far. “It’s far from here to town. Women never go to the
provincial centres. We don’t even have money for a bus ticket. It is said that it’s
getting more expensive.”
4. Afraid of taking risks. “A few years ago some men working on construction
sites were not paid for their labour. I’ve never seen anybody get rich after
working away from home away.”
5. No tradition of migrant labour. “Here people are not used to working away
from home. Our ancestors lived here. We miss home, and it will be a pity if our
parents or children get ill and we can’t be around. Wives can’t handle that.”
Gender impacts of working away from home
Remittances are a significant contribution to the rural economy. Many
women send money home to cover family daily spending, house repair and
upgrade and children’s education. In Cu Hue - Dak Lak, some families with people
working away from home have escaped poverty. Low levels of migration mean
mountainous ethnic minority areas receive few remittances.
Wages of low skilled (mainly female) migrants in urban areas have not
risen in line with living costs in the last 2-3 years. Increasing numbers
of female migrants from Duc Huong - Ha Tinh and Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh are
working as sales assistants or house maids because they don’t have to pay
for accommodation and meals, and wages are the same as low skilled workers
(Table 5.2)
TABLE 5.2. Comparison between regular and seasonal labour of people
working away from home in Duc Huong (Ha Tinh) and Thuan Hoa (Cau Ngang,
Tra Vinh), 2011.
Regular worker
Seasonal
worker
Type of work
Skilled worker,
graduate
working in
companies and
organizations.
Low skilled
workers
(garment,
footwear,
assembling, etc.)
Sales
support,
house maids
Builders, mason,
coffee harvest,
cashew nut
picking, weeding,
harvesting corn,
etc.
Place of work Urban Urban Urban Rural
Target groups
Equal number of
men and women
More women
than men
Women
More men than
women

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Duration of work 12 months/year 12 months/year 10-12
months/year
Income
Accommodation
Economic
contribution
5 -7 million
VND/month on
average
Rent a house,
meal on their
own
Saving of 2 - 3
million VND/
month
2.5 - 3.5 million
VND/month on
average
Rent a house,
meal on their
own
Little saving,
below 1 million
VND/month,
many don’t have
savings.
2.5 - 3
million VND/
month on
average
Covered by
employer
Saving of
2 - 3 million
VND/month
3-4 months/year
2.5 - 3 million
VND/month on
average
Covered by
employer
Saving of 2 - 3
million VND/
month
97
Women working away from home often save and remit more than men. Women
often save and spend less on social networking than men. Men working away from home
often spend more money on smoking, alcohol, coffee and networking.
Working away from home can reduce domestic violence. Migrant work reduces the
causes of domestic violence (such as gender biases, paternalism, economic difficulties,
lack of social and legal understanding). Working away from home provides women with
independence, so they have a greater role in the household, increasing their voice
and position. Working away from home can also be a solution for victims of domestic
violence.
Working away from home creates more work for those who stay at home, and
breaks the traditional gender division of labour. When men work away from home,
women do tasks traditionally undertaken by men. Similarly, when women work away from
home men do housework and take care of children. In some low-land villages in Thanh
Xuong - Dien Bien and Cu Hue - Dak Lak, young people are working away from home,
leading to shortage of labour during harvest season, so some people from neighbouring
villages come to work.
The “re-division of labour” between men and women and the lack of a young
workforce has affected local labour structures. At Duc Huong - Ha Tinh and Thuan
Hoa - Tra Vinh, the middle aged do farm and social work as the young tend to seek
work elsewhere. The elderly have less support than before, and often have to look after
grandchildren. In Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, many women attend village meetings (70% or
more) because men are working away from home. In Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh, in high
harvest season, it is difficult to find labourers, so wages are often double the normal rate.
Risks faced by migrant workers
In ethnic minority mountainous areas, migrant workers face a number of risks.
As migrant workers from ethnic minority communities don’t have access to an extensive
social network or information as to where to find employment many depend on unknown
employment brokers. As a result they often work in unsafe conditions, some have been
cheated of their wages, others “sold” for work in brothels and even to China, and others
work illegally (logging, for example). Of those able to return home, some have had to
pay a “ransom”. Such experiences naturally discourages others from migrating in search
of work.
People working away from home in the informal sector do not have access to
social security. Workers in the informal sector have no contracts, and do not have
access to social insurance or health insurance. Migrants have limited support, and often

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
98
depend on relationships with people from their home village or province when they get
into trouble or have problems with the local authorities and their employers.
Migrants working in the formal sector also encounter difficulties. Falling real
wages mean migrant workers save less and remit less money home. Rising prices also
cause tension in the work place. Many workers in small companies and workshops do
not enjoy social benefits. Migrant workers rarely participate in activities organised by
local communities or mass organizations. The role of trade unions in private and foreign
invested enterprises is limited, and has not been able to serve as a representative voice
of workers and to protect their benefits.
Parents working away from home can disrupt their children’s education. In Cau
Ngang - Tra Vinh, many migrant parents of Kh’mer ethnic groups take their children with
them. Other children from poor households have to leave school to work to help their
parents.
Reports of missing women from ethnic minority groups, affects those who
remain behind. In Luong Minh - Nghe An, since 2010 five people in Xop Mat village
and sixteen in Cham Puong village have gone missing. Some apparently left for China.
5.2. Local casual jobs
Trends
Local casual jobs (for between a day and two weeks) are popular. In 2010, the
percentage of people with local casual jobs (12%) is 1.5 times higher than those working
away from home (8%). In mountainous ethnic minority communes, the number of people
doing local casual jobs is much higher than the number of people working away from
home.
Local casual employment is unstable, seasonal and depends on the weather and
the progress of construction work. In some areas, the number of casual construction
jobs increased because of programmes to replace temporary houses and reclaim land
(Thuan Hoa - Ha Giang, Ban Lien - Lao Cai). In other areas there are fewer jobs as
construction projects are completed (Phuoc Dai - Ninh Thuan, Phuoc Thanh - Ninh
Thuan), mechanization reduces the opportunities for the poor (Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh) or
less timber is transported (Xy- Quang Tri). In 2011, the Government issued Resolution
11 to cut public spending and many local construction projects have been delayed,
postponed or cancelled.
There are more local casual jobs for men than women. Most local job opportunities
involve heavy labour (masonry, loading and unloading, carrying timber, carpentry).
Where jobs are seasonal (planting rice, harvesting, weeding, planting rubber trees) both
men and women can find work (Table 5.3).

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
TABLE 5.3. Percent of people doing local casual jobs, 2011 (%)
Commune Male Female Average
Thuan Hoa 18 7 13
Ban Lien 3 2 2
Thanh Xuong 25 11 19
99
Luong Minh 4 4 4
Duc Huong 3 2 3
Xy 21 13 17
Cu Hue 15 15 15
Phuoc Dai 10 5 8
Phuoc Thanh 3 3 3
Thuan Hoa 33 26 29
Average 14 9 12
SOURCE: Households interviews
More poor households have local casual jobs than non-poor households at most
monitoring points. Poor households often lack land for production, or only possess
land without irrigation (producing only one crop per year), lack capital for investment in
husbandry, but lack social network or have young children or old people that need care;
so they choose to work as manual labourers near home.
Motivation for local casual jobs
Local urban centres. People look for casual employment in local urban centres. For
example, there are many Thai people in Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien looking for jobs in
neighbouring Dien Bien Phu city, or Kh’mer people in Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh looking for
jobs at the neighbouring Cau Ngang town.
Agricultural commodity areas. Plantations and large intensive farms tend to have
a high demand for seasonal labour (coffee harvest in Cu Hue - Dak Lak, planting rice
in Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien, cutting rice in Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh). Where subsistence
farming and labour exchange practises still dominate there is little demand for additional
labour (Ban Lien - Lao Cai, Luong Minh - Nghe An, Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, Phuoc Thanh -
Ninh Thuan).
Government and enterprise investment. Construction projects provide work
for unskilled workers, although some ethnic minorities prefer farming, and only seek
such jobs if absolutely necessary. Many people are not used to the working hours at
construction sites or prefer to be paid daily rather than monthly (the norm in most
construction sites).
Wealthy households with land often hire local labours at the high season. Kinh
people living in the mountainous areas who have land to plant fruit trees, industrial crops
or animal husbandry (such as cassava, sugar cane in Phuoc Thanh - Ninh Thuan, raising
cows, cassava, sugarcane, bananas in Phuoc Thanh - Ninh Thuan, coffee in Cu Hue - Dak
Lak) are also important sources of employment.

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100
Gender impacts of local casual jobs
Incomes are normally too low for people to save. Although the average wage for
both men and women has increased over the past five years (from 20,000 - 30,000
VND/day in 2007 to 100,000 VND/day in 2011) as work is infrequent and unstable
incomes often only cover daily expenditures and little is left for savings. An exception is
Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien and Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh where many people work as porters
all year round, and incomes are higher than other areas.
Men tend to earn higher wages, but contribute less to the household. Heavy
labour commands a higher daily wage for men. However, as men often spend part of
their wages on cigarettes, coffee, and drinking with friends they tend to contribute less
to the household than women.
Local casual jobs often reinforce traditional gender roles. Basically, local casual
jobs often follow the model “men do heavy work, social work, while women do lighter
works, work in the family”. When men do local casual jobs, women stay at home to take
care of housework, children, and animal husbandry. “Husbands don’t do anything after
going back home from work, we have to cook for them.” (Women group of Ma Du village,
Phuoc Thanh - Ninh Thuan). In the case of women doing casual jobs, they still have to do
all housework before going to work or after going back home from work.
Risks of local casual jobs
Local casual jobs tend to be safe, but there are risks. These include exposure
to “social evils” (working as a porter in Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien), receiving lower than
agreed wages, (construction work in Ban Lien - Lao Cai), and accidents (timber transport
in Xy - Quang Tri) (Box 5.4).
BOX 5.4. Risks of local casual jobs
Ban Lien commune (Bac Ha - Lao Cai) received investments for various
infrastructures in 2008, so many people of the Tay ethnic group went to work for
such constructions. However, many of them were taken off their wages. In Doi 1
village, 7 men and 20 women work as masons at construction sites in the commune
being ripped off their wage, of up to 3 months/person, at 40,000 - 50,000 VND/
day. The reason was that the constructor left the construction due to high price and
losses, leaving behind machinery and construction materials. Because of this, many
households were in debt of up to hundreds of thousands of VND to local sellers
(debt rarely happened before, but now since there are additional incomes, people
borrow more with the hope that the additional income can compensate the debt).
Local sellers also suffered as some constructors didn’t pay their debt.
In Xy commune (Huong Hoa, Quang Tri), a job that brings a significant income
to households is timber transport in Laos, but this job is very heavy and risky. Van
Kieu ethnic minority men often have to carry 50 - 60 kilos in the forest for 3-4 days
consecutively. They often face risk of accidents during rains, (sometimes with broken
limbs, or pain), being bitten by insects, or high fever. Some people were arrested and
so had to pay a fine to get back home.
5.3. Labour export
Few people from the monitoring points have joined labour export programmes.
In 2011, there were labour export programmes run by the district Labour - Invalids and

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Social Affairs Division in five of ten surveyed communes: four people in Phuoc Thanh -
Ninh Thuan, two in Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien, three in Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, one in Ban
Lien -Lao Cai and fifteen in Luong Minh - Nghe An.
101
The majority of ethnic minority workers who participate in labour export
programmes are men. Fewer women participate because of limited education,
traditional gender roles and a lack of information.
Policy to support labour export
Two major policies support labour export: Decision 365 of the State Bank of Viet Nam
that provides loans to workers 27 and Programme 30a 28 (under Decision 71) to support
labour export.
Risk in borrowing for labour export. According to Decision 365 households can
borrow funds in order to send members to work abroad. Popular destinations are
Malaysia, Taiwan, and Korea. In Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh, the first workers went abroad in
2004, and many followed in 2006 - 2007. However, since late 2008, incomes have fallen
and many workers can no longer service their loans. Many have returned home ahead
of schedule.
Limited application of Programme 30a. According to Decision 71, exported labour
can receive: (i) support for education; (ii) vocational training and foreign language
training; (iii) support in obtaining health checks, passports and visas and necessary
legal documentation; (iv) risks support; (v) preferential credit; (vi) counselling and help
finding work on return. However, Programme 30a was inadequately implemented at all
surveyed districts in which it was in operation, (Bac Ha - Lao Cai, Tuong Duong - Nghe
An, Bac Ai - Nghe Tinh). The most significant reported issues were:
• Information was not widely disseminated among the communities, so many
people do not understand labour export support policies. Staff from the Bac
Ai Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Division said “most exported labourers
are children of commune and village cadres. Only local officials understand the
policy. Not many people know about it. Many are afraid of sending their children
to strange places with strange people, without knowing the language and so
maybe they can’t go back home.”
• Labourers have not received the support with their education. According to
Decision 71, “labour from poor households, households from ethnic minority
groups with primary education or higher chosen as exported labour whose
education does not meet requirements” will receive support for further education.
In reality, those chosen as exported labour have completed secondary
education, as companies involved are afraid that less educated workers cannot
meet job requirements.
• Foreign language courses are only one to three months long, insufficient time
for workers from ethnic groups to achieve sufficient language proficiency.
• Service companies provide training and other activities. District and commune
authorities only register workers, and know little of their actual situation. As a
result it is difficult for them to provide support if something goes wrong.
• Support and insurance is insufficient. If workers have to return home because
of health problems they only receive 5 million VND and return tickets. However,
they must still repay any loans. Fear of indebtedness dissuades many households
from sending their children abroad.
27 Decision 365/QD-NHNN dated 3/4/2004 of the Governor of the State Bank.
28 Decision 71/QD-TTg dated 29/4/2009 of the Prime Minister.

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102
6. IMPROVING ACCESS TO EDUCATION
Education to improve the quality of human resources is vital to sustainable rural poverty
reduction in the future. This section presents people’s feedback on the quality of
education, based on quantitative survey through the “citizen report card” methodology,
in combination with qualitative information through group discussions and in-depth
interviews with representatives of schools and students’ parents at the monitoring points
in late 2011.
6.1. Level of Access
Distance to and time spent at school
It is easier for students to go to school. Schools and transport has improved in the
last five years. At commune centres there are nurseries, primary schools, and secondary
schools. All are well built and some reach national standards. There are nurseries and
primary schools in all remote areas, so travel times are often less than fifteen minutes.
Most lower secondary schools are located at commune centres, so travel times are
slightly higher, at around 30 minutes. In some remote areas secondary school students
may travel for an hour. Upper secondary schools are in district centres or commune
cluster centres. In communes near district centres or commune cluster centres, or in
low lying areas, travelling times are between 30 and 60 minutes. For remote areas,
the distance to school is between 15-30 kilometres (such as Thuan Hoa - Ha Giang,
Ban Lien - Lao Cai, Luong Minh - Nghe An, Xy - Quang Tri, Phuoc Thanh - Ninh Thuan),
and it takes half a day to walk to school, or 1-2 hours by motorbike. Such distances
are an important reason for low attendance at upper secondary schools in remote and
mountainous communes.
Semi-boarding education
In pre-school, the percentage of semi-boarding students is high at all monitoring
points: between 90 and 95% (except in Phuoc Dai - Ninh Thuan and Phuoc Thanh - Ninh
Thuan). Typically parents provide lunches for students.
Semi-boarding is popular in remote mountainous communes (Thuan Hoa - Ha
Giang, Ban Lien - Lao Cai, Luong Minh - Nghe An, Phuoc Dai - Ninh Thuan and Phuoc
Thanh - Ninh Thuan), especially for secondary students who have to travel to district
centres (about 26% of upper secondary students are semi-boarding students at all ten
monitoring points; 80 -100% at Thuan Hoa - Ha Giang and Luong Minh - Nghe An). Many
schools now have new, well built semi-boarding rooms, reducing costs for students who
would otherwise have to rent local accommodation, or whose parents would have to
repair old semi-boarding facilities. In mountainous ethnic minority areas semi-boarding
has reduced the number of students quitting school, and increased attendance rates to
over 95%.
In specially disadvantaged mountainous ethnic minority areas, the state provides support
to semi-boarding students at primary and secondary schools (Decision 85/2010/QD -
TTg). Some provinces have their own additional support policies (Box 6.1) and some
schools have mobilized community and philanthropic resources to improve student’s
living conditions.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
BOX 6.1. Ha Giang’s additional support to semi-boarding students
Ha Giang is a northern mountainous province with strong deployment of the semiboarding
education model. Ha Giang has its own support policies which are better
than the national policies.
103
In December 2010, the Prime Minister issued Decision 85/2010/QD - TTg
to support students in ethnic minorities’ semi-boarding schools in specially
disadvantaged areas, with the meal allowance equalling to 40% of the minimum
salary, and housing support equal to 10% of the minimum salary, provided for no
more than nine months per student.
In July 2011, Ha Giang People’s Council issued a Resolution 22/2011/NQ-HDND
on supporting semi-boarding students not supported under Decision 85/2010/QD-
TTg. Accordingly, Ha Giang province supports semi-boarding students from ethnic
minorities and disadvantaged areas:
• Supporting upper secondary students from ethnic minorities, from
disadvantaged and specially disadvantaged areas who are semi-boarding at
public schools, with meal allowance equal to 20% of the minimum wage and the
accommodation allowance of 10% of the minimum wage.
• Supporting primary students and lower secondary students from ethnic
minorities, from disadvantaged and specially disadvantaged areas who are semiboarding
at public schools, with meal allowance equal to 20% of the minimum
wage.
The Resolution also provides support for staff managing semi-boarding students
(30% of the minimum wage) and staff supporting semi-boarding students (100% of
the minimum wage).
Out of school children.
The proportion of primary school age children out of school is low (Table 6.1).
All children attend first grade. The ratio of “out of school” 29 boys to girls is equal at most
monitoring points. In some cases more boys are out of school.
The percentage of out of school children at the lower secondary education age
is high, and even increasing at upper secondary education age at some monitoring
points. Most children who quit do so after leaving primary school, or between lower
secondary and upper secondary level. In disadvantaged mountainous ethnic minority
areas, only 20-30% of students stay on until upper secondary school (Ban Lien - Lao Cai,
Luong Minh - Nghe An, Phuoc Dai - Ninh Thuan and Phuoc Thanh - Ninh Thuan).
In some areas attendance rates are low, particularly during floods, local festivals and
harvests. Some children also support their parents on the family farm, or by taking care
of younger siblings.
29 “Out of school children” are children who have never gone to school or have quit school. The education
sector only collects statistic of children quitting schools in the middle of education (compare the number of
entries and exits) so the number of “out of school children” here may be higher than that of the education
sector.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
104
TABLE 6.1. Percent of out of school children, 2007 - 2011 (%)
Commune 6-10 years of age 11-14 years of age 15-20 years of
age
2007 2011 2007 2011 2007 2011
Thuan Hoa 3 7 4 4 25 30
Ban Lien 3 3 6 9 72 83
Thanh Xuong 0 0 0 0 42 22
Luong Minh 3 0 23 16 70 76
Duc Huong 12 0 0 0 28 16
Xy 34 4 13 13 71 63
Cu Hue 11 0 11 17 60 59
Phuoc Dai 14 7 11 35 39 65
Phuoc Thanh 19 27 28 26 58 73
Thuan Hoa 0 0 30 13 72 79
Average 12 5 13 15 54 59
Source: Households interviews
Household interviews revealed four main reasons for non-attendance: “lack of money”,
“doesn’t like schooling”, “not doing well at school” and “staying at home to help parents”.
Other factors include: children are more interested in games, households have too
many children, parents are illiterate or ignorant, children want to earn money, children
accompany parents to work away from home (especially Kh’mer children), working
with parents on the farm, marrying early, are shy because they start school late (mostly
girls from ethnic minorities) or are from disadvantaged families. In some ethnic minority
mountainous areas, more boys go to school, especially lower secondary level upward,
because girls stay at home to do the housework. In some matriarchal communities such
as the Ede and Raglai some men still think it is the responsibility of the mother to educate
the children.
6.2. People’s feedback on educational service
Facilities
School facilities have significantly improved over the past five years thanks to
investment from projects and programs, such as Programme 135 - phase 2, Programme
30a and the Programme to improve school buildings 30 . In the 2010/11 school year
some schools received funds to build semi-boarding dormitories according to Decision
85/QD-TTg (Thuan Hoa - Ha Giang, Ban Lien - Lao Cai). More than 80% of respondents
at the monitoring points considered schools facilities “good” or “relatively good”.
However, school facilities in ethnic minority mountainous communes are still
limited. Many primary and secondary schools do not have offices, health care rooms,
libraries, semi-boarding rooms, separate latrines for girls and boys, or teaching aids such
as computers, projectors, and laboratory equipment. Some schools in remote areas still
have bamboo walls, earth floors, and temporary tables and chairs.
30 According to Decision 20/2008/QD-TTg dated 1 February 2008 of the Prime Minister.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Curriculum
105
Parents and teachers are responding to the policy to lower school workload 31 .
According to this policy, teachers are in charge of allocating the amount and content
of lessons (within the confines of the curriculum) according to the level of student
comprehension. In ethnic minority mountainous communes, students are spending
more time studying maths and languages at the expense of other subjects such as arts
and crafts. The majority of respondents (64%) think that the curriculum and content of
education is “proper” (although it’s difficult for the parents to evaluate this and many said
they didn’t understand the issue).
Teaching methodology and teachers’ expertise and behaviour
Most parents are positive about the teachers. Table 6.2 shows that parents value
the quality of teachers’ interaction with students. Although ratings were high for teaching
methodologies and subject matter understanding, most parents have little knowledge
of these areas. In specially disadvantaged communes, such as Luong Minh - Nghe An,
Phuoc Dai - Ninh Thuan and Phuoc Thanh - Ninh Thuan, more than 50% of respondent
replied “don’t know” when asked about the teachers’ teaching methodologies and
subject matter understanding.
TABLE 6.2. Parents’ feedback on teachers, 2011
Commune The ratio of “good” or “relatively good” (%)
Teaching
methodology
Subject matter
understanding
Behaviour
toward students
Thuan Hoa 86 87 95
Ban Lien 81 80 100
Thanh Xuong 85 86 100
Luong Minh 26 22 74
Duc Huong 93 90 100
Xy 92 92 94
Cu Hue 93 95 95
Phuoc Dai 47 48 85
Phuoc Thanh 36 36 94
Thuan Hoa 96 96 97
Average 74 73 94
SOURCE: Households interviews
There have been improvements in teaching methodologies, but less so in
mountainous areas. In low lying areas dominated by the Kinh people, teachers have been
partially applying “active learning” and “student-centred” methods, such as ‘streaming’
students according to their understanding of different subjects, using projectors, and
increased group work. According to teachers in ethnic minority mountainous communes
there has been some progress in the application of new teaching methods, but generally
31 According to instruction 3398/CT-BGDDT dated August 12, 2011 and Document 5842/BGDDT-VP dated
September 01, 2011 of Ministry of Education and Training.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
106
traditional teaching methods dominate.
Teacher rotation in ethnic minority mountainous areas has a negative impact
on the quality of teaching and learning. Few teachers from low lying areas want to
live and work in ethnic minority mountainous areas for more than three to five years. In
especially disadvantaged communes teachers enjoy a hardship allowance (on top of a
preferential salary) for five years. Few teachers want to stay on without the allowance.
Salaries for short term teachers in mountainous areas are low. To overcome
the shortage of teachers, some schools in specially disadvantaged ethnic minority
mountainous areas have employed teachers on short term contracts. The low pay (on
average about 1.2 million VND/month, about 20 - 30% that of those in the long term
payroll) leads to uncertainly among temporary teachers.
The use of “nominated teachers” is a challenge in monitoring communes in
ethnic minority mountainous areas (Xy - Quang Tri, Cu Hue - Dak Lak, Phuoc Dai -
Ninh Thuan and Phuoc Thanh - Ninh Thuan). Nominated teachers are usually teachers
from local ethnic minority groups who have completed lower secondary schools with an
additional two years of pedagogic training. However, school managers often comment
that as their teaching skills and overall participation in school activities are limited. Thus
in some places, the nominated teachers are only allowed to teach minor subjects, such
as physical exercise, first grade ethnic minority languages or do office work.
Students’ learning quality
Educational outcomes have improved. The campaign “Toward friendly schools and
active learners” launched by the Ministry of Education and Training has been effective.
Many schools have introduced concrete measures to improve the quality of learning,
such as organizing extra classes in summer and at the beginning of the school year,
providing special classes for weaker students and introducing a more realistic workload
for ethnic minorities. The majority of students now attend lessons commensurate with
their ability.
There are challenges to education quality, which requires efforts from the schools,
families and society, as well as renewed learning and teaching methods. According to
the current assessment system, the proportion of students reaching the “creditable
and outstanding” level in the ethnic minority mountainous communes is low and is only
slowly improving. Some students at lower secondary schools but can’t read or write
fluently and have poor numeracy skills. Teachers have to teach primary level knowledge
to secondary students, and few students go on to upper secondary school. Some ethnic
minority students also struggle to communicate and learn in Vietnamese (Table 6.3).
Students’ different abilities in communes with mixed ethnic groups provides a difficult
challenge for teachers.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
TABLE 6.3. Parents’ feedback on difficulties in communication with teachers
and getting knowledge by the national language, 2011 (%)
Commune Not difficult Slightly Very difficult Don’t know
difficult
Thuan Hoa 14 77 9 0
107
Ban Lien 57 35 5 3
Thanh Xuong 72 28 0 0
Luong Minh 12 64 20 4
Duc Huong 100 0 0 0
Xy 16 56 26 2
Cu Hue 47 37 16 0
Phuoc Dai 36 36 2 26
Phuoc Thanh 43 26 0 31
Thuan Hoa 72 17 5 6
Average 41 40 9 10
SOURCE: Households interviews
“Bilingual teaching” and using “teachers’ support staff” are two methods to
overcome the language barriers for the ethnic minorities’ primary students.
However, “bilingual teaching” in the ethnic minority mountainous areas is currently
difficult due to limited funding, and shortages of teachers and materials. The “Teachers’
Support Staff” programme was highly praised by communities and schools, but finished
in 2010 after funding from the World Bank ended (Box 6.2).
BOX 6.2. The initiative “teachers’ support staff” at the remote villages
should be maintained
At the monitoring points in ethnic minority mountainous areas, bilingual teaching (in
Vietnamese and local dialects) are not a common practice. Among the ten monitoring
points, only Cu Hue - Dak Lak has two classes in the Ede language. Although the Ede
parents highly praise these classes, the Ede students themselves are not so eager.
While the bilingual teaching is encountering difficulties, the use of “teachers’ support
staff” by the “Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children” Project (PEDC - funded by
the World Bank to implement in 226 districts of 40 provinces) at the remote villages is
a practical solution. The “teachers’ support staff” are local ethnic minority people, and
can serve as a bridge linking teachers, families and the local community, can encourage
children to go to school, prepare lessons and teaching aids, and work as interpreters
during the lecturing. In some monitoring points with a high number of ethnic minorities’
children, the teachers are rotating and so they don’t know the local language, and so
the “teachers’ support staff” initiative is highly valued by the community and schools in
removing language barriers for children from ethnic minorities.
The PEDC Project ended in 2010, so there were no more “teachers’ support staff”.
Those having been employed as teachers’ support staff say that they want to continue
this job, and want to continue their study so that they can work as teachers in the
future. Maintaining this model is a recommendation of all schools at the monitoring
points that have participated in the PEDC project.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
108
Family - School relations
The relations between families and schools have been improving, thanks to
teachers’ enthusiasm, and the improved understanding of the local cadres and parents on
the importance of education. Teachers say that attendance at parents’ meetings is over
90% at pre-school and primary schools, and 90% for lower secondary schools in lowlying
communes and 70-80% in mountainous communes. At Ban Lien - Lao Cai, parents
meetings have been combined with the distribution of students’ allowances or market
day, which has improved the attendance rate. The development of the communications
systems have also enabled better contact between teachers and students’ families.
However, in ethnic minority mountainous communes, the relationship between families
and schools is weaker (Table 6. 4).
TABLE 6.4. Parents’ feedbacks on family - school relations, 2011
Commune Number of attendance at
schools meetings last year
Regularly
receiving
Reprehensive
board can
information about reflect the
3 2 1 time No
the students’ parent’s wishes
times times
performance (%) (%)
Thuan Hoa 60 33 7 0 71 56
Ban Lien 50 43 7 0 23 33
Thanh Xuong 65 32 3 0 53 32
Luong Minh 19 42 39 0 19 3
Duc Huong 18 61 21 0 50 25
Xy 6 40 54 0 15 38
Cu Hue 64 33 3 0 39 57
Phuoc Dai 24 48 12 16 21 31
Phuoc Thanh 11 39 28 22 28 28
Thuan Hoa 35 54 11 0 42 42
Average 36 42 19 3 36 36
SOURCE: Households interviews
The role of Parents’ Representative Boards is not highly valued. Table 6.4 shows
that the proportion of households who think that the boards reflect their wishes is highest
in Thuan Hoa - Ha Giang and Cu Hue - Dak Lak, but is still only 60%. Most households
think the boards are only formal. Some even think that the boards representing the
better off parents, and have little relevance to poor households.
Cost of education
Parents in mountainous areas appreciate the State’s support for their children’s’
education, particularly free schooling, free books and notebooks, learning aids, and
cash transfers. More than 80% of households in mountainous areas receive support.
Schools in mountainous areas do not often expect cash contributions from parents,
but often require small in-kind contributions (such as rice and wood for semi-boarding
students).
High extra costs are causing difficulties for parents in low-lying communes
dominated by the Kinh (Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien, Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, Cu Hue - Dak

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Lak). A significant number of parents “disapprove” of the requested contributions (12%
in Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien, 25% in Duc Huong - Ha Tinh and 45% in Cu Hue - Dak
Lak). Demanded contributions are high for schools that are looking to reach national
standards. Whilst many contributions are not mandatory, most parents think that if they
do not pay their children will not receive equal treatment.
109
The rising cost of education at upper secondary level and above is becoming a
burden for the poor, in both the low-lying areas and the ethnic minority mountainous
areas. In suburban areas, with a mixture of Kinh and ethnic minorities, contributions
of 1 - 2 million VND/year (excluding the cost of extra classes) is a burden for poor
households. In mountainous communes, upper secondary students have to go to district
centres for education. Many students have to pay for accommodation as schools lack
semi-boarding facilities. Monthly living costs can be as much as 1,000,000 VND/month
(excluding school fees and rice brought from home). As a result secondary school
students in ethnic minority mountainous areas tend to be those from well off families.
Most families who send their children to college or university have to take out
loans. In Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, students going to Vinh City for University spend about
12-16 million VND/year or about 20 -25 million VND if studying in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh
City. Some families with children at university are often categorized as poor so that they
can receive preferential loans.
Extra classes
Extra classes are popular at better off communes. In low-lying communes
near urban areas (Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien, Cu Hue - Dak Lak, Duc Huong - Ha Tinh)
approximately 50% of households have children attending extra classes (more than
80% in Duc Huong Ha Tinh). Students often study maths, physics, chemistry and foreign
languages at 20,000 - 30,000 VND/session two or three times a week. Parents are afraid
that without such sessions “children cannot get enough knowledge”. Some parents think
that their children will not receive proper attention from their teachers if they do not
attend the extra classes.
In the specially disadvantaged ethnic minority mountainous areas, children
often follow schools’ extra programmes. Teachers supplement the main curriculum
with additional classes for struggling students and Vietnamese language sessions for
ethnic minority students (Xy- Quang Tri, Phuoc Dai - Ninh Thuan and Phuoc Thanh - Ninh
Thuan). In Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, after prolonged flooding when students had to stay at
home teachers provided extra classes so that students can catch up with others.
6.3. Suggestions for improving educational service
Table 6.5 shows that most parents give priority to facilities and teaching aids,
especially in ethnic minority mountainous communes (Thuan Hoa - Ha Giang, Ban Lien -
Lao Cai, Luong Minh - Nghe An, Xy - Quang Tri). Improving relations between schools
and families is also highly valued. Reducing or removing contributions, especially
extra fees, are mentioned in the Kinh dominated low-lying areas (Thanh Xuong - Dien
Bien, Cu Hue - Dak Lak, Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh). In ethnic minority mountainous communes
most interviewees focused on removing contributions for poor students.
Households did not comment much on the curriculum, content of education, or quality of
teaching. Most households found the quality of provided education “Highly satisfactory”
or “Satisfactory”. However, in ethnic minority mountainous communes people are not
used to being asked about the quality of education or other public services so their
responses should be treated with caution.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
110
TABLE 6.5. Households’ proposal to improve educational service, 2011 (%)
Commune
Improve
schools
- families
relations
Improve
teaching
contents,
curriculum
Teaching
quality
Teachers’
behaviour
to students
More support
to
facilities,
teaching
and learning
aids
Reducing
or removing
contributions
Removing
contributions
for
poor students
Thuan Hoa 22 23 7 0 82 66 68 5
Ban Lien 56 32 0 9 71 15 44 0
Other
Thanh Xuong 89 40 17 6 40 51 34 0
Luong Minh 84 13 3 3 87 29 61 0
Duc Huong 46 61 25 11 43 39 25 7
Xy 45 36 32 0 85 26 39 0
Cu Hue 49 23 5 18 39 77 41 3
Phuoc Dai 64 14 0 17 50 14 31 0
Phuoc Thanh 67 14 8 22 39 6 36 14
Thuan Hoa 69 23 8 12 42 50 69 4
Average 57 27 11 9 59 37 45 3
SOURCE: Households interview
Teachers suggested a number of proposals to improve education at the monitoring
points:
• Develop special curriculums for students in some ethnic minority mountainous
areas and areas suffering from regular natural disasters
• Improve the quality of nominated teachers from ethnic groups with training and
mentoring
• Resume successful initiatives such as “staff supporting teachers”
• Organize a 36 session class for children before 1 st Grade
• Increase the number of staff on the official payroll at the extremely difficult areas
• Provide additional support for teachers working in remote and difficult
communes such as travel allowance.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
7. IMPROVING ACCESS TO AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICE
Agriculture, Forestry and Aquaculture extension services (called “agricultural extension
services” in general) can help reduce poverty in rural areas. This section part presents
feedback on extension services from the monitoring points at the end of 2011, based
on a quantitative survey in combination with group discussions and in-depth interviews
with agricultural extension services agencies and beneficiaries.
111
7.1. Level of access to agricultural extension services
A significant number of households have access to basic agricultural extension
services, although the number accessing in-depth services is not high. About
half (52%) of the interviewed households accessed at least one agricultural extension
service in the previous 12 months, a similar proportion to 2007. The three most popular
services were “Training” (77%), “monitoring and dealing with diseases, immunization for
animals” (41%) and “providing subsidized plants, animals, fertilizer” (40%). However, the
number of households participating in “demonstration model” or “agricultural extension
services clubs, groups of community support” is low (11% and 16% respectively).
Women from both poor and non-poor households participate less in extension
services (Table 7.1). Nevertheless, the proportion of women participating in agricultural
extension services has increased over past five years. However, in ethnic minority
mountainous communes many still believe that men will benefit more from extension
services than women because they “get technical knowledge” better and “have better
social contacts”. In low-lying areas with Kinh domination, such as Thanh Xuong - Dien
Bien and Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, there are sometimes more women than men participating
in agricultural extension services as there is less of a gender bias and many men are
migrant workers.
TABLE 7.1. “In your family, who attends agricultural extension service training
the most?” 2011 (%)
Commune Husband Wife Son Daughter Others
Thuan Hoa 74 21 5 0 0
Ban Lien 79 7 14 0 0
Thanh Xuong 27 49 3 9 12
Luong Minh 62 23 0 15 0
Duc Huong 46 54 0 0 0
Xy 74 19 8 0 0
Cu Hue 65 31 0 4 0
Phuoc Dai 82 6 0 12 0
Phuoc Thanh 87 4 4 4 0
Thuan Hoa 62 31 0 0 8
Average 63 27 4 4 2
SOURCE: Households interviews

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
112
7.2. Feedback on agricultural extension services
Content of agricultural extension services
Training has improved, but effectiveness is not high (Table 7.2). Training sessions
lasting for a day or half a day are often held in communes or village centres. Classes
have illustrative videos and pictures, and involve interaction between trainers and
trainees. However, there is little time for practice. In ethnic minority mountainous areas
the language of instruction is Vietnamese, and some have difficulty following sessions.
Training themes are also occasionally repetitive, and some only attend to receive their
“allowance” rather than to learn.
TABLE 7.2. Feedback on understanding and applicability of agricultural
extension service trainings, 2011 (%)
Commune
“Understand all”
or “Understand
most”
Non
poor
“Remember all” or
“Remember most”
Poor Non poor Poor Non
poor
“Apply all” or
“Apply most”
Poor
Thuan Hoa 59 100 59 100 53 100
Ban Lien 33 63 17 63 17 38
Thanh Xuong 82 77 64 64 64 59
Luong Minh 27 100 27 50 18 50
Duc Huong 82 100 88 92 74 83
Xy 33 53 36 59 47 41
Cu Hue - 76 - 68 - 64
Phuoc Dai 93 100 7 50 13 50
Phuoc Thanh 21 75 5 75 5 75
Thuan Hoa 80 100 80 75 20 63
Average 48 77 41 69 41 60
SOURCE: Household interviews
Many people, particularly those from ethnic minorities, appreciate practical
training sessions (Box 7.1). However, according to agricultural extension
services agencies, a lack of funds and human resources means there are few
such sessions.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Box 7.1. IPM Training - “We should have more of those”
In 2011, ADDA in conjunction with the Farmers’ Union of Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien
organized an IPM class on the Chinese pea at Pa Dong village. More than 30 women
from the Thai ethnic group attended, of which 13 were from poor households.
Classes were one morning a week from March until June. They included 30 minutes
of theory, and practical demonstrations in a garden borrowed from a trainee.
113
Trainees learnt how to prepare soil, apply fertilizer and prevent insects. Even those
from the Thai ethnic group who were illiterate were able to learn. The head of the
Pa Dong village Women’s Union reported that about 50% of participants continue to
plant Chinese pea for their own consumption and sale.
--- “It’s hard to remember if someone just talks out of a book. IPM force people to
work, to water and catch the insect, so it’s easier to remember. We know when to
put the fertilizer. This is the first time we had practical class like this. It’s good to
have more classes on raising pigs and ducks.”
(L.T.H, a poor women from the Thai ethnic group, with grade 2 education)
Communication on agricultural extension services is more diverse, but more
attention should be paid to direct communication at the grassroots level.
Information on agricultural extension services is delivered to the people through various
channels, such as TV, radio, books, newspapers, leaflets, bulletins and village meetings.
In addition, with the support of various projects, some new types of communications
have been tested, such as the “information kiosk” funded by DANIDA in Eakar, Dak Lak,
and “market place agricultural extension services” funded by Oxfam in Lao Cai .
TV programs on agricultural extension services, including those in ethnic languages
provide updated information and have wide coverage. Some interviewees highly
value TV programs on agricultural extension services. However, for various reasons
(busy, little understanding of Kinh language, prefer entertainment programs) only 23%
of respondents watched agricultural extension services “regularly”. Most watched
“occasionally” or “rarely” (67%), and some “never” watched (10%).
About half of the respondents had received agricultural extension materials in the
previous 12 months. However, people in ethnic minority mountainous areas are not
used to written information. Interviews revealed that most people prefer to “ask the
village cadre” (57%), “ask local agricultural extension staff” (53%) and “ask the seller and
agencies” (43%). Only 13% “consult materials, books and newspapers”.
Demonstration models need to be more suitable to local conditions and
farming practices of poor ethnic minority households. Demonstration models are
an important tool for agricultural extension, and is an opportunity for farmers to “train
themselves” in applying technology and increasing their income. There have been a
number of successful models that were replicated by the farmers, particularly the more
well off group (high quality rice in Thuan Hoa - Tra Vinh, hybrid rice in Phuoc Dai - Ninh
Thuan, hybrid corn in Thuan Hoa - Ha Giang, micro bio fertilizer in Cu Hue - Dak La, and
black carp and duck in Thanh Xuong - Dien Bien). However, take up by the poor has
not been so successful. As poor farmers lack resources for intensive farming, they tend
to use labour intensive techniques on steep land. In many cases techniques applied in
low lying areas are not suited to ethnic minority mountainous areas. As a result farmers
appreciate models that are based on local conditions and that adapt standard models
to reduce labour and minimize inputs. Table 7.3 shows that only a small portion of the
population interviewed at the monitoring points think that knowledge and methods
introduced by agricultural extension services are suited to their own conditions.

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114
TABLE 7.3. Feedbacks on the suitability of knowledge, methods introduced by
agricultural extension services, 2011 (%)
Communes Suitable Reasonably
suitable
Not suitable
Don’t know
Thuan Hoa 7 82 0 11
Ban Lien 15 77 0 8
Thanh Xuong 8 92 0 0
Luong Minh 8 54 8 31
Duc Huong 16 82 2 0
Xy 45 47 6 2
Cu Hue 27 65 0 8
Phuoc Dai 6 65 0 29
Phuoc Thanh 22 30 9 39
Thuan Hoa 22 61 11 6
Average 20 68 3 9
SOURCE: Households interviews.
Weak agricultural extension counselling and services. At the monitoring points,
the supply of materials is the most popular activity of the local extensionists. Services
related to the sale of products, linking farmers with enterprises, advice on production
organization, management and planning are limited, although there is a high demand for
them. The provision of fee-based agricultural extension services at monitoring points in
ethnic minority mountainous areas is not feasible.
Agricultural extension organization
There are now more agricultural extension staff. Between 2007 and 2011 the
number of communes with agricultural extension staff increased from five to nine; and
the number of communes with agricultural extension staff at the village level increased
from four to eight. In communes that benefited from Program 30a, such as Ban Lien -
Lao Cai, Luong Minh - Nghe An, Phuoc Dai and Phuoc Thanh - Ninh Thuan, university
educated reinforcement staff have provided communes with additional resources for
agricultural extension services.
However most local agricultural extension staff have low capacity. Most are
young, and have only completed upper secondary school. There are few intensive
or in-depth training courses for the local staff. Table 7.4 also shows that most people
interviewed feel that the level of knowledge of local agricultural extension is “normal”.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
TABLE 7.4. Local people’s feedbacks on the knowledge and behaviour of
commune/village agricultural extension staff, 2011 (%)
115
Communes Knowledge Behaviour
Good Normal Not
good
Don’t
know
Good Normal Not
good
Thuan Hoa 21 79 0 0 54 46 0 0
Ban Lien 15 77 3 5 72 23 0 5
Thanh Xuong 10 82 0 8 24 67 0 10
Luong Minh 46 31 15 8 54 31 8 8
Duc Huong 41 48 7 5 82 18 0 0
Xy 55 38 8 0 75 15 9 0
Don’t
know
Cu Hue 46 46 4 4 50 42 4 4
Phuoc Dai 12 47 6 35 38 56 0 6
Phuoc Thanh 13 39 4 43 52 35 9 4
Thuan Hoa 56 33 0 11 78 22 0 0
Average 31 56 4 9 59 34 3 4
SOURCE: Households interviews
Working attitude of agricultural extension staff are appreciated. Most local
residents considered staff behaviour to be “good” (Table 7.4); most have “enthusiasm at
work” and are “friendly with the people”. Coming from the same ethnic group and living
in the same location, the agricultural extension staff can be a bridge linking people and
commune and district agricultural extension staff, especially in remote villages.
There are few agricultural extension services clubs and they do not play a
major role. The clubs are designed for people to exchange information and are the
focal points for rural agricultural extension services. According to respondents and
agricultural extension staff the clubs’ ineffectiveness is due to the fact that they do not
meet the demands of the people, are not attractive to members and lack regular support
from the authorities, mass organizations and the agricultural extension services.
Socialization of agricultural extension services have been widespread. In
areas where commodity production is developed, enterprises organise seminars to
demonstrate their models and projects and shops selling agricultural products, especially
insecticides, provide advice. However, at some monitoring points, enterprises and shops
sell low quality and out of date products that sometimes cause harm.
Agricultural extension policies

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
116
Agricultural extension services have limited budgets. Farmers, especially
poor people in difficult areas, are enjoy benefits when they participate in agricultural
extension services, such as subsidised attendance at agricultural extension trainings
and discounts on the price of seeds and essential materials for demonstration models.
However, a district agricultural extension unit has an annual budget of 30 - 50 million
VND for training, modelling and communications.
Allowances for agricultural extension staff at villages are low. In Luong Minh -
Nghe An, Duc Huong - Ha Tinh, the allowance for agricultural extension staff is 50,000
VND/month, and 120,000 VND/month in Cu Hue - Dak Lak (Table 7.5), lower than local
daily wages. Only two villages agreed to use the village fund to provide additional support
to agricultural extension staff. The low allowance is one reason for the low effectiveness
of the agricultural extension staff.
TABLE 7.5. The network of agricultural extension staff at monitoring points,
2011
Commune Number Ethnic group Gender Monthly allowance
Thuan Hoa 15 8 H’Mong, 3 Dao, 4 Tay 100% male 0.4 minimum wage
Ban Lien 9 5 Tay, 4 H’Mong 100% male 400,000 VND
Thanh Xuong 0 - - -
Luong Minh 10 6 Thai, 4 Khmu 100% male 50,000 VND
Duc Huong 8 100% Kinh 1 female, 7 male 50,000 VND
Xy 6 100% Van Kieu 100% male 150,000 VND
Cu Hue 7 100% Ede 3 female, 4 male 120,000 VND
Phuoc Dai 5 4 Raglai, 1 Co Ho 1 female, 4 male 1,0 minimum wage
Phuoc Thanh 5 100% Raglai 100% male 1,0 minimum wage
Thuan Hoa 0 - - -
SOURCE: Commune cadres.
In Eakar district (Dak Lak), since the end of 2010, the district agricultural extension unit
has encouraged village agricultural extension staff to conduct demonstrations with the
direct technical support of the district unit, by advancing ten months of allowances
(from 1.2 - 1.5 million VND). Twenty-eight of 34 villages registered for the model. Some
successful models have improved the effectiveness of the agricultural extension staff,
and raising their profile in the communities. In addition, some agricultural extension staff
in Eakar also receive support to conduct fertilization service for cows and pigs (receiving
trainings, certificate of “fertilization staff” and a set of equipment including a container
and a fertilization gun worth 10 million VND) so that they have additional income and
feel attached to the job.
There are no agricultural extension funds at the monitoring points. Such funds,
promoted by Decree 02/2010/ND - CP, are designed to attract sponsorship and
voluntary donations from domestic and foreign organizations and individuals.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
7.3. Suggestions for improvement of agricultural extension services
Table 7.6 shows that the three proposals favoured by the people to improve agricultural
extension services are “enhancing capacity and knowledge of agricultural extension
staff”, “agricultural extension services should be provided on time to help people in
need” and “increasing the support to poor people when participating in agricultural
extension services.” The preference of “timeliness” by the people in monitoring points in
ethnic minority mountainous areas suggest that the function of “advising, facilitating,
working together with farmers” (besides the function of technology transfer) should
be enhanced, including the role of the grassroots agricultural extension services network.
117
TABLE 7.6. People’s recommendations to improve local agricultural extension
services, 2011 (%)
Commune
Improving
the capacity
and knowledge
of
agricultural
extension
staff
The staff
should be
more detailed
and
supportive
Renewing Renewing Timely support
Increase the
agricultural agricultural
to support for
extension
content
extension
methodologies.
people in
need
poor people
when participating
in
agricultural
extension
services
Thuan Hoa 82 0 18 25 68 46
Ban Lien 74 8 62 49 49 21
Thanh Xuong 75 42 38 42 54 50
Luong Minh 69 15 31 39 23 39
Duc Huong 80 23 50 21 30 40
Xy 58 15 38 15 75 75
Cu Hue 31 12 23 39 81 65
Phuoc Dai 35 6 24 29 71 41
Phuoc Thanh 43 26 30 9 70 61
Thuan Hoa 17 28 11 11 94 72
Average 62 19 36 28 60 51
SOURCE: Households interviews.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
118
8. PARTICIPATORY PLANNING AND DECENTRALIZED FINANCING
AT COMMUNE LEVEL
Enhancing the participation and empowerment of communities and local residents in
local government requires specific tools and procedures. Participatory planning and
decentralized financing (e.g. in the form of Community Development Fund - CDF) at
commune level are two initiatives effectively applied in many communes.
8.1. Reformed planning at commune level
Supported by donor projects such as Chia Se (Sharing), (SIDA), Plan International,
Poris (Belgium), Luxdev (Luxemburg) and Oxfam since 2010, Nghe An and Quang Tri
provinces have applied participatory socio-economic development planning at the
commune level 32 . Commune planning reform requires investment programmes and
public services that are closer to the community. The commune participatory planning
process comprises the following steps (Figure 8.1):
• Step 1: Preparatory work. Establish or finalize a district, commune and village
working group; organize orientation workshop on commune planning; provide
training to the planning working group.
• Step 2: Collect and process data and information. Collect information from
villages and branches and organizations at commune level. District provides
development orientations to commune.
• Step 3: Synthesize and draft commune plan. Review funding sources and
feasibility of proposed activities.
• Step 4: Organize commune planning workshop with the participation of
representatives of commune leaders, branches, mass organization and villages
to get feedbacks on the draft commune plan and prioritize activities.
• Step 5: Update plan, report to higher authorities and conduct community
consultation.
Step 6: Finalize the commune plan, issue it officially. Organize implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of the commune plan.
FIGURE 8.1. Commune participatory planning process
32 During the reform of planning, Nghe An and Quang Tri provinces organized study tours of Hoa Binh
province. Hoa Binh was the first province issuing a decision institutionalizing a new planning approach at
commune level (Decision no. 10/2010/QĐ-UBND of Hoa Binh Provincial People’s Committee dated 15
June 2010), and decentralized financing. Thereby 210 communes and wards in the province will receive
an additional allocation of budget for the planning work as from 2011 with an average amount of 7 million
VND/commune/year. Commune cadres continue to receive capacity building training on planning using the
provincial budget (500 million VND in 2011). Communes not covered by PS-ARD Project communes funded
by SDC and Northern Mountainous Poverty Reduction Project , Phase 2 funded by the World Bank, will receive
funding from the province to establish Community Development Fund - CDF, 100 million VND/commune/
year, for construction of small infrastructure facilities and production support as from 2011. The decentralized
provincial financing for CDF will increase by years (Official Letter No. 1307/UBND-TCTN of Hoa Binh Provincial
People’s Committee dated 30 August 2010).

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Quang Tri Province has institutionalised socio-economic development planning at
the commune level. From the lessons learned from the pilot process in Chia Se, Plan
International and Oxfam, the Provincial People’s Committee officially issued a new
planning process (Decision 12/QD-People’s Committee dated 1 June 2011 of Quang Tri
Provincial People’s Committee).
119
Participation in the implementation of the new planning process is appreciated
by local residents and authorities in Nghe An and Quang Tri (Table 8.1).
TABLE 8.1. Planning before and after the introduction of the new planning process
Format
Method of
implementation
Content
Resources
Before application
A 5-7 page document: actually a report,
not a real plan
Communes followed non-unified forms,
no specific guidance process
No direct consultation with villages,
branches and organizations
Manual, difficult to connect sections
General content, little data from
branches, mass organizations and villages
Not accompanied by budget estimates,
no integration of sources
After application
Developed into a complete plan with
data and solutions
Follow unified forms, with guidelines
and training
Collect data and information
directly from villages, branches and
organizations in the commune
With support from software (Excel),
connects well with other sections in
the plan
Based on local conditions, more
relevant (clear links between problems,
causes and solutions), proposed
specific activities, which are prioritized
Accompanied with budget estimates,
integrated resources (within known
financial sources)
Two-way relations - top down and bottom up - are improved. The province issues a
guideline applying to Training of Trainers (TOT) at all levels from province to district, commune
and village. Through data collection at the village level, people’s expectations are taken into
consideration and incorporated into the commune plan and submitted to the district. District
functional agencies (agricultural extension, animal health, education, health, water) use the
plan to develop their plans of action and allocate budget to meet people’s needs.
However, implementing new commune plans in Nghe An and Quang Tri in 2010 and
2011 has faced many challenges (Box 8.1):
• Local residents and grassroots cadres do not have the skills, processes and planning
skills to use the new approach.
• Recommendations from villages tend to include infrastructure facilities, cultural -
social - environmental aspects and community-based solutions that do not receive
sufficient attention.
• The quality of information and data collected from branches and mass organizations
is not high. In many communes, the proposals include regular activities of branches
and organizations, not solutions contributing to commune socio-economic
development orientations or poverty reduction.
• Unknown financial resources at the time of planning.
• Synthesis and feedback from the district level to the commune plan (through the
new district planning process) are not implemented, therefore, the commune plans
are not of significance in terms of inputs to the district socio-economic development
plan and plans for public service provision of district agencies and branches .
• Commune plans do not incorporate gender, access to markets or the management
of risks associated with natural disasters and climate change.
• The Provincial People’s Committee did not allocate additional budget to commune-level planning.
• People’s Council has not participated in monitoring of the new planning process.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
120
BOX 8.1 Planning using new approach in Luong Minh and Xy
communes
Luong Minh commune
In 2010 and 2011, Luong Minh Commune (Tuong Duong, Nghe An) applied a new
approach in socio-economic development planning. Members of the commune
working team received training on the planning process in the district. The heads
of villages and secretaries of village Party Cells were also given guidance by
district cadres and commune working teams at the commune People’s Committee’s
headquarters.
The new planning approach is more progressive than the traditional approach
because of increased participation and proposals are based on local realities. At
the village meeting, villagers made active contributions. The commune planning
workshop was highly appreciated by most grassroots cadres because of the
participation of leaders and representatives of all branches and organizations in the
commune and villages.
However, there remain some shortcomings in the planning work in Luong Minh
commune. At village meetings to collect information, recommendations are mainly
associated with infrastructure projects, without cultural-social-environmental
proposals and community-bases solutions (that need no financial resources).
Commune branches and organizations do not submit reports on time. For different
reasons, the commune submitted its plan for 2012 later than the deadline.
Xy commune
Since 2011, Xy commune (Huong Hoa, Quang Tri) began reforming its planning with
assistance from Plan International. Unlike Luong Minh commune, Xy commune applied
the Participatory Rural Assessment (PRA) approach when collecting information from
villages. The new planning approach has involved more participation from local
residents, particularly vulnerable groups (women and children).
However, as it was the first time Xy commune applied the new planning approach,
there were a number of issues. Village cadres did not have the capacity to undertake
the PRA approach effectively. Commune cadres had to help with funding provided
by the project. People made very few proposals as they are not interested and are
hesitant to speak up in public, and have no full understanding of the nature of the new
planning approach. The information sheets of commune branches and organizations
contain many errors, and some were delayed in submission.
8.2. Community Development Fund (CDF)
The goal of the Community Development Fund (CDF) is to help communes have a
decentralized financial source to implement small projects (infrastructure facilities
or support livelihoods), build capacity in socio-economic development planning and
financial management.
The quality of planning and implementation is higher when financing is
decentralized in the form of CDF. In Tuong Duong and Ky Son (Nghe An) and Hai Lang
District (Quang Tri) CDFs contributed to better commune planning and implementation.
Community development funds are relatively small (60-80 million VND per commune),
however, they play a crucial role motivating people to participate in the planning
process (Box 8.2). As a result plans are better suited to local conditions and the desires
of residents.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 2: Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Positive social impact is a strong point of CDF compared to other financial sources. CDF
can help increase community cohesion and participation of the poor, also facilitate the
roles of existing community institutions.
121
BOX 8.2. Decentralized financing in the form of CDF enhances
people’s participation
In late 2010, Oxfam funded CDFs of 60 million VND in four communes in Tuong
Duong District (Nghe An). Local residents were involved in the development and
implementation of CDF projects. The most outstanding result was the promotion of
counterpart funding and close monitoring by local residents of small infrastructure
projects.
--- “Such a small fund is a catalyst that helps the plan to be better. The surprising
outcome is active and enthusiastic participation by local residents. Never before
have villagers contributed more than 100 million VND. In the past, local people only
contributed 5% of the total cost, and it was very difficult to mobilize, and everything was
done by contractors. This assistance meets the urgent needs of local residents in this
type of projects.” (Leader of the Finance-Planning Division of Tuong Duong District).
Tam Thai commune was provided with 60 million VND for a CDF. Local residents
contributed 84 million VND of labour and locally available materials to build a canal
and upgrade a dam. Xa Luong commune was also provided with a 60 million CDF
and another 60 million VND was provided by local residents to build transport roads.
In general, local contributions are more than 50% of the total cost of a project.
Decentralized financing like CDFs help mobilise community resources and encourage
people to be less dependent on the Government.
Lessons learned from CDF implementation
Combining the reform of socio-economic development planning, financial
management and community monitoring capacities and decentralized financing
in the form of CDF. Experiences show that the relationship between participatory
planning, financial management and community-based supervisory capacities is the key
to the success of CDFs. Support activities to participatory planning and capacity building
in financial management is a prerequisite for the implementation of CDFs. Decentralized
financing in the form of CDFs is a “catalyst” for the better implementation of participatory
planning and enhancement of community-based supervisory capacities.
The advantage of CDFs is they are small-scale and have simple procedures.
Although the infrastructure facilities funded by CDFs are small they are of great effect.
CDF financial procedures are more straight forward than other programmes and
projects. Community-based construction can develop the strength of CDFs, because
local residents are themselves involved and the projects are realised by local skills. As
CDF projects are developed by local communities there is a strong sense of ownership
and responsibility, reducing waste and inefficiency.
Implementation of CDF in coordination with community institutions with
flexibility to meet local needs. Initiatives funded by CDF can be coordinated with
existing community institutions as they can help mobilize more resources effectively.

Part 3
Toward Sustainable Rural Poverty
Reduction in Viet Nam

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 3: Toward Sustainable Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Part 3: Toward Sustainable Rural
Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
Rural poverty monitoring initiative, round 5, 2011 summarizes poverty trends in the last
five years (2007-2011) at the monitoring points, at the same time study more carefully
key challenges to rural poverty reduction in the coming period. Recommendations for
discussion are made in this report with the hope to contribute to suggesting changes
on approaches to sustainable poverty reduction in rural areas in the 2011-2020 period.
125
9. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DISCUSSION
9.1. Achievements and challenges to rural poverty reduction
The last five years (2007-2011) has been a difficult period for Viet Nam. High
inflation, the global financial crisis and economic recession, natural disasters and
epidemics have affected the lives of everybody in Viet Nam, particularly the poor.
Nevertheless, the poverty rate continues to decline. Major Government investments
have provided the poor with improved infrastructure, education, health care, access
to credit, agro-forestry extension services and housing improvements. Improved living
standards at the monitoring points are associated with strategies to combine agriculture
(land-based diversification and intensification), non-agriculture (including labour mobility)
and investment in children’s education.
The recorded achievements are remarkable, yet rural poverty reduction remains a
challenge. Poverty reduction rates are uneven in rural areas. The poverty rate among
ethnic minority groups remains stubbornly high, particularly in remote mountainous
areas. In such situations, it is more important to close the widening poverty gap
between regions, ethnic groups and within communities .
A multi-dimensional poverty analysis is essential. Across the monitoring points
people’s lives have improved in many respects. People own more property (mainly
housing, motorbikes, and livestock) and have improved access to information (TV,
telephones). However, many people face difficult living conditions (safe water, latrines),
have limited access to markets, have little opportunity of non-agricultural employment
and struggle to manage the many risks they face. The percentage of households that
are predominantly engaged in agriculture remains high, and remains a significant
indicator of household poverty. Food shortages between harvests or during epidemics
and natural disasters remains a significant challenge. Gender roles remain the same
today as in 2007, and women still do not play an active role in productive and social
activities. The proportion of women in administration is still low and their capacities at
local administrative levels are limited. In communities in which different social groups
have specific difficulties it is important to tailor policies to each group.
Developing social security systems is a major challenge. Policy coverage is limited,
the level of assistance is low, targeting is imperfect and often inadequate and local
capacity to implement social policies is weak. Recipient households are identified using
a list of poor households. However, the different needs of vulnerable households vary
considerably and are not recorded in the list, making more nuanced policy difficult.

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
126
Price volatility has been a serious issue since 2007. High inflation in 2008 and 2011
affected many people. Some commodity producers benefit from price increases of
agricultural produce. However, the poor are sensitive to higher input prices and benefit
little from increasing agricultural prices because of small-scale production and weak
market position. Increased prices for food, services and other necessities reduces
purchasing power, and affects the food security of poor households who do not grow
their own food.
Labour mobility has increased over the last five years. Labour mobility is associated with
diversified livelihood strategies and plays an increasingly important role in rural poverty
reduction. More men work away from home than women, although at many monitoring
points an increasing proportion of women are seeking work further afield. Increased
labour mobility changes the local labour structure and traditional gender divisions.
However, when men work away from home women face an increased domestic burden.
Few ethnic minorities in mountainous areas work away from home due to community
and family barriers.
Access to educational services has improved considerably at the monitoring points.
Semi-boarding for general school children has proved effective, particularly in ethnic
minority and mountainous areas. However, the proportion of lower and upper secondary
school children dropping out of school is still high and is even increasing in some
disadvantaged mountainous areas. Some ethnic minority children continue to struggle
with schooling in the Vietnamese language. Increasing spending on children’s education
is a major burden for the poor.
Access to agricultural extension services has improved. A network of grassroots
agricultural extension workers has been established in most of the monitoring points
in mountainous ethnic minority areas. However, the participatory agricultural extension
approach (increasing the function of counselling, facilitation and hand-on guidance) has
not yet been popularly applied. Improved farming methods have yet to be applied on a
large scale. Funding for agricultural extension projects is limited, while the capacity of
grassroots agricultural extension workers is weak.
Reformed planning and decentralized investment at the commune level is becoming
more important. People now have better access to information on policies, programmes
and projects, many of which have been designed to improve the participation of the
poor and poor communities. However, there remains a gap between policy and its
implementation. The application of participatory approaches and decentralized financing
mechanisms, such as the Community Development Fund (CDF) in some survey sites,
has been encouraging, yet still faces many challenges. Grassroots cadres and local
residents have limited capacity, district level government and communes do not work
closely together, plans and financial resource plans are not adequately communicated
and gender and disaster and climate change strategies are not incorporated in the
planning process.
9.2. Towards sustainable poverty reduction in rural areas of Viet Nam
This five-year report presents the following recommendations for discussion
toward sustainable poverty reduction in Viet Nam’s rural areas, particularly
mountainous ethnic minority areas:
1. To promote qualitative and quantitative research and analysis of emerging
themes in order to develop suitable poverty reduction policies. Suggested
themes are the increasing gap between the rich and the poor and the multidimensional
character of poverty. There should also be a specific focus on
northern mountainous ethnic minority areas.

Five-year Synthesis Report
Part 3: Toward Sustainable Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam
2. To formulate more vigorous support policies in favour of specific disadvantaged
groups such as the “chronically” poor, the temporarily poor, the vulnerable poor
and the near-poor and people who have just escaped from poverty. Support
policies should: increase direct cash transfers to the chronically poor, build
capacity relevant to people’s livelihoods, increase conditional assistance and
reduce unconditional assistance to the temporarily poor, increase investment
in programmes that manage risks facing vulnerable groups, improve access for
the near-poor to health insurance, credit, agricultural extension and education.
127
3. To build a social security policy that ensures the right to security and a minimum
living standard acceptable to every citizen. To consolidate similar policies in
order to minimise mistakes, reduce the management burden and implementation
costs. To provide more targeted assistance to the most vulnerable households
and improve monitoring and evaluation systems, develop concrete regulations
so that people and communities can practice their supervisory rights. Target
social security based on multi-dimensional poverty criteria rather than the
income poverty line.
4. To design policies that both do not discriminate against migrants and actively
support them in their efforts to find and secure safe employment.
5. To encourage investments in education in models such as “Semi-boarding
general schools”, “Staff supporting teachers”, “Bi-lingual education” for
kindergartens, and “Education and community development - Reflect”. Issue
specific regulations on additional contributions, both compulsory and “optional”,
in order to reduce the costs of sending children to school. Develop concrete
regulations to improve the roles of parent’s representative boards in supervising
the school’s affairs. Increase vocational counselling services to enable students
to select courses that will help then find employment on graduation.
6. To reform agricultural extension services in mountainous ethnic minority areas
that are more beneficial to the poor. Replace conventional training methods
and models with participatory approaches such as “Farmer Field Schools
(FFS)”, “Participatory Technology Development (PTD)”, “Farmer to Farmer”.
Provide specialised training, increased allowances and direct support for
the establishment of demonstration models for village agricultural extension
workers. Encourage gender analysis and gender mainstreaming in agricultural
extension. Increase the budget for agricultural extension projects aimed at
improving and changing the livelihoods of the poor, paying special attention to
low-cost investment models, suitable to conditions and livelihood strategies of
poor ethnic minorities.
7. To undertake comprehensive investment (e.g. in the form of Community
Development Fund - CDF) in poverty reduction programmes at the commune
level via a decentralized financing mechanism with community ownership (i.e.
“block grant”), along with substantial and continued assistance in enhancing
participatory socio-economic planning, financial management and communitybased
supervisory capacities. Recommendations obtained in participatory
planning exercises at the grassroots level should be consolidated and reflected
in plans to deliver public services (e.g. agriculture, agro- extension, and
education, health, and water supply services). To institutionalize the participatory
socio-economic planning approach and regulation on the use of decentralized
financial) at commune level, based on experiences and lessons learned from
some provinces taking part in this initiative over the past years. Tools promoting
the voice and empower farmers should be applied widely (such as “Citizen
Report Card”, “Community Score Card”, and “Social auditing”).

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
128
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“Social Protection”, Viet Nam Development Report 2008, Joint Donor
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Publishing permit 414 - 2012/CXB/52/06 -11/HD