Challenges to Rural Poverty Reduction in Viet Nam - Oxfam Blogs

Participatory poverty monitoring in rural communities in Viet Nam
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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.