Vietnam

This paper uses small area estimation techniques to update Vietnam's province and district-level poverty map to 2009. It finds that poverty rates continue to be highest... Show More + in the northern and central mountainous regions, where ethnic minorities make up a large fraction of the population. Poverty has fallen in most provinces and districts over this decade, but the pace of poverty reduction has been least pronounced in those localities with high initial poverty or inequality levels. As a result, poverty rates have become more spatially concentrated over time, which is consistent with widely observed growth processes linked to agglomeration. The authors hypothesize that this makes geographic targeting of the poor more relevant as a means to re-balance growing welfare disparities between geographic areas. Simulations indicate that in both 1999 and 2009, geographic targeting for poverty alleviation improves upon a uniform lump-sum transfer and this becomes more evident the more spatially disaggregated the target populations. The analysis further indicates that the gains from geographic targeting have become more pronounced over time in Vietnam. Although poverty reduction in Vietnam has been impressive, further progress may thus warrant increased attention to geographic targeting. Show Less -

The World Bank has been a privileged partner of the Government of Vietnam in one of the most impressive histories of poverty reduction in modern times. The collection... Show More + of reliable poverty data began in 1992, when an estimated 58 percent of the population lived in poverty. The most recent estimates from 2008 indicate that 14.5 percent of the population remains in poverty. According to Oxfam, Vietnam's record equates to 6000 people moving out of poverty every day for sixteen years. This report draws on this extensive background literature and as well as more recent meetings with a range of stakeholders who have participated in or observed World Bank-government collaborations on poverty reduction. It is a companion piece to the Government's partnership report 'the World Bank in companion with Vietnam on development path' for the celebration. The report highlights some key achievements of the partnership over the past two decades as well as future challenges. It is divided into five sections: poverty monitoring, poverty analysis, strategic planning for poverty reduction, partnerships in policy for poverty reduction, and partnerships in investments for poverty reduction. Show Less -

There have been important changes in the budgeting process in Vietnam since 2006 when the government of Vietnam instituted a revolutionary reform in the management and... Show More + allocation of the state budget. For the period of 2007-2010, the norms include ethnic minority population data, and poverty rates. The purpose of this research assignment is to describe the evolution of budgeting mechanisms in recent years, in association with capital expenditure transferred from central to provincial budgets. This report focuses on changes in the budgeting process and allocation norms. It is also assesses whether these recent changes are pro-poor, and how they would affect availability of resources for the national targeted programs. Show Less -

This book chronicles the development of Vietnam's rural electrification program. It tells the story of how the Vietnamese government conceived, developed, scaled up,... Show More + and improved its program. It also discusses the role the government, the countries main utility, local authorities, local communities, and the country's international development partners played in the pursuit of the electrification agenda. The book provides an overview of the strategies that fueled the impressive expansion of access to electricity in Vietnam, the development of the institutions that implemented the program and the passage of policies and laws that made growth of such scale possible. It also discusses results from the ground, and particularly the impacts of electrification on people's lives. It concludes with an attempt to draw lessons from Vietnam's experience. The book comprises three main parts: part A, made up of eight sections, provides an overview of Vietnam's rural electrification experience, which can be divided into six distinct periods. Part B summarizes a select set of findings from the multiyear survey and discusses the impact of rural electrification on Vietnamese households. Part C draws lessons from the experience of rural electrification in Vietnam, based on the information presented in parts A and B. It discusses the lessons learned from the perspectives of the government and the World Bank. Show Less -

In 2007, the General Statistics Office (GSO) launched a joint research program with the French Institute of Research for Development (IRD), to measure and analyzes the... Show More + informal sector in Vietnam. Two kinds of surveys were conducted in 2007: a national Labour Force Survey (LFS), which, in a first for Vietnam, classified labour by institutional sector, separating out the informal sector; two specific surveys, in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), which were grafted onto the LFS2007 to find out more about the characteristics of Household Businesses (HBs) in general and especially the informal sector. These surveys have been extensively analyzed, and the full results edited in a book. Two years later, this successful experience has been re-conducted, with the additional objectives to consolidate the methodology and to assess the impact of the global crisis on the labour market in general and the informal economy in particular. This paper presents the main findings (both methodological and analytical) of these two rounds of surveys as regards the informal sector in Hanoi and HCMC. In the context of the global crisis, it looks at the dynamics of the informal sector between 2007 and 2009. Taking advantage of this unique survey protocol, the first part investigates the macro dynamics comparing the two representative cross sections, while the second focuses on the micro dynamics drawn from the panel component. Transitions between formal and informal sector are explored. The third part aims at analyzing the perception of HBs' heads to assess the impact of the crisis. Then, the last section explores the changes as regards the problems faced by HBs, their interaction with the state and their outlook. In the conclusion, the author determines some of the implications of the findings in terms of economic policies. This report can be usefully complemented by two companion papers: the first one presents the adjustment of the labour market and the informal economy nationwide, based on the LFS2007 & 2009; the second one is a policy brief on the impact of the crisis on the informal sector in Hanoi and HCMC. Show Less -

Vietnam is one of the only South East Asian emerging economies not to have gone into recession in 2009 in the wake of the world crisis. Nonetheless, it has been affected... Show More + deeply by the crisis, as shown by all macro-economic indicators. The yearly growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been slowing down from 8.5 percent in 2007 to 6.3 percent in 2008 then 5.3 percent in 2009, before recovering to 6.5 percent in 2010. Overall, because of productivity gains and rapid growth of the labour force due to the 'demographic dividend' which is currently peaking, an average economic growth of 7.5 percent such as attained during 2000-2008 is hardly sufficient to absorb new entrants on the labour market. Even with such a high growth rate, around one fourth of new entrants end up in the informal sector. The latter thus absorbs the labour surplus which agriculture and the formal sector are unable to employ. Several quick qualitative assessments of the impact of the crisis have been conducted in Asia and especially in Vietnam, based on a small number of interviews in some selected industries. They indeed put in evidence the impact of the crisis on the informal sector in terms of employment, number of hours worked and wages. But, due to the lack of data, no quantitative study of the impact of the crisis on the informal sector had been conducted until now. This is precisely the objective of this policy brief, based on the results of two rounds of Household Business & Informal Sector (HB&IS) surveys conducted on a statistically representative sample in Hanoi and HCMC in 2007 and 2009 within an international research project between Vietnam's General Statistics Office (GSO) and the French Institute. This brief can be usefully complemented by two companion papers: the first one presents the adjustment of the labour market and the informal economy nationwide the second one provides detailed results on the dynamics of the informal sector in the two main cities between 2007 and 2009. Show Less -

As it transitions to Middle-Income Country (MIC) status, Vietnam is considering whether its social protection system is adequate to meet rapidly changing needs associated... Show More + with strong economic growth, integration of its economy in regional and global markets, industrialization, urbanization and other economic and societal shifts. Vietnam's social safety net - programs with the following objectives: 1) alleviation of chronic poverty; 2) help to the poor in coping with the worst forms of shocks and transient poverty; and 3) promotion of human development for long-term poverty alleviation. This note aims to assess the system of social safety net programs currently in place in Vietnam and to gauge how well it covers the poor and vulnerable populations. This note highlights two messages: first, it identifies gaps in the current poverty reduction and social protection system - programs that help address urban vulnerability and poverty and that help the poor and vulnerable manage shocks - which could be closed through strengthened and more effective household-targeted social safety net programs. Second, in examining the existing core social safety net programs the note finds that, while targeting is respectable, their primary weakness lies in limited coverage. Based on these findings, this note strengthens household-targeted social safety net interventions in Vietnam as a complement to geographically-targeted poverty reduction programs and social insurance. Show Less -

The final evaluation has been conducted on 21 out of 25 projects of Vietnam Innovation Day (VID) 2009. Among the 25 projects in the VID09 awarding list, one project... Show More + has not been carried out due to the staff turnover of the implementing organization. The other three projects have been monitored directly by the funding agencies, thus will not be covered by this evaluation. The full list of the projects under this evaluation can be found at appendix. The final evaluation combines findings from the field visits during May and June 2010 and the final review in August 2010. The evaluation schedule was adjusted with flexibility in comparison to the initial plan to conduct in June 2010. The adjustment was made based on the justification to VID mandate that has been approved, to give more time to a number of projects to wrap up their activities. The findings and conclusions are mainly based on desk review of project documents, mid-term reports, mid-term evaluations, field visits to a selected number project sites (representatives of the North, Central and the South) and final project reports. In case the project reports do not supply details on what have been done, direct contacts have been made to the project persons-in-charge to verify. An adjusted template for final report with clear guidance has been provided in prior to projects; therefore in general, the projects' reports are substantial in content and information. In addition, the projects focus on a number of key aspects in addressing corruption related problems: rural community development, land use, grassroots democracy, feedback system to public service and awareness rising. Levels of intervention are village, commune, district, province or city, and policy implementation national wide. Show Less -

This case study of the sustainability of rural sanitation marketing is part of a wider activity entitled 'Total Sanitation and Sanitation Marketing (TSSM): new approaches... Show More + to Stimulate and Scale up Sanitation Demand and Supply Project,' also known as the Global Scaling up Sanitation Project. The long-term vision for this effort is to help a number of developing countries meet the basic sanitation needs of the rural poor who do not currently have access to safe and hygienic sanitation. TSSM tests proven and promising approaches to create demand for sanitation and improve the supply of sanitation-related products and services to increase household access to safe and sustainable sanitation; create open-defecation free communities; and promote improved hygiene practices. Though not one of the TSSM focus countries, Vietnam is one of the countries where a piloted approach to enhance and meet rural sanitation demands has had promising results. Show Less -

The evaluation of 25 projects of Vietnam Innovation Day (VID) 2009 commences from 4 January to early February 2010. However, the mid-term evaluation is mainly based... Show More + on desk review of project documents and mid-term reports, while several mid-term reports do not reflect in detail on what have been done, and in some cases the explanation on why activities done are not consistent with the project proposal is missing. In addition, the projects focus on a number of key aspects in addressing corruption related problems: rural community development, land use, grass-root democracy, feedback system to public service and awareness rising. Levels of intervention are village, commune, district, province or city and policy implementation national wide. This mid-term evaluation is only for VID 2009 projects, without much reference to previous VID and history of award winners, since some of VID 2009 winners have won previous VID awards. There have been only 15 projects submitted mid-term reports on time, and by the end of this evaluation in January 2010, there are two projects that have not submitted mid-term reports or any information for the evaluation. Findings from this evaluation should be supplement by an auditing report on financial management. Show Less -