Vietnam is transitioning to a market-based economy. The Bank’s partnership with Vietnam since 1993 has contributed to achieving notable results.
As of March 2017, the World Bank has provided $22.5 billion in grants, credits and concessional loans to Vietnam. Vietnam's existing portfolio consists of 50 IDA/IBRD operations and four stand-alone trust funds projects, with total net commitments of almost $9.5 billion.
Vietnam received the first loan from the IBRD, the Bank’s lending arm for middle-income countries, in 2009, to support a program of public investment reforms. Today, IBRD has committed more than $3.3 billion to Vietnam, helping the country advance more quickly on its development path.
With World Bank funding and expertise, in just 4 years Vietnam has expanded access to full-day preschool to 84 percent of five-year-old children – up from 66 percent in 2011. The quality of preschool instruction improved through the provision of professional development for a large number of Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers and managers. More than 2,000 core teachers were trained to improve the capacity of some 250,000 ECE teachers to adopt a child-centered learning approach. (Read the result brief here)
Vietnam is pursuing reforms and investments that aim to promote green growth and address its high vulnerability to climate change, and has taken decisive steps since signing the Paris Agreement. This partnership is critical for achieving the targets of Vietnam’s Nationally Determined Contribution, by mobilizing resources, providing technical assistance and supporting policy change (Read the feature story and slideshow here).
Strengthening laws and policies addressing prevalent forms of conflict of interest – such as gift taking, nepotism and using insider information for personal gain – can improve the integrity and efficiency of the public. A recent joint report by the Government of Vietnam and the World Bank, and supported by the UK Government, offers insight into policy reforms that would address conflicts of interest, including reforms of legislation. (Read the story and download the report here)
Urban upgrading programs have improved the living conditions of millions of urban poor. In many cities, low-income areas suffer from frequent flooding and poor sanitation, posing serious health and environmental risks. The Vietnam Urban Upgrading Project, active in Hai Phong, Nam Dinh, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho, address these challenges. Benefiting some 7.5 million people, the project provided 95,000 micro credit lines for home improvement and income generation to families whose incomes were in the bottom 40 percent. (Read the story and watch the video)
Urban sanitation remains an important challenge in many cities. The Ho Chi Minh City Environmental Sanitation Project, which directly benefits more than 1.2 million people, has helped transform the city by improving sanitation and reducing flooding (See the story and video). The Coastal Cities Environmental Sanitation Project provided drainage, wastewater collections and treatment plants as well solid waste management facilities and conducted a comprehensive capacity building program, benefiting 800,000 citizens in Dong Hoi, Quy Nhon and Nha Trang. (Read the results brief).
Forest plantations are important sources of income for low-income families. From 2005 to 2015, more than 43,000 households in six provinces in central Vietnam received micro credit and technical support for small-holder plantation development. The Forest Sector Development Project, involving some 76,500 hectares of forests, is the first, and to date, the only project in Vietnam using the approach of lending to small-holder plantations – an option proving to be much more sustainable than the traditional approach of subsidizing plantations. (Watch the video and view slideshow)
Water supply and sanitation facilities have expanded. Urban water supply has doubled in small towns to 60 percent between 2006 and 2009 and rose from 75 percent up to 95 percent in cities for the same period. Rural access to clean water has seen an increase from 36 percent to 70 percent between 1999 and 2009. The World Bank has helped support this development through investments in rural water and sanitation in the Red River Delta Region, and through innovative programs such as the Global Output-Based Aid funded project in partnership with the East Meets West Foundation. Between 2005 and 2013, the Red River Delta Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project provided access to clean water for nearly 1.3 million people in four provinces through community-based approaches. Households received access to low-interest loans to build or rehabilitate more than 48,000 hygienic toilets and sanitation facilities, increasing the percentage of households with hygienic toilets from 25 percent to 87 percent. (See the video and story)
Early-warning and forecasting capacity for integrated disaster risk management continues to improve. Implemented in 12 provinces, the Disaster Risk Management Project helped construct 11 major projects for flood and storm mitigation infrastructure such as safe harbors, river dykes, evacuation roads and drainage pumping stations. More than 210,000 villagers in 30 communes implemented structural measures, including multi-purpose evacuation centers and drainage canals, along with non-structural measures such as the development of Safer Commune Plans and evacuation drills. (View the story and photo slideshow)
Electricity now reaches 95 percent of the population. Every day for the past ten years in Vietnam, 9,000 more persons were connected to the grid for the first time. In only five years, the country doubled its power generation capacity to 25,000 MW in 2010. Under the Second Rural Energy Project, more than 2.7 million people in some of Vietnam’s poorest areas gained access to electricity. (Watch the video)
The Third Rural Transport project is helping poor and marginalized in 33 provinces, particularly some of the most difficult mountainous regions of Northern Vietnam, connect to better markets and services. Today, over 90 percent of the population is now connected by all-weather roads. Averaging 4.5 percent of GDP investment, Vietnam leads Asia in its investments in roads infrastructure. (Watch the video)
With 6.5 fatalities per 10,000 vehicles per year, automotive accidents are a national concern in Vietnam. Addressing one of the highest accident rates in the world, the Vietnam Road Safety Project is working to bring health, education, police and highway agencies together in order to save lives. 95 percent of motorcycle riders now wear a helmet.
The first Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project has improved the quality of life in remote mountainous areas. Amongst the results: more than 118,000 families gaining access to clean water and more than 350,000 families benefiting from improved health care. A follow-on project has built on these earlier gains and also strengthened the disaster risk preparedness of communities, as well as pilot market linkage service initiatives. As a result, participating families are enjoying incomes at least 10 percent higher than the average of communes outside of the project areas. Almost 80 percent of common-interest farming groups cite better access to market information and higher productivity. (See the story and video)
Primary school enrollment reached 99 percent of eligible children, and school attendance ratios for boys and girls have largely been equalized. The proportion of primary students in full day programs doubled from 25 percent in 2005 to 50 percent nationwide. Children in disadvantaged districts increased enrollment to 94 percent, while girls’ enrollment in secondary school now exceeds boys at 78 percent to 77 percent. Personalized lessons in 49 primary schools brought a more hands-on approach to learning for ethnic minority students. The New School model, which used innovative teaching and learning practices in the classroom, has been piloted in 1,447 primary schools across all 63 provinces. After three years of project implementation, 2,000 more primary schools volunteered to implement the model. (See the video and story)
Higher education institutions enjoy greater autonomy and hold greater accountability. A series of three development operations supported the formulation of a new legal framework that provides a greater level of autonomy to higher education institutions and increases their accountability. This accountability includes the ability to decide on the number of students; training content; opening new programs; staff recruitment and retention; disclosing annual reports on financing, and staffing and learning outcomes. (Read the results brief)
Women’s rights to land titles increased. Following the success of two World Bank-supported pilot projects in the early 2000s, the government passed a Land Law making it mandatory for all land titles to be issued jointly in the names of husbands and wives (watch the video). The Bank-supported Vietnam Land Administration Project aims to issue some 5 million jointly held land titles by 2013.
Last Updated: Apr 19, 2018
