66930 SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM VIETNAM - WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction II. Poverty monitoring III. Poverty analysis IV. Strategic planning for poverty reduction V. Partnerships in policy for poverty reduction VI. Partnerships in investments for poverty reduction Tables and figure: Figure 1: Poverty Reduction in Vietnam: 1993 - 2008 Table 1: Measuring Poverty in Vietnam: Overview of MOLISA definitions Table 2: Policy Actions Included in PRSC1 through PRSC9, by Sector Table 3: Evolution of Commune Investment Ownership: From Projects to National Policy SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION TABLE OF CONTENTS iii FOREWORD The World Bank has been privileged to be part of Vietnam’s remarkable achievements in reducing poverty through high and sustained rates of economic growth, investments in human development, and proactive social policies and programs. 58 percent of Vietnam’s population lived in poverty in the early 1990s. Many children did not finish school, and there was widespread hunger and malnutrition in rural areas. Most households supported themselves through subsistence agriculture. By 2008, the poverty rate had fallen to less than 15 percent, progress that is unparalleled in modern times. The vast majority of children complete primary education and most go on to enroll in secondary schools. Extreme poverty linked to hunger is rare, limited to isolated regions and the short-term impacts of drought or other weather shocks. Recent years have witnessed a dramatic transition in the labor market – many workers have moved out of agriculture and into better paid jobs in industry and services. The World Bank’s partnership for poverty reduction encompasses a number of important areas. We are pleased to have supported Vietnam in developing a robust and credible system for measuring poverty and monitoring progress over time, drawing on good practices from counties around the world. The capacity for poverty analysis and research in Vietnam has improved significantly over time, which has contributed in important ways to strategic planning for poverty reduction as well as design of poverty reduction policies and programs. An important focus of the partnership has centered on the improvement and modernization of approaches to strategic planning for poverty reduction. The Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS) was an important landmark in the partnership, which, in combination with the 2006-2010 SEDP, set out the reform agenda and national objectives for sustained growth and poverty reduction. We are proud to have supported an unprecedented series of ten consecutive Poverty Reduction Support Credits (PRSCs), involving fourteen development partners and more than 15 counterpart agencies in Government, which financed key elements of Vietnam’s reform agenda that were priorities for achieving rapid and socially-inclusive growth. Lending resources on concessional terms for poverty-focused projects has been at the core of partnership efforts for the past two decades, with particular attention to the needs of poor men, women and children living in more isolated regions of Vietnam. This support has spanned many sectors. We are particularly happy to have had the opportunity to support decentralized and community-based development projects such as the Community Based Rural Infrastructure Project (CBRIP), the Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project (NMPRP), as well as an important series of development policy loans in support of Program 135. We are keen to support government in developing new projects to address the needs of the poorest regions and populations. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION FOREWORD v Finally, we very much look forward to the continuation of our partnership on poverty reduction. We are happy to continue to engage in all areas but with particular focus on helping Vietnam take a fresh look at its poverty reduction challenges going forward – both old challenges, such as persistently high levels of poverty among ethnic minority populations, as well as new challenges, linked to rising inequality, greater exposure to risk and increasing vulnerability, particularly among the poorest households, also the links between urbanization and poverty. The future will bring many new challenges. We are proud to remain a trusted partner of Vietnam in addressing these challenges. Hanoi, October 28, 2011 Victoria Kwakwa Country Director World Bank Vietnam SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION vi FOREWORD CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1 QUAN HỆ Ä?á»?I TÃ?C VỀ GIẢM NGHÈO GIá»®A CHÃ?NH PHỦ VÀ NGÂN HÀNG THẾ GIỚI TẠI VIỆT NAM: MƯA DẦM NGẤM LÂU TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 1 This report draws on a recent round of consultations with stakeholders in Vietnam, many who have worked in partnership with the World Bank on poverty reduction since the early 1990s, as well as information presented in successive Vietnam Development Reports (VDRs), five Poverty Assessments/ Poverty Updates, spanning the period 1995 – 2010, and work underway on a new 2012 Poverty Assessment. The report also draws on an extensive literature on poverty reduction in Vietnam carried out over the past two decades. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION 2 INTRODUCTION T he World Bank has been a privileged population lived in poverty. The most recent partner of the Government of Vietnam estimates from 2008 indicate that 14.5 percent of in one of the most impressive histories the population remains in poverty. According to of poverty reduction in modern times. Oxfam, Vietnam’s record equates to 6000 people The collection of reliable poverty data began moving out of poverty every day for sixteen years. in 1992, when an estimated 58 percent of the Figure 1: Poverty Reduction in Vietnam: 1993 - 2008 70.0 60.0 Poverty Rate (% poor) 50.0 40.0 30.0 Rural Urban 20.0 All Vietnam 10.0 0.0 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 Source: VLSS 1993, 1998; VHLSS 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 Partly as a result of the World Bank-Government Development Path“ for the celebration. partnership, much has now been written about the drivers of poverty reduction, and the challenges The report highlights some key achievements that remain as well as new challenges linked to of the partnership over the past two decades as Vietnam’s future development path. This report well as future challenges. It is divided into five draws on this extensive background literature sections: and as well as more recent meetings with a range of stakeholders who have participated in or Poverty monitoring observed World Bank-government collaborations Poverty analysis on poverty reduction. It is a companion piece to the Government’s partnership report “The Strategic planning for poverty reduction World Bank In Companion With Vietnam On SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION INTRODUCTION 3 Partnerships in policy for poverty reduction large-number loans, what was mentioned most frequently in the recent consultations is the Partnerships in investments for poverty lower-key constant presence, exemplified by reduction attendance at workshops, informal meetings, often unpublished analyses and notes, and the It is impossible to fully cover two decades of advice at the end of the phone, all contributing to collaboration in these five areas in a single short a sustained relationship based on the exchange report. Instead the report focuses on capturing of credible knowledge between trusted partners. a combination of landmark “momentsâ€? and of Such was the emphasis on the extensive low-key the cumulative results from the more mundane, interactions that at the suggestion of a key partner day-in-day-out collaborations that have taken this report has drawn its title from a Vietnamese place between the Government and the World saying which emphasizes the hydrating power of Bank. Beyond the high profile reports and the small, soft rain over that of big storms. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION 4 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER II POVERTY MONITORING QUAN HỆ Ä?á»?I TÃ?C VỀ GIẢM NGHÈO GIá»®A CHÃ?NH PHỦ VÀ NGÂN HÀNG THẾ GIỚI TẠI VIỆT NAM: MƯA DẦM NGẤM LÂU TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 D evelopment workers visiting Vietnam in the 1990s were derived on the basis of rice in the early 1990s to support poverty equivalents and used to identify poor and very reduction initiatives were met with a poor/hungry households who were eligible to vacuum of information on the extent receive support under targeted poverty reduction and scope of poverty. There were few donors programs. Beginning in 2001, MOLISA proposed operating in Vietnam at the time. There were no official poverty lines for urban and rural areas that formal estimates of the poverty headcount, nor were measured in monetary terms rather than were statistics available on the distribution of rice equivalents (Table 1). These official poverty poverty across the country. There was a general lines are revised every five years as a part of SEDP understanding that some regions were more preparation and are used primarily for targeting disadvantaged and that certain groups required poor households for social assistance. They public support, but no mechanisms in place to are also used to measure progress at reducing verify this or to track progress in reducing poverty poverty over the course of the SEDP, based on as a result of government efforts . Two decades aggregating up commune, district, and provincial later, Vietnam has in place a reliable system for poverty counts. measuring and monitoring poverty over time and across regions and socio-economic groups, with The General Statistics Office (GSO) monitors publicly-available data from various rounds of changes in poverty over time using successive the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey rounds of VHLSS household surveys and the GSO- (VHLSS) informing the debates and discourse WB poverty line. Unlike the official poverty lines around poverty reduction and influencing policy- used by MOLISA, the GSO-WB line has been kept making and resource allocation processes. The roughly constant in real purchasing power since donor-supported VLSS, carried out in 1992-93 it was first defined in the late 1990s. Vietnam’s and 1997-98, and subsequent series of state- widely celebrated success at reducing poverty financed VHLSS in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and over the past two decades is based on poverty 2010 have had a profound influence on way in estimates using successive rounds of the VHLSS which poverty is understood in Vietnam. and the GSO-WB poverty line. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs For many years, two divergent estimates of (MOLISA) was identified in the early 1990s as poverty were produced, often widely different the primary Government agency responsible for in levels and complicating the dialogue between poverty reduction programs and policies. MOLISA the international community (which tended set out a series of poverty lines that have been to use the survey-based estimates) and the updated over time to capture changing contexts. Government (who used the official MOLISA MOLISA was given formal responsibility for estimates). In recent years, the Government has reporting on the levels of poverty based on these shifted away from an approach that combines definitions. The poverty lines used by MOLISA targeting individual poor households and 2 A report commissioned by the British NGO, ActionAid, in 1992 describes a situation with various Government and international organizations deploying a wide range of definitions and measures based on a variety of methodological underpinnings. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY MONITORING 7 poverty monitoring under one institution and not well developed, the World Bank invested one instrument, and has replaced it with an heavily in up-front training on new methods approach that separates the two important tasks and techniques. The GSO notes in particular the of targeting poor households for social assistance value of having consistent technical advice and on the one hand and monitoring poverty over ongoing capacity building efforts. Preparation time on the other. Although the different poverty for the two VLSSs in the 1990s involved intensive estimates may have caused confusion at times, capacity building (supported by SIDA and the development and insistence on rigorous UNDP), supported by international advisers who measurement has been important in terms of were long-term residents in Vietnam. The Bank helping the Government better conceptualize continued to engaged actively with the GSO as poverty. Moreover the higher numbers produced the VHLSS became state-financed, with a focus on through the VHLSS surveys helped to keep poverty consolidating the profile and quality of the VHLSS high on the Government’s agenda. Over time, as and on establishing the VHLSS as the primary the poverty headcount fell (narrowing the gap instrument for poverty monitoring. between MOLISA and GSO estimates) and as the poverty estimates produced through the VHLSS One of the strengths of the VHLSS is its consistency became increasingly recognized as valid and over time. But in recent years, the VHLSS has robust, MOLISA’s estimates became more aligned struggled to some extent in capturing some of the to those produced by the GSO, to the point where dynamism in the Vietnamese economy; as early as the GSO has been given formal responsibility 1999 the World Bank and GSO raised the issue of for producing national and provincial poverty capturing the situation of a growing number of estimates. MOLISA now concentrates on the task migrants in urban areas. More recently, the VHLSS of identifying the individual households within was not designed to capture changes in welfare provinces, districts, and communes that should due to sharp increases in food prices, particularly be included on the poverty list. rice prices in 2008. It was recognized that the consumption patterns of Vietnamese households The World Bank provided sustained technical today are very different than consumption and financial support to the GSO in the patterns in the early 1990s, when the VHLSS was implementation and development of the VHLSS first designed; also households own many more and the dissemination of data and, at the same assets and invest more intensively in residential time, supported the research section of MOLISA land and housing. A number of important (ILSSA) and other institutes3 in the development improvements were introduced in the 2010 of tools to improve poverty targeting. Support VHLSS to better capture Vietnam’s growing to the development of poverty measurement diversity consumption and welfare, and the GSO- systems began in 1991, with the preparation WB poverty line will be updated using these new of the first VLSS under the auspices of the data to better capture the current situation of the State Planning Committee. In an environment poor. where systematic poverty measurement was 3 For example, support was provided first to IPSARD, then to ILSSA in the creation and subsequent updating of poverty maps. 2010 poverty maps are being prepared by a team from GSO, ILSSA, and the National Economics University (NEU). SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION 8 POVERTY MONITORING Table 1. Measuring Poverty in Vietnam: Overview of MOLISA definitions Period Poverty line Note 2001-2005 Poor households: Income in rice equivalent terms was no longer Mountainous rural, island used as a poverty threshold. According to MOLISA areas: 80000 VND/persons/ measurements at this time, hunger had been month. more or less eradicated and was therefore no longer measured. Delta rural areas: 100000 VND/person/month. Urban areas: 150000 VND/ person/month. 2006-2010 Poor households: Poverty lines defined only for rural and urban areas in order to give more support to poor HH in Rural areas (including mountainous and island areas mountainous and delta areas): 200000 VND/person/ MOLISA and GSO worked together on the new month. poverty thresholds, with the following features: Urban areas: 260000 VND/ Following the methods used to calculate person/month. poverty lines by GSO, the food poverty line was calculated with 2100 calorie intake per person per day, while the general poverty line concluded food and non food items) Separate instrument were established for identifying poor households, using proxy variables to categorize households into three groups: Surely non poor, possibly poor and surely poor. Income surveys were applied to confirm whether a household is poor or not, with lists finalized in village meetings. Proxy means tests were used to update lists, designed to capture possible exits and regressions into poverty. 2011-2015 Poor households: GSO mandated to calculate the poverty rate and the “near povertyâ€? rate, the latter estimated at 1.3 Rural areas: 400000 VND/ SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY MONITORING 9 Period Poverty line Note person/month 2011-2015 times the value of the poverty line. GSO provides Urban areas: 500000 ND/ estimates at national and provincial levels. Urban person/month. poverty line equates to $1.6 in PPP terms, rural poverty line equates to $1.3 in PPP terms. GSO required to update the national and provincial poverty lines annually to reflect shifts in food and non-food prices MOLISA retains responsibility for constructing lists of poor households using techniques identified in previous period. However proxy means variables will be further refined to capture variations in predictors of poverty across the country (differentiated by six regions and by rural/urban). They are currently working on new tools to capture those who have escaped or fallen into poverty in the last year. Key Lessons and Future Plans suggestions that supporting a broader range of surveys and survey instruments would have In future rounds of the VHLSS, it is important been helpful to stimulate more structured debate to balance the need for consistency and regarding non-material dimensions of poverty. comparability over time with innovation Although poverty measured in income terms has and improvements in survey methods to fallen sharply, some elements of daily life had better capture Vietnam’s increasingly diverse deteriorated in ways that were poorly captured consumption patterns and growing wealth. by current surveys or measures.4 The World Bank The 2010 VHLSS made some good steps in is pleased to continue to support the GSO in these this direction but further improvements are areas. needed. In recent consultations, some felt that the VHLSS could have been expanded earlier to MOLISA and GSO poverty estimates have been include other measures of poverty e.g. subjective broadly similar in recent years, and both indicate measures of wellbeing (which were included that Vietnam has achieved strong progress at in the 2010 VHLSS). In addition, there were reducing poverty. But the multiple measures and 4 Those mentioned included: dissatisfaction with corrupt practices, deteriorating quality of urban environment, youth culture increasingly dominated by materialism, vulnerability to prices rises and perceptions of rising inequality. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION 10 POVERTY MONITORING persistent albeit small inconsistencies between commune level seems well founded. However poverty rates at regional and provincial levels implementation may take some time. Poverty continue to cause confusion among policy makers lines and measurement systems designed for and the National Assembly (who are responsible poverty monitoring (as in the case of the VHLSS) for overseeing progress). The agreement to make have a different set of objectives than the proxy the GSO responsible for official poverty estimates means test (PMT) methodologies used by DOLISA at the national and provincial levels, and MOLISA to determine eligibility and target assistance responsible for poverty estimates at district and under programs like the NTP-PR. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY MONITORING 11 CHAPTER III POVERTY ANALYSIS QUAN HỆ Ä?á»?I TÃ?C VỀ GIẢM NGHÈO GIá»®A CHÃ?NH PHỦ VÀ NGÂN HÀNG THẾ GIỚI TẠI VIỆT NAM: MƯA DẦM NGẤM LÂU TABLE OF CONTENTS 13 T hough the Government had internal development partners – UNDP and SIDA – also processes to gather information on released reports in 2003 on poverty in Vietnam, poverty in the early 1990s, their reports all drawing on slightly different data and using were not accessible to the local research slightly different methodologies and approaches. community, the community of international Because World Bank analytical work was led partners or to the broader public. Early analysis from Washington, it was relatively difficult to available in the public domain was dominated by engage with local processes that later came to micro-level findings by NGOs or field reports by characterize the partnership-based approaches visiting donors, produced outside Government to poverty analysis. structures and lacking official endorsement. Though useful for agency-level project design, Decentralization by the World Bank, including the fact that they originated outside government the placement of the Vietnam Country Director and did not use official data weakened their in Hanoi, and the recruitment of a Hanoi-based usefulness in dialogue. team of national and international poverty experts, created opportunities for a more The World Bank released a report on the inclusive approach to poverty analysis. At the economic transition of Vietnam in 1993 that initiative of the World Bank, a Poverty Working included a chapter on poverty. In the absence Group (PWG) was established that brought of poverty data, this section was based on together, for the first time, a group of donors, findings from field visits and conversations with NGOs and Government agencies that were officials across the country. Even without a investing resources in poverty. The production solid quantitative base of evidence, thechapter of the second Poverty Assessment Attacking was insightful in identifying at an intuitive level Poverty was a landmark in Vietnam, in part many of the issues that came to dominate the because it represented a consensus position dialogue in later years, for example emphasizing on the key challenges of poverty reduction but the importance of improving the functioning of also because it drew heavily on a combination rural markets (including in land), the challenge of both quantitative and qualitative data. A of extreme poverty in ethnic minority areas and series of Participatory Poverty Assessments emerging issues related to migration. (PPAs) were produced through collaboration with NGOs and the Swedish Mountain Rural The first World Bank Poverty Assessment, Development Program, bringing legitimacy produced in 1995, used data from the 1992-93 to participatory research methods in Vietnam, VLSS to confirm many of these issues. It ultimately identifying empowerment as a key challenge for served to legitimize a discussion of poverty that poverty reduction and highlighting dimensions highlighted differences between regions and of poverty not well captured by existing survey socio-economic groups using robust data. It was data. The report found resonance within the well-received by the Government and served national policy dialogue for its clarity and as a reference document for discussions on calibration to local discourse. Internally within poverty for the following four years. Two other the World Bank, strong support from both the SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY ANALYSIS 15 sector and country director was important in years, these VDRs have covered the fundamental endorsing the approach.5 pillars of the development reform agenda in Vietnam and thus set the basis for policy dialogue Attacking Poverty was central to the discussion and financing in support of the reform agenda. at the CG meeting in December 1999 and, as a At the same time, the Bank increased its support piece of analysis broadly endorsed by multiple for building capacity for poverty analysis in stakeholders, provided the basis for emerging Vietnamese institutions, many of which have work on strategic planning for poverty reduction. access to a broader and more senior audience Likewise, the Poverty Working Group remained of policymakers. Building on this approach, the key convening forum for donor-Government the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) dialogue on poverty issues until completion of the produced a Poverty Update in 2006 (based on Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth the 2004 VHLSS data) and a full poverty report Strategy (CPRGS) some years later. in 2010 (drawing on data from the 2006 and 2008 VHLSS). In preparing these reports, a team Vietnam’s third Poverty Assessment Poverty of Vietnamese researchers coming from inside was similarly led by the World Bank, but drew and outside VASS received on-going technical in a number of donors and was reviewed support from the World Bank, covering all stages by a committee of Vietnamese researchers of poverty assessment, from the preparation of a who provided guidance on content. Other concept note to the design and implementation development partners contributed actively, of large-scale qualitative surveys (PPAs) and some through additional financing, also leading analysis of quantitative household survey data, or participating in a new round of participatory to the production and finalization of numerous poverty assessments that informed the survey- background papers and the synthesis report. based analysis. The international community, This support came at an opportune moment to including the World Bank, had invested actively help VASS develop new poverty analysis skills in supporting capacity in the research community in keeping with the new economic context. in the period between the first two Poverty The post-WTO accession period, characterized Assessments, such that much of the analysis was by rising opportunities and risks, called for a provided by Vietnamese researchers drawn from comprehensive approach to poverty reduction the local research community. including ensuring macroeconomic stability, strengthening social protection, promoting On the World Bank side, Poverty set in motion broad-based growth and inclusive development. a cycle of annual Vietnam Development Reports Pulling together the poverty analyses supported (VDRs) produced by the World Bank, often in by the World Bank enabled VASS to broaden their collaboration with other donors and with review earlier approaches to poverty analysis, linking the and guidance provided by Government. Over the macro environment and micro level challenges in 5 As Homi Kharas, former Chief Economist for East Asia and Sector Director for the East Asia Poverty Reduction and Economic Management department, pointed out in an interview for this work, “where would be the value in complex econometrics, when the priority at that time was to communicate basic messages about how a Governments can measure and monitor poverty?â€? SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION 16 POVERTY ANALYSIS new and interesting ways. detailed studies carried out in 2003-04 on the social and poverty implications of trade liberalization, in The VASS poverty assessment was launched general, and WTO accession in particular. These in 2010. VASS will continue disseminating the studies discussed the effects of trade on the poor findings of this work packaged in different in Vietnam, including measures to minimize their forms, not necessarily as stand-alone products, vulnerability, including labor market issues more taking into account the organization’s mandate broadly. The development focus of the Doha to provide policy advice to senior policy makers Round at the time had brought a more human on strategic directions of the country’s socio- face to multilateral trade negotiations as a direct economic development. interest of developing countries. The studies helped to inform Vietnam’s WTO negotiators Work on a new 2012 Poverty Assessment is and policy makers about the possible social and underway, which will be carried out through poverty impacts of WTO accession. In addition, partnership arrangements between the World among other work,6 the partnership supported Bank, VASS, GSO, and other stakeholders involved poverty mapping activities, improvements to with poverty reduction in Vietnam. The 2012 targeting methodologies, impact evaluations of PA will use data from the 2010 VHLSS (including targeted social assistance programs and both updated GSO-WB poverty lines), new 2010 proposed and implemented policy reforms, also poverty maps, and be complementary qualitative (at the request of government) background studies. The aim is to open up and inform the analysis for government plans and progress discourse on poverty related issues in Vietnam, reports, innovations in “report cardâ€? surveys, and including issues like ethnic minority poverty that analyses of the informal sector. Much of this work have persisted over time, as well as new concerns was produced by local research institutes and linked to rising inequality, greater exposure universities, with technical assistance provided to risks and shocks, including weather-related by Bank staff or Bank-hired consultants. shocks as well as external economic shocks and the impact of rising inflation, and growing concerns about the links between urbanization and poverty. Many of these issues were identified Key Lessons and Future Plans as areas needing further work in the recent VASS- led Poverty Assessment The capacity for poverty analysis in Vietnam is significantly different from research capacity ten Throughout the period of the partnership, years ago. The sustained support for partnership- the World Bank has worked with a number of based poverty analysis has contributed Vietnamese institutions and agencies to produce a in important ways to these substantial range of other analytical pieces related to poverty improvements in research capacity. Processes reduction. Notable among these were a series of around research, including the level of debate 6 There is a very extensive list of poverty analysis work that has been carried out in partnership with local institutes over the timeframe of this report. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY ANALYSIS 17 and dissemination of analysis through local financial support from DFID since 1999 (as part of networks, have contributed to an expansion the PAPAP and GAPAP trust funds) was critical of knowledge around poverty issues, an in providing the necessary resources, both for improvement in standards expected of research sustained improvements in poverty monitoring institutes and an increased use of empirical and as well as improvements in research capacity evidence in policymaking. The availability of solid and poverty analysis in Vietnam. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION 18 POVERTY ANALYSIS CHAPTER IV STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR POVERTY REDUCTION QUAN HỆ Ä?á»?I TÃ?C VỀ GIẢM NGHÈO GIá»®A CHÃ?NH PHỦ VÀ NGÂN HÀNG THẾ GIỚI TẠI VIỆT NAM: MƯA DẦM NGẤM LÂU TABLE OF CONTENTS 19 A n important focus of Government- planning for poverty reduction in the MPI World Bank partnership centered on broadened the discourse on poverty to highlight the improvement and modernization the links between growth and poverty reduction of approaches to strategic planning and more structural dimensions of persistent for poverty reduction. In 1999, in response poverty. to shortcomings in earlier approaches to development assistance which had been criticized The Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and for imposing inappropriate models from outside, Growth Strategy (CPRGS), like all ‘first generation’ the international community introduced the PRSs that were submitted to the World Bank concept of a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and IMF, was prepared in parallel to mainstream (PRSP) as a central instrument for country-driven medium-term planning processes. In the Vietnam models of support. This concept, initiated by the case this meant that the CPRGS sat alongside World Bank with the support of other donors, the Socio-economic Development Plan (SEDP) involved the development by Government of a 2001-2005 and because of this had a somewhat medium term Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) uncertain status within Government. However, that identified the key challenges in generating the fact that Vietnam’s first PRS was developed inclusive growth and poverty reduction. The outside mainstream processes had the advantage World Bank was required to frame its country of allowing the leaders of the CPRGS to pilot new assistance strategy around the Government’s approaches to strategic planning for poverty own PRS. Many other donors did likewise. reduction that could not have been incorporated The existence of a PRS was a pre-requisite for into regular planning processes at that time. accessing policy-based loans from IDA. Innovations that underpinned the CPRGS preparation included: In 2000, the Government of Vietnam initiated work An open, multi-stakeholder consultative on an interim PRS. The donor community, through process at both national and sub-national the Poverty Working Group, provided support to levels. At this time, the SEDP preparation the Government in this exercise, as a bridging process included mechanisms for exercise for a full PRS. The Government accorded consultation within Government, but not responsibility to this process to the General outside Government. Economic Affairs Department of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). Allocation Incorporation of data and analysis from of responsibility to MPI for this task signaled an outside Government sources. Previous important shift in Vietnam’s approach to poverty SEDPs had drawn exclusively on Government reduction. Previously the challenge of poverty data sources. Importantly for a discussion reduction had been fairly narrowly defined as on poverty reduction, the focus in earlier channeling targeted support to defined groups discussions had been on MOLISA’s poverty of poor households and individuals. Though estimates, which as noted earlier were lower targeted support would remain an important than those produced by the GSO and were element of Vietnam’s approach to tackling constrained by the resources available to poverty, placing the responsibility for strategic support targeted programs. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR POVERTY REDUCTION 21 A costing exercise, attempting to link plans use of a wide range of background information. and resource requirements. Though far Effective collaboration between the international from perfect, this was a first attempt to community, domestic civil society and the link strategically defined objectives and Government generated considerable energy resource requirements. around creating and sustaining a consultative process. At an early stage, for example, NGOs An annual reporting exercise which was also collaborated with MPI to facilitate consultations open to consultation outside Government. at the community level in poor areas and multiple The international community provided drafts of the SEDP were circulated widely for support to ensure that Government had comments. Consultations were also organized the resources to draw on a wide range of with the private sector, local NGOs and academia, material from inside government and from and MPI even arranged a consultation with the broader research community. Vietnamese overseas scholars to get their views and feedback Interviews with stakeholders both inside and outside Government suggested that the CPRGS A results-based M&E system was developed for the was an important landmark in the way poverty 2006-2010 SEDP. Inter-ministerial groups were was conceptualized in Vietnam. Before the CPRGS, set up and extensive hands-on training provided poverty was seen in relatively narrow terms and on results-based M&E systems, with support from the key instrument in the fight against poverty the World Bank and other development partners. was the Government’s Hunger Eradication and The draft M&E framework was refined several Poverty Reduction (HEPR) program managed by times, all with participation of the line ministries MOLISA. The signaling in the CPRGS, however, and provincial officials, and at the end of the was that poverty was an issue that cuts across process, MPI issued Decision 555 with the results- sectoral boundaries and thus fundamental to the based framework. This was the first time that a work of central agencies as well as line ministries. results-based M&E framework was adopted by Some key principles of CPRGS were subsequently the Government of Vietnam. integrated into National Target Program for Poverty Reduction (NTP-PR) as the successor of The process for preparing the 2011-2015 SEDP HEPR. was somewhat less open and consultative than the previous SEDP – for example, although there As the timeframe for the CPRGS came to a close, were consultations with provincial officials, the Government took a decision that Vietnam parallel consultations with local communities would not have a separate strategy for poverty were not carried out. This is despite the fact reduction (and a new free-standing PRSP) but that government decisions and guidelines instead the perspectives incorporated in the surrounding the preparation of the 2011-2015 CPRGS would be included in the preparation of SEDP similarly required a participatory and the SEDP. Guidelines sent out by MPI to ministries open process. However many of the important and provinces required SEDP drafting teams to innovations that resulted from the CPRGS work adopt more open and consultative approaches as were retained in the 2011-2015 SEDP: it is they prepared their plans and recommended the SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION 22 STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR POVERTY REDUCTION based around a set of clearly defined objectives, become fragmented and not well-coordinated, includes a balanced discussion of poverty and albeit recognizing that Resolution 80 has made social concerns as well as policies to promote some progress towards resolving this. industrialization and rapid urbanization, and MPI is working already on a new results-based M&E framework. Key Lessons and Future Plans MPI has been working for several years on a The CPRGS was an important landmark in the new regulatory environment for planning and is Government-World Bank partnership on poverty preparing a Decree on planning for issuance in reduction. It helped with the temporary testing the near future. The release of this Decree will of new planning approaches in parallel with help develop a more mainstream approach for official planning processes (i.e. official five-year strengthening strategic planning for poverty plans) and thereby supported experimentation reduction at sub-national levels. In addition, and testing of new approaches. Notably, many it will reinforce the on-going support of a of the innovations introduced under the CPRGS number of development partners in reforming have been integrated into the SEDP preparation provincial planning processes. As part of the process. future partnership, the World Bank and other DPs could provide support to disseminate Looking forward, the World Bank is keen to the approaches set out in the new Decree to continue to support the Government of Vietnam ministerial and provincial audiences, also support in developing and implementing more open, early implementation. In a related point, concerns consultative planning processes; we recognize have been raised in recent years that Vietnam’s that reforms of this nature are part of an ongoing broader approach to poverty reduction has long-run process. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR POVERTY REDUCTION 23 CHAPTER V PARTNERSHIPS IN POLICY FOR POVERTY REDUCTION QUAN HỆ Ä?á»?I TÃ?C VỀ GIẢM NGHÈO GIá»®A CHÃ?NH PHỦ VÀ NGÂN HÀNG THẾ GIỚI TẠI VIỆT NAM: MƯA DẦM NGẤM LÂU TABLE OF CONTENTS 25 26 T he World Bank – Government partnership Vietnam was an early pioneer of new World Bank on policy reform targeted at poverty policy instruments to support poverty reduction, reduction was based around three key bringing one of the first Poverty Reduction pillars: Support Credits (PRSC) to the Board in 2001. Though the first PRSC grew out of an operation the reform agenda and national objectives set out originally designed as a more traditional structural in the strategic planning documents for poverty adjustment credit, the series of PRSCs that were reduction and growth (first the interim PRSP, then approved over the following decade broadened Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth in focus to mirror the three core elements of the Strategy, followed by the SEDP 2006-2010); strategic plans for poverty reduction; actions in the first PRSC focused on structural reforms and extensive analytic work, including Poverty public expenditure management reforms. As the Assessments and related studies, but also the series progressed, however, the balance tipped series of annual Vietnam Development Reports to include a growing number of actions focused (VDRs) that focused on key challenges set out in on social inclusion, natural resource management the Government’s reform agenda; and, and important governance reforms (Table 2). Poverty Reduction Support Credits (PRSCs) that This shift did not happen by accident. There was financed elements of the reform agenda that a clear decision within the Bank that the PRSCs were considered priorities for achieving socially- should be the key instrument to support macro- inclusive growth. policy reforms, and that the instrument should provide balanced support across the broad front Dialogue and influence, of course, also took place of development challenges to pro-poor growth. outside this basic architecture. Informal and off- Aiming High, the Vietnam Development Report the record advice, based on a relationship of trust, for 2007, epitomizes this approach, providing was equally as important as some of the higher a commentary on the SEDP 2006-2010 which profile interactions that took place. The “soft rainâ€? clearly identifies reform challenges and priorities. approach to continuous and low-key dialogue (for example, sending counterparts graphs and tables By 2011, the PRSC was an unprecedented series when needed, informal exchanges between Bank of ten consecutive budget support operations, and Government counterparts, providing advice involving fourteen Development Partners and at the end of the phone when briefs were required more than fifteen counterpart agencies in the for ministers or feedback required on draft Government. The programmatic series mobilized regulation) has been a valued channel of support. around $1.5 billion in IDA support from the World However, this central structure triangulating Bank. Many Development Partners supported government strategies, analysis and policy-based the PRSCs over the period, supplementing financing was at the core of the dialogue and the IDA resources with over $1.1 billion in grant money that flowed through the PRSC established and additional loan financing. The PRSC has the basis for a credible partnership on policy been rated highly by a number of independent issues for reform. evaluations for both the quality of its policy SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION PARTNERSHIPS IN POLICY FOR POVERTY REDUCTION 27 Table 2: Policy Actions Included in PRSC1 through PRSC9, by Sector PRSC1 PRSC2 PRSC3 PRSC4 PRSC5 PRSC6 PRSC 7 PRSC 8 PRSC 9 Number of sectors 5 12 15 16 18 15 17 17 17 Number of minitries/ 5 10 12 20 21 21 21 21 26 agencies Total number of policy 18 20 41 44 46 39 38 32 30 actions TOTAL BUSINESS 15 11 21 20 18 17 15 10 11 DEVELOPMENT Global Integration 3 3 5 5 2 2 3 2 1 State Sector Reform 4 3 3 5 4 4 1 1 3 Financial Sector Reform 6 3 7 6 7 2 3 3 4 Private Sector Reform 2 2 3 1 3 6 3 2 2 Infrastructure 0 0 3 3 2 3 5 2 1 TOTAL SOCIAL INCLUSION 0 2 4 5 7 6 9 5 6 dialogue and its development impact. Given Management and Competitiveness Credit (EMCC). its success, the PRSC grew very rapidly in scope. Like the PRSC, the EMCC is expected to be a multi- This created coordination challenges, and some year, multi-donor operation starting in FY12 and fatigue, which impacted on the quality of the ending in FY16. The operation proposes to focus dialogue in some sectors in more recent years. on critical reforms to enhance competitiveness, Independent evaluations have recommended to which is central to sustained growth and poverty narrow the scope, with fewer triggers and policy reduction in Vietnam. The strategic and analytical actions. underpinnings for the EMCC are drawn from the SEDS 2011-20; the Competitiveness pillar of the CPS; the National Competitiveness Report; and Key Lessons and Future Plans recent Vietnam Development Reports. With the PRSC series drawing to an end, the Competitiveness is a function of many factors, Bank has initiated, at the Government’s request, but one of the lessons learnt from the PRSC series discussions on a follow up operation: an Economic is the importance of a focused reform agenda SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION 28 PARTNERSHIPS IN POLICY FOR POVERTY REDUCTION under one budget support operation. The EMCC sustain growth and poverty reduction gains, as will therefore concentrate its dialogue on reforms Vietnam’s economy transitions from endowment- to strengthen macroeconomic stability, and based growth to increased productivity. The institutions for public sector governance and EMCC aims to look at the poverty and social private sector development. It may also include impacts of specific triggers. For example, the cross-cutting issues related to infrastructure macroeconomic stability component could and skills, which are also critical to enhancing include policies to lessen the social impact of competitiveness. It will not address these directly, macroeconomic instability (such as price rise or but rather complement other support provided increase in unemployment). It could also include on infrastructure and skills. Public Investment Management reforms to contain the adverse impact of public investment Promoting competitiveness should help to projects on the environment. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION PARTNERSHIPS IN POLICY FOR POVERTY REDUCTION 29 CHAPTER VI PARTNERSHIPS IN INVESTMENTS FOR POVERTY REDUCTION QUAN HỆ Ä?á»?I TÃ?C VỀ GIẢM NGHÈO GIá»®A CHÃ?NH PHỦ VÀ NGÂN HÀNG THẾ GIỚI TẠI VIỆT NAM: MƯA DẦM NGẤM LÂU TABLE OF CONTENTS 31 W hile filling knowledge and technical decision-making processes, with CBRIP focusing gaps has been an important more on the participatory development of small- feature of the Government – scale infrastructure and the Northern Mountains World Bank Partnership, lending project tackling more frontally the processes resources on concessional terms for projects has of planning, budgeting and management of been at the core of the partnerships for poverty resources at the commune level. reduction over the last two decades. The Bank has financed many projects that have contributed Both projects came under the jurisdiction of to poverty reduction including projects in basic the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), education and provision of health services, allowing them to tackle structural issues of urban development, rural electrification, and decentralization in a way that would have been transport, irrigation, agro-forestry, agricultural more constrained had the projects been under diversification, and rural finance (ref. Appendix the auspices of Ministry or Agriculture and Rural 3 in Govt’s report for a detailed list). This section Development (MARD). At a time when MPI was describes some of the important project-based taking on expanded responsibilities for strategic partnerships that have specifically targeted planning for poverty reduction, it was therefore poverty reduction through decentralized and also developing strengthened responsibilities for community-based development activities. pioneering more community-based approaches to local development investments and learning The earliest projects that were approved following from this experience. The establishment of the the re-establishment of relations had little in the Partnership to Assist the Poorest Communes way of explicit poverty objectives; the absence (PAC) working group brought together of reliable, disaggregated data on poverty meant government officers working on decentralized, that targeting would be hit-and-miss and the community based development and provided a high levels of poverty in any case suggested that vibrant knowledge-sharing and discussion forum poverty was so widespread that activities almost connecting a range of initiatives and generating anywhere would reach the poor. Towards the a momentum around these approaches. Though late 1990s, building on findings from the 1993 there were some issues of overlap with the Poverty and 1998 VLSSs and a number of complementary Working Group, the PAC clearly added dynamism ‘participatory’ poverty assessments, the World to this agenda; as testimony to the value of the Bank developed two projects that focused on PAC, the project management unit (PMU) of the community based development in poor areas. follow-up Second Northern Mountains Poverty These projects, the Community Based Rural Reduction Project (NMPRP-2) is requesting Infrastructure Project (CBRIP) and the Northern financing to provide a similar forum to support Mountains Poverty Reduction Project (NMPRP), the second project. drew on the experience of smaller scale activities that were already underway with the support of In its initial stages, the NMPRP was challenged UNCDF, IFAD and the Viet Nam – Sweden Northern by mismatches between proposed project Mountains Rural Development Project (MRDP). approaches on the one hand and Vietnamese They shared an emphasis on decentralized regulations on the other. The project was slow to SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION PARTNERSHIPS IN INVESTMENTS FOR POVERTY REDUCTION 33 start and for a couple of years there were concerns 135-2, created the experience and knowledge within the World Bank about slow progress, but for a number of reforms which have supported activities took off and the ex-post evaluation and facilitated commune-level management of categorized the operation as satisfactory in terms development activities. of reaching poverty reduction objectives. The Bank and other DP’s policy-based support to Subsequent developments suggest that the Program 135 has been able to consolidate and medium term “prizeâ€? from persisting with early- institutionalize some of the reforms initiated in project problems and through some years of very the earlier community-based projects. However, low disbursements has gone well beyond the despite its many positive impacts, particularly outputs of the projects themselves. Table 3 charts on infrastructure in more isolated regions of the interactions between the CBRIP and Northern Vietnam, Program 135 has proven less effective as Mountains projects on the one hand and changes a tool for piloting further reforms or innovations to the regulatory framework for decentralized, in approach. The second Northern Mountains community-based development on the other. This project is designed to extend the progress that has impact has not been quick – there was a ten year been made in community-based development process from the start of investments to eventual, over the last 15 years or so and provide an nation-wide reform in these areas. However, the instrument for really institutionalizing the role of potential impact of the reforms generated by the commune development budget. the investments is significant in terms of shifting business processes for local development to be Key Lessons and Future Plans more inclusive, more participatory and more accountable. The Northern Mountains and A number of important lessons were learned as a CBRIP projects, along with other donor projects result of Government – World Bank partnerships and with the policy-based support to Program to reach poor and ethnic minority populations Table 3. Evolution of Commune Investment Ownership: From Projects to National Policy 1995-2000 UNCDF Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDEF) introduced commune managed investment budgets for infrastructure in Quang Nam Province 1996-2002 Vietnam Sweden Mountain Rural Development Program (MRDP) introduced commune and village development funds in 64 communes in 5 provinces (Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Ha Giang, Phu Tho & Tuyen Quang) including small-scale infrastructure, agriculture production activities, natural resources management, training. 1998-2004 Tuyen Quang Province assigns the Commune Peoples Committee to act as investment owner under Program 135 (Phase I) in 54 poor communes in the province. Although not part of Program 135 guidelines at the time, Tuyen Quang took on a ‘fence- breaking’ initiative. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION 34 PARTNERSHIPS IN INVESTMENTS FOR POVERTY REDUCTION 1998-2002 Preparation for the World Bank financed Community Based Rural Infrastructure Project (CBRIP) and Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project (NMPRP) as the first Community Driven Development (CDD) projects supported by World Bank in Viet Nam. From the outset, it was agreed the preparation process should be led by the Government, with support from the WB and consultants as required. During this process, it was agreed under both projects the communes should be the investment owners and managers for a portion of the funds. The design of CBRIP drew largely on RIDEF, while the design of the Commune Development Budget Component (CDBC) under NMPRP drew more on the experience from MRDP. 2003 Implementation period of CBRIP (611 communes in 13 provinces) and NMPRP (368 communes in 6 provinces). In the same period, commune and/or village development funds/budgets were also ‘piloted’ by several other donor-supported projects including IFAD projects (Tuyen Quang, Ha Giang, Ha Tinh), GTZ (Action Program 2015), AusAID (in Quang Ngai) and CIDA (in Thanh Hoa). A majority of these projects were working in ‘poor communes’ (remote, mountainous, ethnic minority areas). Together with the later experience from Program 135-Phase II, this meant that a majority of communes working as ‘investment owners’ were disadvantaged communes where capacity was initially weakest – not better-off communes. Of all these donor-supported projects, NMPRP was the only one to introduce official financial management guidelines (Circular No. 90/2003/TT (24/09/2003) issued by Ministry of Finance guiding the financial management mechanism for the Commune Development Budget Component of NMPRP) incorporating specific procurement regulations for Community Participation Procurement (CPP). 2002 - 2007 World Bank commissioned a study on CDD in Vietnam under the Country Assistance Strategy (2003 to 2006) with the intention that the findings would support both on- going and future projects in the rural sector. This study reviewed initial experience with commune/village development funds/budgets as well as experience from Program 135 Phase I. 2006 - 1010 Partnership to Assist the Poorest Comnmunes (PAC) received support from ASEM- EU Grant (managed through IDA). Various thematic research studies, workshops, publications and other activities of PAC were designed to capture and disseminate lessons and experience from the work around commune investment ownership and budget management (e.g. capacity building, procurement methods, operations and maintenance of infrastructure etc.). SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION PARTNERSHIPS IN INVESTMENTS FOR POVERTY REDUCTION 35 2008 Design and implementation of Program 135-Phase II incorporating commune investment ownership for small scale infrastructure (under 3 billion VND). Program of joint donor budget support for P135-II. 2010 In lead up to SEDP 2011-2015: Resolution No.26/NQ-TW (05/08/2008) of the 7th Congress by Session X of the Central Executive Committee on agriculture, farmers and rural areas. 2011 Two regulatory documents issued, both stating that the ‘Commune Management Board for new rural areas is the investment owner for infrastructure in the locality’. Decision No.800/QD-TTg (04/06/2010) of the Prime Minister approving the National Target Program on New Rural Development in the period 2010-2011. Circular No.18/TT-BKH (27/07/2010) of Ministry of Planning and Investment guiding investment management in 11 communes for the scheme to develop pilot models for new rural areas. Pilot activities undertaken in 11 communes in 11 provinces nationwide. Inter-Ministerial Circular No.26/TTLT-BNNPTNT-BKHDT-BTC (13/04/2011) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance, guiding implementation of Decision No.800/QD-TTg (04/06/2010) approving the National Target Program on New Rural Development in the period 2010-2011. The guidelines state that the communes will be investment owners and managers of investments under VND 3 billion, districts for over 3 billion (as under Program 135-II but now applied nationwide). More significantly, perhaps, is that certain key elements of NMPRP experience, in particular, have been incorporated into these guidelines, such as on local procurement methods.7 The Department of Agriculture Economy under MPI has a lead role within MPI for this NTP and contributing to these guidelines, and was also responsible for NMPRP and PAC – thus sourcing the lessons and experience. 7 Procurement under Circular No.26 states that the selection of contractors follows three forms: Community or village groups (the ones who directly benefit from the works) to self-implementing; Artisan groups or individuals who have the sufficient capacity; Through the existing procurement methods and regulations. SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION 36 PARTNERSHIPS IN INVESTMENTS FOR POVERTY REDUCTION through decentralized and community-based for broader changes. approaches. First, and foremost, institutional change takes time, particularly change at the Looking forward, greater emphasis should local level. Projects designed to introduce be given to developing and consolidating new approaches to managing resources often partnerships at sub-national levels to better focus collide with existing legislation, which can take knowledge exchange at this level. A second considerable time to change. Slow start up, as Northern Mountains project will continue to new approaches are reconciled with guidelines apply proven approaches for decentralization and regulations, is inevitable. But far from and empowerment for poor and ethnic minority being negative, however, this can be one of the communities (in the northwest region), while strengths of more innovative project approaches. putting additional emphasis on rural livelihoods The longer time horizon described above charts support and market linkages. A proposed significant and sustainable changes in approaches operation in the Central Highlands would support to local development that are rooted in the early participatory local planning, infrastructure years of these projects. Despite these successes, upgrades, and livelihood strengthening and there are still some remaining barriers to CDD- diversification in districts still facing high poverty type approaches that need to be tackled, and rates in an otherwise rapidly growing regional revisions to the Budget Law are needed for further economy. Both operations will strive to deliver progress. Second, diversity and experimentation their objectives to contribute and complement has had an important role. Ongoing efforts other national programs on poverty reduction for convening a range of actors involved in that the Government is embarking on in the promoting similar approaches, piloting similar recently issued Resolution 80 on Sustainable ideas with slightly different twists and in slightly Poverty Reduction Framework to 2020. different contexts contributed to the momentum SOFT RAIN PENETRATES THE EARTH BETTER THAN A STORM - VIETNAM WORLD BANK PARTNERSHIPS ON POVERTY REDUCTION PARTNERSHIPS IN INVESTMENTS FOR POVERTY REDUCTION 37