The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Vietnam has retained a strategic focus different from other international organisations in the world: Participatory planning; increasing the capacity of poor rural people to participate in local decision-making processes; decentralization and community-driven development; increasing the assets of poor communities; and support for small-scale infrastructure.
This focus is improving access to markets; promoting private-sector growth; and delivering services for market-oriented poverty reduction. At the same time, IFAD mainstreams poverty-focused, market-oriented approaches and methodologies in rural, public-sector institutions.
To date, IFAD has completed several projects in nine provinces: Rural Income Diversification Project (RIDP) in Tuyen Quang Province directly benefiting 49,000 households; Ha Tinh Rural Development Project directly benefiting 84,000 households; Ha Giang Development Project for Ethnic Minorities directly benefiting 34,000 households; and Agricultural Resources Conservation and Development Project in Quang Binh Province directly benefiting 65,000 households. Several ongoing projects include Project for the Economic Empowerment of Ethnic Minorities in Poor Communes of Dak Nong Province; Programme for Improving Market Participation of the Poor (IMPP) in Ha Tinh and Tra Vinh Provinces; Decentralized Programme for Rural Poverty Reduction (DPRPR) in Ha Giang and Quang Binh Provinces; Developing Business with the Rural Poor Programme (DBPR) in Ben Tre and Cao Bang Provinces. These projects are bringing in specific results and receiving positive feedback from authorities at all tiers and rural people.
To accelerate and contribute to poverty alleviation in Vietnam, in February 2011, at the IFAD headquarters in Rome (Italy), the Government of Vietnam and the IFAD signed an agreement on implementation of “Tam Nong support project” in Tuyen Quang, Ninh Thuan and Gia Lai provinces. (Tam Nong means agriculture, countryside and farmers). Accordingly, from 2011 to 2015, IFAD lent Vietnam a total of US$48.35 million to carry out the project. This is the IFAD’s biggest finance for Vietnam to date. At present, the project is being executed with the overarching target of sustainably raising living standards of minority households. In August 2011, the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment and the IFAD Office in Vietnam organised a conference assessing the implementation of approaches to pro-poor public-private partnership programme through IFAD projects and building project development plans for the 2013 - 2018 period, with 11 provinces and cities in the country being beneficiaries.
Ms Atsuko Toda, IFAD Country Programme Manager in Vietnam, said: “The development of a pro-poor public private partnership framework aims to generate sustainable access to markets, create jobs and increase income for local people. In the coming years, IFAD pledges continued support for development of agricultural skills and knowledge of poor rural people (especially women, young people, vulnerable groups and small households) in Vietnam, considering it a very important issue to enhance dynamism, innovation, sustainability and prosperity, strengthen measures of insurance intervention for the poor and vulnerable groups, encourage micro-finance programmes, speed up agricultural research and development investments, and provide safe and efficient networks to improve nutrition in rural areas.
IFAD will help Vietnam to search for forms of agricultural growth to contribute to continued poverty reduction, manage risks of food price fluctuations, and ensure food security. IFAD constantly learns to raise the knowledge of poverty reduction and agricultural development tasks in Vietnam and strengthen cooperation with stakeholders at central and local levels for the joint purpose of poverty reduction in Vietnam.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a specialized agency of the United Nations, was established as an international financial institution in 1977 with 165 member states from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), developing countries, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). IFAD is dedicated to developing and investing in projects to help the poor in rural areas to cultivate and sell foodstuffs, and raise incomes. Since 1978, IFAD invested more than US$12 billion in non-refundable projects and soft-loan projects in developing projects, helping over 360 million people overcome poverty.
Nguyen Mai
Vietnamese
