Danish Government Adds Aid for Vietnam

The five-year programme started in late 2006 and will end in late 2011. Danish support is part of a US$125 million tripartite programme funded by Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands to Vietnam. Denmark contributed US$66 million to the programme - a fundamental change from the traditional project-based support to demand-driven approach. The overall objective of the assistance programme is "to improve living conditions and health of the poor in rural areas, including ethnic minorities, through provision of clean water, improved hygiene, environmental sanitation and environmental protection.” The programme consists of two components: With the major one being the National Target Programme II for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (NTP II) and the second being water resources management support.

 

The support programme is divided into two phases. The first pilot phase covers nine provinces of Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Ninh Thuan, Phu Yen, Tra Vinh and An Giang. The second three-year phase will cover nationwide if the Vietnamese Government and donors report optimistic assessments on the programme. In addition to helping Vietnam to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in water, sanitation and environment, the assistance programme also supported Vietnam to improve the quality of achieved results by giving emphasis to the importance of certain NTP II principles in the process of implementation, like highlighting sanitation issues, shifting from target-driven approach to demand-driven approach, decentralising management and execution powers, and underscoring issues related to operation and maintenance of water supply and sanitation works. After five years, the programme is expected to support approximately 3.2 million people to access water sources and improve hygiene practices. More than 10,000 toilets in schools and working offices will be built and 700,000 households will have standard toilets.

 

Vietnam is believed to be one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and it is facing a series of existing challenges in connection with climate change like rising sea water level, water resource impacts and capacity building issues. Supporting Vietnam to deal with these problems is the highest priority of the Danish Government. Denmark has supported the Vietnamese environmental industry since 1997, and is assisting Vietnam to cope with global warming and to increase energy efficiency. The European nation was the first donor for Vietnam’s National Target Programme to Respond to Climate Change with a total grant of US$40 million for 2009 - 2013. The programme includes two components. The climate change adaptation component will support the National Target Programme for Climate Change Response undertaken by the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment at the national level, and specifically in two provinces that are very vulnerable to climate change, namely Ben Tre and Quang Nam. The objective of this component is to enhance Vietnam’s capacity and efficiency in responding to climate change in order to ensure sustainable development, protect people from its harmful consequences, and prevent and reduce risks posed by climate change while joining the efforts of the international community to mitigate its impacts and protect the global climatic system. The climate change mitigation component supports the Vietnam Energy Efficiency Programme under the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The objective is to assist the improvement of energy efficiency in Vietnamese enterprises and contribute to sustainable development as well as a low carbon economy. In March 2011, Denmark signed an agreement to extend the research cooperation programme for another three years (from 2011 to 2013) with a total grant of US$8 million. This programme will finance climate change response research programmes. Vietnam is the unique Asian country to benefit from this Denmark-funded programme.

 

Denmark signed an agreement to fund US$13.3 million to the Good Governance and Public Administration Reform Programme from 2007 to 2011. The programme aims to enhance good governance and administrative reforms at the provincial level and to build the capacity of academia in human rights education and research. The programme is divided into two pillars, one supporting the implementation of public administrative reform at the provincial level and the other supporting good governance efforts in the National Assembly and human rights education in research institutions and universities.

 

The programme is being implemented in the four provinces of Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Lai Chau and Dak Nong in order to reduce bureaucracy, to strengthen capacity among civil servants, to introduce modern management systems, and to improve the quality of public service delivery, monitoring and evaluation. Regarding the good governance pillar, the programme promotes new partnerships between Vietnamese and Danish institutions, including the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Danish Parliament on one hand, and the Law Faculty of the Vietnam National University (VNU), the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law and the Danish Institute for Human Rights on the other. According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment, with the support of the Danish Government, the good governance and public administration reform programme will help Vietnam gradually complete institutions, enhance capacity and awareness of Vietnamese managers and researchers in the process of national construction and development, and contribute to expanding effective cooperation between Vietnam and Denmark.

 

In the coming year, Denmark will continue giving priority to supporting public governance, judicial and legal reform, enhancing lawmaking, fighting corruption and strengthening civil organisations in Vietnam.

 

In the past years, Denmark has funded several education projects in Vietnam like “Environmental education in Vietnamese universal schools” project; “Cooperation in environmental science between Aarhus University and Can Tho University” project; and “fine arts support at primary schools” project. In five years, from 2006 to 2010, Denmark together with the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training implemented the first phase of the “fine arts support at primary schools” project and is carrying out the second phase of the project from 2011 to 2015. After the first phase was completed, a number of core teachers had been trained and become lecturers to train primary arts teachers in Vietnamese provinces and cities. In September 2009, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with the Danish Education Minister in Denmark and expressed his hopes that Denmark would strengthen cooperation with Vietnamese universities. Right after that, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training signed a memorandum of understanding with Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College to launch joint training programmes between Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College and Vietnamese universities. The Hanoi-based Foreign Trade University is the sole university in Vietnam to carry out the cooperation programme with Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College of Denmark.

 

Denmark has also actively supported Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through the Business to Business (B2B) Programme and the Business Sector Support Programme. Especially, the Danish Government has recently granted non-refundable aid of US$23 million to the Business Sector Programme Phasing-out Support in the 2011 - 2013 period. The programme aims to strengthen the competitiveness of Vietnamese growth- and export-oriented enterprises and create decent jobs.

 

With their great effects, Danish aid programmes are helping Vietnam to realise many national target programmes.