My Thuan Bridge built with Australian assistance

Australia has a large program of assistance in the southern provinces of Vietnam, reflecting the geographic priority of the Mekong Delta in the Australia-Vietnam development cooperation strategy (the Mekong Delta and the Central Coast are the two geographic regions of priority in the country strategy) as well as the strategy's emphasis on improving productivity of the rural poor.

 

Building on previous successful activities in the water sector, Australia is currently active in water supply and sanitation in seven provinces of the Mekong Delta. Australia also works in An Giang province in support of flood control, environmental improvement and community development.

 

Australia's water-related assistance aims to improve health by increasing access to clean water and sanitation, and to mitigate the impact of floods, drought and storms while Australian support includes the provision of infrastructure and equipment, our activities emphasise the provision of technical assistance - expertise and ideas to help build capacity of Vietnamese counterparts.

 

Australia is also a strong supporter of microfinance in Vietnam. Australia is currently providing assistance to the Capital Aid Fund for Employment of the Poor (CEP) to increase its financial services outreach from 23,5000 clients to 39,000 clients, covering all 22 rural and urban districts of Ho Chi Minh City. The project also aims to assist CEP to become a demonstration model of a successful microfinance institution for replication in Vietnam.

 

Australia has completed and published a detailed analysis on poverty in the Mekong Delta, to help inform current government and donor activities and to improve the effectiveness of future interventions in the Mekong Delta.

 

Australia has completed the Binh Thuan Education and Teacher Training (BETT) project which has strengthened capacity of approximately 350 teachers. The child-centred teaching and learning methods have been applied in 25 schools in Binh Thuan province. More than 50 schools received supplies of teaching materials, equipment and classroom resources, 15 classrooms have been furnished and equipped to operate as a model school for in-service teacher trainees.

 

Australia has also completed the Upstream Bank Protection (UBP) Project, a program of survey and monitoring to confirm the integrity and performance of the riverbank protection system completed in 2002 upstream from the My Thuan Bridge. The bank protection works included a permeable groyne field involving 12 rows of driven concrete piles in the river to protect the north bank and a revetment field to protect the south bank. The program also strengthened the capability of the Vietnamese Management Authority to monitor the bank protection works and determine future maintenance needs.

 

-Cuu Long Delta Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program (A$39 million, 2001 - 2007): providing improved water and sanitation services, including construction of water supply and latrine facilities for households and schools, and solid waste disposal and drainage facilities, to 300,000 rural poor in the Mekong Delta provinces of Long An, Vinh Long, Ben Tre, Kien Giang and Bac Lieu. 100,000 people from three district towns will also benefit from water supply and sanitation services (toilets, drainage and solid waste.

 

-Three Delta Towns Water Supply and Sanitation (A$80 million, 2001 - 2008): aims to improve the welfare of the residents of the townships of Bac Lieu, Ha Tien and Sa Dec by rehabilitating and extending the towns' water supply and sanitation systems, and to develop the capacity of local institutions to manage these systems on a sustainable basis. Particular focus is placed on access to improved infrastructure by the poor and by minority groups. Around 280,000 people in the urban and peri-urban areas of the 3 towns will directly benefit from the project. The total project cost is approximately A$80 million jointly funded on a 60 per cent - 40 per cent basis by the Australian and Vietnamese governments respectively.

 

-North Vam Nao Water Control Project (A$38 million, 2002 - 2006): providing opportunities to increase agricultural production through disaster mitigation (flood control) and integrated water resource management in An Giang. The project involves the rehabilitation and construction of a system of culverts and sluice gates. Farmers will be able to diversify their production income and move to higher value crops. Landless farmers will benefit through a substantial increase in employment opportunities arising from increases in cropping intensity.

 

Separate from, but complementary to AusAID's programs in Vietnam, the Australian Consulate-General also runs a small Direct Aid Program (DAP) to fund small-scale health care, sanitation, education or environment projects in poor communities. This year, some examples of DAP funded-projects are: construction of classrooms, provision of clean water supplies, and provision of medical and dental equipment in remote and poor rural communities.