Poverty Action Program 2015 - Vietnam (AP 2015)

The “Poverty Action Program 2015” (AP 2015) for the Focus Country Vietnam is to be seen as part of the German contribution to the implementation of the “Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy” (CPRGS) on the national and (in particular) on the decentralized and local levels. The overall goal of the AP 2015 is to strengthen the collaboration between stakeholders of the German Development Cooperation and stakeholders in selected partner countries in their joint efforts to reduce extreme poverty to half until the year 2015. In Vietnam, the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS) was approved by the Prime Minister in May 2002. Its implementation is a major challenge for involved government bodies and civil society in the years to come. Targets on the national (macro) level include the improvement of framework conditions and the harmonization of sectoral approaches for an ecologically sustainable and socially balanced economic growth. Targets on the decentralized (meso and micro) levels include the strengthening of capacities of local institutions and beneficiary organizations with the aim to actively involve them in the implementation and poverty impact monitoring of projects under the umbrella of the CPRGS. On the local level, this process is also meant to strengthen “Grass Roots Democracy.” Partner: Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), CPRGS-Secretariat Additional Partners: Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), People’s Committees and Technical Departments in selected Provinces and Districts Location: Hanoi, Son La, Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh, Dak Lak and other selected provinces Contribution: € 2.22 million Commencement: 2002 Background The Federal Government of Germany has supported the participatory formulation of the CPRGS and the initial steps of its implementation by a number of programs and projects in the major fields of German development assistance. With the AP 2015, additional funds are made available by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) to further “mainstream” the focus of poverty-related impacts of these programs and projects and implement specific support activities for the decentralized implementation of the CPRGS in close association with ongoing GTZ projects and their Vietnamese counterpart structures. Objectives Since the year 2002, the AP 2015 in Vietnam supports the CPRGS implementation both on macro and decentralized levels in the form of three projects. As from 2002, the project 'Poverty Implementation Fund, Focus Country Vietnam' (PN 2002.2091.3) aims at improving the co-ordination among Ministries involved in the CPRGS, as well as between the national and the provincial levels. As from 2003, funds were made available for a number of additional activities: The project 'Social Security for poor Population Groups' (PN 03.3504-2-019.00) mainly aims at improving framework conditions on the macro level with some pilot implementation activities for vulnerable social groups. The project 'Poverty Impact Monitoring, Implementation of MDGs, poverty- and gender-orientated Budget Planning' (PN 03.3504-2-018.00) is targeted at micro level (selected districts, communes and villages) to develop models and implement pilot activities with direct beneficiary participation of the poor population. Target Groups Direct beneficiaries of the AP 2015 are poor families, women, men, youth and children in the selected villages and communes of the provinces of Son La, Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh, Dak Lak, as well as other vulnerable groups (e.g. handicapped) in urban areas, such as Hanoi. They benefit through improved targeting of the CPRGS 'roll out' on decentralized levels due to stronger demand-oriented and gender specific programming. Based on expressed local aspirations and needs, the program supports a process in which planning, implementation and monitoring of poverty-related activities are truly 'owned' by the beneficiaries. On a pilot and modeling basis, the program also provides local development funds which are directly managed by local communities. Capacity building is targeted also to “intermediaries” of the process, such as involved government bodies, mass organizations, vocational training centers and other groups of civil society. Implementation Apart from a direct support to the CPRGS Secretariat within MPI, which is charged by the Government of Vietnam with the co-ordination of the CPRGS, other program activities are implemented in close association with ongoing GTZ-supported projects and their Vietnamese counterpart structures. The major implementation components of the program include: Implementation Components Vietnamese Partner (associated GTZ project) Son La - gender activities, commune budgets, grass roots democracy, village development funds -- DPI and Vocational Training Centre Son La (SFDP) Thanh Hoa and Dak Lak - village development funds -- DPC Thuan Xuan (Thanh Hoa) - DPC Mad Rak (Dak Lak) (REFAS ) Quang Binh - gender activities, village development funds -- PPC Quang Binh (IFSP, SMNR-CV) Dak Lak - VDP, village development funds -- DPI Dak Lak (RDDL) Hanoi and selected provinces - gender activities, poverty impact monitoring, village risk cover funds, social security mechanisms -- MOLISA (GTZ-MOLISA) Hanoi - social security for the handicapped -- VIETCOT (GTZ-VIETCOT) Hanoi and selected provinces - vocational training, support to vulnerable groups -- MoE (GTZ-BBPV) Address of the Program Office: GTZ Office Hanoi 6th floor, Hanoi Towers 49 Hai Ba Trung Hanoi, Vietnam Tel. +84-4-9344951 Fax +84-4-9344950 E-mail: wiemer@ap2015-vietnam.org nha@ap2015-vietnam.org