Accountability
Poverty reduction strategy process and national development strategies in Asia: Vietnam country study
How Vietnam achieved growth and poverty reduction
Authors:
J. Pincus; N. Thang
Publisher:
Governance and Social Development Resource Centre , 2004
This study suggests that through assignning a high priority to poverty alleviation, the Government of Vietnam have been able to link poverty reduction to growth, long before the advent of the PRSP. The authors argue though there is still room for policy reform, they have been successful in mapping out the general direction of change of their own accord and have taken concrete steps towards realising their objectives in terms of poverty reduction and social welfare. In as much as Vietnam is still a poor country, it is neither aid dependent nor highly indebted.
The paper draws out some of the conditions that have influenced this advance to include:
- Vietnam's growth and poverty reduction record, combined with the country's manageable external debt and healthy export growth, afforded the government an unusual degree of bargaining power vis-à-vis the multilateral organisations.
- the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS) process in Vietnam was an unprecedented attempt to improve the quality of national planning and to focus on the related objectives of economic growth and poverty reduction.
- donors and international Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) united behind the process as a mechanism to increase accountability and transparency, to enhance aid co-ordination and to improve linkages between macro-policy and poverty reduction goals.
- the process introduced a number of innovations, including participatory poverty assessments and local consultations, explicit targets and formal monitoring and evaluation systems.
- it also introduced government-donor-NGO fora to exchange information and intensify the policy dialogue and collaborative planning mechanisms at the central level.
