Despite worries overthe increase in the consumer price index (CPI) and the impacts of the globaleconomic crisis, it is believed that Vietnam will reach its target ofreducing the poverty rate to 10-11 percent by 2010.
Representatives from the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs(MOLISA) and UNDP revealed this at a meeting to release a mid-term review ofthe National Targeted Programme for Poverty Reduction between 2006 and 2010 onOct. 2.
After three years of operations (2006-2008), the programme has made it easierfor poor people to access more of the allocated resources, which has helped toreduce the number of poor households from 22 percent in 2005 to 12.1 percent in2008.
The yearly povertyreduction rate of 2.6 percent reached during this period surpassed the targeted2 percent per year, according to the review.
The review alsopointed out the shortcomings during the programme implementation, includingweak links between target setting, budgetary planning, monitoring andevaluating as well as overlaps with other poverty reduction projects.
The review putforward short-term and long-term recommendations, to both improve the currentnational programme and to set up poverty reduction programmes in thefuture.
These included more efficiency, andintroducing a result based management approach to planning, budgeting andmonitoring.
The review alsosuggested focusing future poverty reduction programmes exclusively on thepoorest areas of the country and developing tailor-made packages based onlocally identified needs to address poverty more effectively.
It also recommendedbuilding an overall and comprehensive social welfare policy, simplifying andharmonising the number of poverty reduction policies and programmes that exist,as well as introducing new methods of delivering support that targets poverty.
According to theMoLISA Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Hoa, the review is an important basis forpoverty reduction operations during the 2011-2020 period.
The next stageshould comply with the Government’s plans to combine poverty reduction with thedevelopment of rural areas, ensuring social welfare and providing vocationaltraining for rural workers, the deputy minister said.
Sharing the sameview, UNDP Deputy Country Director Christophe Bahuet said that the review willcontribute to helping Vietnam define a more suitable and effective poverty reduction strategy.
He also confirmedthe UNDP’s commitment to work together with the Vietnamese government and otherinternational partners to draw up a sustainable poverty reduction programme for Vietnam. /.
