Despite worries over
the increase in the consumer price index (CPI) and the impacts of the global
economic crisis, it is believed that Vietnam will reach its target of
reducing 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 of
the National Targeted Programme for Poverty Reduction between 2006 and 2010 on
Oct. 2.
After three years of operations (2006-2008), the programme has made it easier
for poor people to access more of the allocated resources, which has helped to
reduce the number of poor households from 22 percent in 2005 to 12.1 percent in
2008.
The yearly poverty
reduction rate of 2.6 percent reached during this period surpassed the targeted
2 percent per year, according to the review.
The review also
pointed out the shortcomings during the programme implementation, including
weak links between target setting, budgetary planning, monitoring and
evaluating as well as overlaps with other poverty reduction projects.
The review put
forward short-term and long-term recommendations, to both improve the current
national programme and to set up poverty reduction programmes in the
future.
These included more efficiency, and
introducing a result based management approach to planning, budgeting and
monitoring.
The review also
suggested focusing future poverty reduction programmes exclusively on the
poorest areas of the country and developing tailor-made packages based on
locally identified needs to address poverty more effectively.
It also recommended
building an overall and comprehensive social welfare policy, simplifying and
harmonising the number of poverty reduction policies and programmes that exist,
as well as introducing new methods of delivering support that targets poverty.
According to the
MoLISA Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Hoa, the review is an important basis for
poverty reduction operations during the 2011-2020 period.
The next stage
should comply with the Government’s plans to combine poverty reduction with the
development of rural areas, ensuring social welfare and providing vocational
training for rural workers, the deputy minister said.
Sharing the same
view, UNDP Deputy Country Director Christophe Bahuet said that the review will
contribute to helping Vietnam
define a more suitable and effective poverty reduction strategy.
He also confirmed
the UNDP’s commitment to work together with the Vietnamese government and other
international partners to draw up a sustainable poverty reduction programme for
Vietnam./.