Community Development among Ethnic minorities in Northern Vietnam

Community Development among Ethnic minorities in Northern Vietnam

Project period: September 2005 – March 2010

Project Area: Hoa Binh, Son La, Dien Bien, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and Lai Chau provinces in the northwest of Vietnam

Budget: USD 1,900,000

Donor: Danida

Partner Organization: Vietnam Farmers' Union

Result of the Action

The project aims to train people to collaborate, discuss and share opinions through structured training exercises. Then after the training the villagers are encouraged to form community development groups. The village group takes initiative to new activities according to the needs of the community, they are expected to communicate the needs to local authorities and they are supporting the members in agricultural production, food-security and marketing of their products. The target is to train 18.000 farmers through an adopted FFS approach, whereas app. 12.000 has been trained already. Half of these has been trained in combined community development/ livestock FFS and the other half in community development/ agriculture FFS. Further to the direct training of the 18.000 farmers, the rest of the population in the villages will have access to the village planning meetings and the improved extension service on agriculture, forestry, small livestock and vaccinations for pigs and poultry.

The topics to discuss at the village meetings will vary from village group to village group, but usually the groups focus on marketing and business opportunities. After maturing the groups will discuss more community development related topics e.g. health, nutrition, education of children, community facilities e.g. schools, roads, wells etc., new laws or regulations, irrigation systems, agricultural production, forest management.

ADDA's Role and Its Degree of Involvement in the Action

ADDA is the lead manager, and the project is implemented in collaboration with the People's Committee in project provinces, the Vietnam Farmers' Union and Danish Forestry Extension. ADDA is fully involved in all actions of the project in terms of planning, implementation, monitoring, supervision, and financial management.