National Poverty Reduction Strategies Fund

TA 4644: Support to Thua Thien Hue and Quang Tri Provinces for Formulating Sustainable Poverty Reduction and Growth Performance - Viet Nam
Financed by the Cooperation Fund in Support of the Formulation and Implementation of National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS)

Project Summary

This TA aims to help the Thua Thien Hué and Quang Tri provinces in Viet Nam to strengthen their capacity to formulate and implement provincial poverty reduction and growth programs. These programs need to be developed in a way to integrate the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy and the government's Socioeconomic Development Plan (SEDP). The lessons learned and results of the TA will feed into the annual CSP update for Viet Nam.

More specifically, the TA will help the provincial people's committees (PPCs) and the provincial departments of planning and investment to:

1. conduct a policy and institutional analysis of Thua Thien Hué and Quang Tri to identify and address bottlenecks in resource flows and service delivery
2. implement the SEDP at a provincial level, particularly in preparing annual socioeconomic development plans, taking into account gender and ethnic dimensions, and formulating targeted programs for the poor and vulnerable
3. conduct sector studies to identify investable projects, considering opportunities offered by the East-West Economic Corridor and Lao-Bao economic zone, Hué economic zone (under construction), and the deep-water port
4. identify project and program financing alternatives (including from the state, private, and foreign resources)
5. train government officials in strategic planning and results-based management

Major outputs includes:

1. detailed analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the context of fast but sustainable socioeconomic development
2. quantitative poverty analysis to identify trends and characteristics
3. introduction of a participatory poverty and governance assessment, based on interviews and discussions (report card) with local people and officials at selected communes
4. institutional analysis and a study report on selected sectors (e.g., agriculture crop diversification, SMEs)
5. results-oriented poverty reduction program for Quang Dien district in Thua Thien Hué and for selected communes in mountain districts of Quang Tri
6. on-the-job training of provincial leaders and government officials and academic institutions in concepts and methods in the above analytical studies
7. training modules and seminar proceedings on strategic planning and results-based socioeconomic development management

• TA Report