Gender and Development

Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of

Loan 1883-VIE: Central Region Livelihood Improvement Project - 2001¹

Background:

Viet Nam is primarily a rural society with 70% of the population living in the countryside. Over the past 40 years, war, firebombing, agent orange, cholera, floods, loss of self-rule, education in a non-native language, and forced settlement have left much of the indigenous population, particularly in upland areas, in absolute poverty. In terms of quality of life indicators, female-headed households suffer the most.

The main occupation of households in upland districts is subsistence agriculture with very little paid agricultural labor. Most households have no livestock (including poultry) to rely upon as a second source of income; therefore, they suffer from seasonal food insecurity and malnutrition. The isolated upland communities do not have access to basic health, sanitation, or education services and lack knowledge of basic hygiene and of how to prevent illness. Clean water supplies are insufficient especially in the dry season. Poor quality water is the main cause of chronic diseases and deaths of children. The communities also suffer from a high level of illiteracy since school attendance is very low due to the opportunity cost of working on family farms. Isolation and poor access make it very difficult for government agencies to assist these communities. Roads and bridges are often impassable in the rainy season. Poor access also constrains the development of better market links and increased participation in the cash economy.

ADB's Central Region Livelihood Improvement Project (CRLIP) is the first major externally supported, integrated socioeconomic development initiative providing social infrastructure and income generating opportunities to upland communities.

CRLIP is a core poverty intervention loan with governance thematic priority.

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Objectives and Scope:

The goal of the Central Livelihood Improvement Project is to assist the Government of Viet Nam to improve the livelihood and quality of life of poor households in four upland provinces: Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, and Kon Tum. The project area includes 10 upland districts that are among the poorest in the country. The target beneficiaries will be about 348,000 people living on 139 communes.

The main objectives of the project are to improve household food security through income generating opportunities and social infrastructure; to develop community capacity to utilize and manage scarce resources; to strengthen the capacity of service delivery institutions; and to transfer project implementation knowledge to provincial staff. The project has the following components.

1. Household Food Security: Initiatives will include upgrading home gardens and improving poultry production along with nutrition training; delivery of improved water supplies combined with improved hygienic practices; and improved seed production to augment food supply
2. Income Generation: Credit and extension services as well as infrastructure development will increase agricultural productivity as a result of improved access to microfinance, new technology, inputs, and markets. Illustrative items to be financed under the microfinance subcomponent will include agricultural inputs, livestock purchase, feed for livestock fattening, fishpond development, agricultural tools, equipment for small-scale agro-processing, weaving and tailoring, and small machinery for maintenance facilities
3. Community Development: Efforts will (i) strengthen the technical and organizational capacity of the selected rural upland communities to enable them to prioritize, plan, and manage their own development activities; and (ii) assist target villages to form community organizations, to strengthen the community planning process, and to provide a resource base for communities to plan, finance and implement socioeconomic development activities. These efforts will assist rural upland communities to identify their needs and problems and will draft village development plans (VDP) which will then be consolidated into commune socioeconomic development plans. In each district one man and one woman will be selected by the community to act as commune facilitators
4. Institutional Strengthening: Initiatives will strengthen the capacity of institutions providing support services to respond to grassroots initiatives so they can deliver improved services to upland communities
5. Project Support: Technical and financial support will be provided for the effective management and implementation of the project

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Framework for GAD Activities:

The socioeconomic studies during project preparation confirmed that women are the most disadvantaged in terms of education and literacy as well as in terms of most of the quality of life indicators in upland communities particularly when a woman is head of the household. Participation by women in community decision-making bodies is also minimal.

The framework for GAD activities in the CRLIP was developed during loan implementation and focuses on three main areas:

• gender-responsive participatory planning at village/commune levels
• gender-sensitive service delivery (i.e. credit, extension, social infrastructure)
• capacity building on gender and development issues at the provincial and local levels

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Gender Inclusive Design and Implementation:

A gender action plan was not developed during loan design although assurances were provided that there would be appropriate representation of women in community mobilization, training, and income generating programs. The gender action plan for CRLIP is not yet developed due to the on-going participatory rural appraisals (PRA) in the project communities to identify gender needs, constraints, and priorities. However, with the active participation of the VRM social development and gender officer in project implementation, gender activities are being planned or undertaken for each component. A gender implementation plan will be developed after the PRA findings are synthesized.

1. Household Food Security: Viet Nam's Women's Union (WU) will assist in implementing the household food security component. Women will be the target beneficiaries of improving home gardens, poultry production, and water supplies as well as nutrition and hygiene training
2. Income Generation: A pilot gender sensitive service delivery (credit, extension, rural infrastructure) module will be carried out in the first 3 years of project implementation with the participation of NGOs and CBOs. Viet Nam WU will facilitate the establishment of savings and credit groups, will provide training in savings and credit methodologies in coordination with Viet Nam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (VBARD), and will facilitate service delivery. At least 70% of borrowers are expected to be women because of the attractive loan design. Loans will not require collateral or be tied to any specific activity and will depend on the individual borrower, the assessment of his/her ability to undertake the chosen activity by fellow group members, and a rapid appraisal conducted by VBARD. The average first loans will be less than $150
3. Community Development: To better understand and meet the needs of the poor, especially of women, a participatory approach was applied in project planning in the first year. The pilot village/commune development plan was carried out in eight communes from four project provinces before broadening implementation to all project communes. The process was documented by Viet Nam television on videotape so that the experience can be disseminated widely as a model on how to use PRA tools in village consultations and how to identify gender needs. As gender concerns and needs are identified by local women, they will be addressed in infrastructure development, village development plans, credit, land use planning, and service delivery activities of the project

   This is the first time PRA tools were used for planning in a loan project and applied on a large scale. It is a challenging task since the project's activities are focused on very poor communities in remote areas with ethnic minority populations . The Project had set a 30% quota for women's participation in planning. Careful selection of PRA facilitators who had past experience working with ethnic minority women and with PRA implementation contributed to the success of gender sensitive planning. Moreover, PRA sessions were held at suitable times and venues which in fact enabled 40% women's participation in the PRA and 50% women's participation in the VDP meetings

4. Institutional Strengthening: During project planning, gender training was provided to a number of service delivery staff at the local level (Bank and extension staff) through capacity building activities under TA 3831: Gender Strategy and Implementation Plan for Agricultural and Rural Development. Gender training will continue to be provided to all service delivery institutions at the provincial and local levels throughout project implementation
5. Project Implementation Support: Project staff are encouraged to learn and to use ethnic minority languages when working with women to make them more comfortable. The project will aim to employ female staff in different levels of project management and in the field. During project implementation, gender capacity building will be provided to project management unit (PMU)staff by a gender consultant to be hired using loan funds. A number of gender-sensitive indicators have already been selected for monitoring women's participation and benefits under the project. WU will participate in monitoring and evaluation activities
6. Assurances: Although a gender action plan was not included, the following assurances were included in the report and recommendation to the President : (i) PMUs will ensure that there is appropriate representation of women from indigenous groups in community mobilization and training programs; (ii) the WU and NGOs will focus on supplying services to indigenous people and women; and (iii) at least 70% of the sub-borrowers under the income generation component of the project will be women

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Guidance on GAD Activities:

The VRM social development and gender officer has been an integral part of loan implementation. During the first year, she facilitated participatory planning to generate village development plans in collaboration with the Viet Nam Gender and Development Center (GENCEN). She also provided the consultants with an orientation on sector-specific gender and development issues and ADB's policy on gender. She will continue to work with the project's gender consultant, community development consultant and sector specialists so that a gender implementation plan with specific activities will be developed for each project component based on needs identified in the PRAs.