Gender and Development

Vietnam

Second Red River Basin Sector Project, 2001

The Second Red River Basin Sector Project, approved in 2001, aims to (i) improve agricultural performance of poorer communities of the Red River Basin (covering 25 provinces in Northern Vietnam) through improved water-related infrastructure and sustainable water resources management; and (ii) promote stakeholder participation with the emphasis on that of women. Its primary objective is to achieve poverty reduction, and its secondary project classification is to promote gender and development.

The Project has key two components:

• Part A - Water Resource Management has key four components, i.e. capacity building of the Red River Basin Organization; public awareness programs; pilot water licensing system; and water quality monitoring network.
• Part B - Water Service Investment Subprojects will comprise three types of subprojects - delta irrigation and drainage, upland irrigation and watershed protection, and flood protection. Each type of subproject consists of two distinct but interlinked subcomponents: (a) small-scale water-related infrastructure and (b) rural development support (RDS) activities.

The RDS adopts a similar scheme to a commune-managed social fund. Communes within the subproject area will apply for RDS funds allocation for agricultural-support activities that they think would be crucial in complementing the improved water-related infrastructure services. The potential activities include: reforestation, agriculture extension, participatory irrigation management, training for microcredit, skills development training.

As one of the first full-fledged integrated water resources management projects financed by ADB, the key challenge during the preparation of the Second Red River Basin Project was to ensure that the Government and ADB have the shared understanding of the nature and importance of 'non-infrastructure' components, such as RDS, community-based planning and training components that are geared towards poverty reduction. Besides regular tripartite meetings to discuss the project preparatory technical assistance report, additional three stakeholder workshops inviting broader range of stakeholders such as NGOs and donors were held jointly by ADB and the Government primarily to discuss how to make the project more poverty-focused and gender responsive.

In the meantime, gender-specific water-related issues in the Red River Delta have been identified through household surveys and focus group discussions. In the uplands, it was identified that women bear higher burden of poverty than men do due to heavy workload and their multiple roles, and that women's representation in formal decision making bodies was very limited. In the lowlands, the gaps between the high representation of women among the pump operators (70 percent) and the low representation of them among the decision-making bodies (e.g. management at irrigation and drainage companies, water user associations) were pointed out. In general, the linkage between poor water quality and women's health (e.g. skin diseases, reproductive tract infection), strong demand for safe drinking water among women, and lack of women's representation in water-related decision making at all levels were identified.

Subsequently, ADB and the Government jointly developed a project-specific Gender Action Plan, which has the following features:

Basic Principles

1. Equal project benefit and opportunity sharing between men and women
2. Systematic attempts to reduce gender inequalities in the project areas
3. Targeted approach for women of ethnic minorities
4. Collection of gender disaggregated data including BME
5. Organizing women as part of social mobilization process
6. Mainstreaming gender beyond RDS (e.g. civil works employment)
7. Increased representation of women in decision-making bodies at all levels

Part A - Water Resource Management

Capacity Building for Red River Basin Organization

• Gender sensitization training
• Female staff's participation in training.

Public Awareness Programs

• NGOs with good GAD record to be hired to organize women groups;
• Gender and environment/hygiene/water rights issues in IEC materials

Pilot Water Licensing System

• Female staff's participation in training

Water Quality Monitoring

• Baseline surveys to establish impact of water quality on women's health

Project Management Support

• A gender and hygiene consultant to be hired.

Part B - Water Service Investment Subprojects

Upland Irrigation and Watershed Protection

• Women's needs to be addressed and women consulted separately and jointly during the subproject social assessment (subproject selection criteria);
• RDS Committee at commune to have minimum 40% representation of women;
• Especially for watershed protection activities, a detailed gender analysis and women's needs assessment

Delta Irrigation and Drainage Systems

• Women's needs to be addressed and women consulted separately and jointly during the subproject social assessment (subproject selection criteria);
• RDS Committee at commune to have minimum 40% representation of women;
• Where Participatory Irrigation Management is introduced, minimum 40% representation of women in the new WUG

Flood Protection

• Women's needs to be addressed and women consulted separately and jointly during the subproject social assessment (subproject selection criteria);
• RDS Committee at commune to have minimum 40% representation of women;
• Preferential labor opportunity for poor women;
• Women's participation in resettlement planning

Project Management Support

• A social development specialist and a gender and ethnic minority specialist
• Male and female community mobilizers for RDS

Research Studies

• Gender-disaggregated data collection

Implementation Arrangements

Gender specialists for various components will be hired to implement the Gender Action Plan. It was also agreed that sufficient budget will be allocated to gender-related activities, while these provisions were reflected in the Loan Agreement. For further subproject appraisal document, the inclusion of specific gender provisions in the document is one of the selection criteria. Further, a grant finance from RETA 5889 was utilized to further identify specific gender needs and issues of ethnic minority groups as well as to refine the initial designs in both uplands and lowlands though extensive consultation with women.