Context
Viet Nam has developed into a lower middle-income country with high economic growth; it aspires to become an industrialised country by 2020. The national poverty rate has been reduced from 53% in 1996 to 7.8% in 2014. However, this success needs to be seen in relative terms, as the poverty threshold has been set too low. Meanwhile, regional and social disparities threaten the sustainability of poverty reduction. The country must overcome some enormous sociopolitical challenges if it wants to make sure the whole population shares in the benefits of economic growth, and if the distribution of wealth is to be sustainable and equitable. In addition, the social protection system must respond to the effects of a slowdown in economic growth, as well as to climate change, pandemics, demographic changes and migration.
With Party Resolution No. 15 on social policies for the 2012-2020 period, the government underlined the increasing significance of social protection. However, the existing systems do not yet address the specific needs of an emerging economy. The department responsible for social protection, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), does not possess adequate capacities at either national or local levels to effect the necessary reforms.
Objective
The conditions needed to successfully develop and implement a comprehensive system of basic social protection for particularly vulnerable population groups have been improved.
Approach
The project gives technical, strategic and methodological advice to MoLISA. It conducts training measures and provides funding for seminars, studies, PR activities and, to a lesser extent, for materials and equipment. The main focus is on delivering basic social protection for population groups particularly threatened by poverty. These include elderly people, people with disabilities, children, women, unemployed people, migrants, ethnic minorities, and people working in the informal sector who are unable to insure themselves against risks. The project cooperates with the Social Protection Department and the Institute of Labour, Science and Social Affairs (ILSSA).
In selected provinces and districts, the project is advising and training the staff of the ministry’s subordinate authority. They are learning how to manage the mechanisms of social transfer more efficiently, how to calculate financial needs and, above all, how to assess the needs of the recipients of social transfer services more effectively. The authority’s staff are managing a pilot project for social transfers to population groups that are particularly at risk of poverty, and they are evaluating the results.
In a further measure, the project is promoting the exchange of experiences and the formation of networks between national and international research institutions.
Results achieved so far
The results of a case study on social protection for elderly people, and of education and sensitisation measures carried out in cooperation with the international non-governmental organisation, HelpAge, are helping to close the knowledge gap with respect to old age pension provisions, while building awareness for the potentials and problems this target group represents.
A handbook published by MoLISA provides a comprehensive description of Viet Nam’s current social protection system and makes this information available to a wider audience.
Innovative mechanisms have been devised and successfully tested for making social transfers to selected target groups. A model for making transfer payments through post offices was incorporated into the Party Resolution No. 15 on social policies, and in the recommendations on implementing the resolution. The World Bank and UNICEF have also included this model in their programmes.
Aided by the advisory services provided by international experts, MoLISA has, in a process-oriented manner, developed and expanded a management information system that is adapted to specific Vietnamese conditions.
The project has made a key contribution to the formulation of Party Resolution No. 15, which is the central reference document for social policies in Viet Nam.
Coordination and communication between the ministry and the development partners has been improved through information and dialogue events.