INGO Forum Meetings 2008

  • INGO Forum Meeting on “Vietnam’s Macro-economic Turbulence” and "Consultation for the Mid-term Consultative Group Meeting”
    Friday, May 30 from 15.00 – 17.00,
    NGO Resource Centre, 218 Doi Can, La Thanh Hotel, Building. F1, Hanoi

    Background
    In extension of the February INGO Forum meeting, which focused on Vietnam's changing development context and the presence and aid effectiveness of donors and INGOs, the May INGO Forum meeting  focussed on changes in Vietnam's macro-economic situation and the implications for Vietnam's future development.  UNDP Senior Country Economist Jonathan Pincus made a presentation on 'Vietnam’s Macroeconomic Turbulence: Causes & Challenges,' which related to his contribution to the recent study: 'Choosing Success: The Lessons of East and Southeast Asia and Vietnam’s Future -  A Policy Framework for Vietnam’s Socioeconomic Development, 2011-2020', under the Harvard University, Harvard Vietnam Program.

    Following the presentation by Jonathan Pincus, there was a discussion relating to input for the INGO statements for this year's Mid-term CG meeting, including: recent socio-economic developments (macro-economic developments, revised plan priorities and impacts on poor and disadvantage people, including corruption, recent food price surge etc.), Vietnam Business Forum, climate change issues (national action plan, coordination across government etc.), and northern mountain provincial development and aid effectiveness. The draft ideas on INGO interventions were sent out to members on May 28.

    The meeting finished with a brief update by the NGO RC on: i) the recent Member and User Survey; and ii) recent developments in relation to Personal Income Tax (PIT).

    Agenda

  1. SPECIAL PRESENTATION - Vietnam’s Macroeconomic Turbulence: Causes & Challenges
    Jonathan Pincus, UNDP Senior Country Economis.
  2. MID-TERM CONSULTATIVE GROUP MEETING – Discussion of INGO statements on this CG meeting's agenda including
  3. NGO RC UPDATE
  4. NGO RC SURVEY – Feedback on the survey recently conducted by the NGO RC and responses to recommendations and suggestions by members and users of the centre.
  5. PERSONAL INCOME TAX (PIT) -  Update on latest developments
  6. AOB
  • INGO Forum Meeting - Friday, February 28, 2008
    “The Changing Development Context, Donors Presence, Aid Effectiveness and INGOs”
    Friday, February 28 from 15.00 – 17.00 hours, 218 Doi Can, La Thanh Hotel, Building. F1, Hanoi

Background
Since Doi Moi, when Vietnam first began to introduce market reforms, the country has had a very impressive economic growth record, and the overall achievements in tackling poverty issues have been remarkable. The poverty rate has been dramatically reduced from 53 per cent in 1993 to below 19.6 per cent in 2006.

Continued high economic growth remains a top priority for the Government of Vietnam (GOV), the aim is to accelerate the annual GDP to between 8.5 to 9% in 2008 (Prime Ministers speech at Consultative Group Meeting in December 2007), and for Vietnam to become a middle-income country (MIC) by 2010, and industrialised country in 2020.

However, pockets of poverty throughout the country still present significant challenges, with higher rates occurring in the north-west and central highland region, where high concentrations of ethnic minority groups live. But also other and new groups of poor and vulnerable groups are faced with challenges including children, women, people with disabilities (PWD), people living with HIV and/or AIDS (PLWA), migrants, disaster-prone communities, and communities impacted by environmental pollution and degradation etc. Meanwhile, governance issues and environmental challenges are becoming increasingly critical in ensuring sustainable development.

It is likely that Vietnam will achieve it's goal of becoming a MIC by 2010, two years from now. This will lead to changes in the presence of donors and the ODA support to Vietnam. Sweden, is the first donor to have announced that it will enter into a phase out  program from 2009 and beyond.

Meanwhile, donors and the GOV have been upscaling the aid effectiveness agenda in Vietnam during the past years through the Partnership Group on Aid Effectiveness (PGAE). These efforts resulted in the Hanoi Core Statement (HCS), a localised statement of the Paris Declaration,e ndorsed in 2005 by GOV and the donor community. The HCS was developed by the PGAE, and was endorsed at the Mid-term CG Meeting in 2005, and approved by the GOV in September 2005. The HCS comprises 28 Partnership Commitments, 14 indicators and 5 guiding principles, the HCS calls for changes in the behaviour of both donors and government towards aid effectiveness agenda.

The changes in the development context, donors presence, and the increasing GOV and donor aid effectiveness efforts raises a number of issues for INGOs, how will the focus and role of INGOs change, how will the funding for INGOs changes, and what how does aid effectiveness relate to INGOs.

Up to 2007, the INGO support to poverty reduction and development has continued to grow. In 2007, there were up to between 500-600 INGOs, implementing a variety of development programmes in all sectors and provinces of the country, with a total contribution of US$220 million (PACCOM figures). The total budget is expected to raise up further to US$250 in 2008.

Some INGOs have started to revise their strategies for Vietnam taking the changing context into consideration. Some INGOs and Vietnamese NGOs have started to pay increasing attention to the issue of aid effectiveness in general. This resulted in the establishment of the Aid Monitoring Group (AMG) in 20071.

However, the question of how aid effectiveness relates to INGOs is still to be discussed more broadly in the INGO community.

This INGO forum aims to address some of the issues and questions relating to “The Changing Development Context, Donors Presence, Aid Effectiveness and INGOs”

Meeting agenda
1) NGO RC UPDATE - by the Co-Director(s)

  • UN-EU Cost Norms
  • PIT
  • INGO representatives to the Steering Committee

2) BEYOND 2010 – Perspectives on the Changing Development Context, Donor Presence, and relation between the World Bank and INGOs by Martin Rama, Lead Economist, World Bank Vietnam.
Followed by discussion on perspectives for changing donor presence and INGOs.

3) AID EFFECTIVENESS, Government, DONORs and INGOs – Introduction to the Partnership Group for Aid Effectiveness (PGAE), Government and Donor aid effectiveness efforts and preparations for the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. (HLF 3), to be held in Accra, Ghana in September 2008 by Cao Manh Cuong (MPI), Coordinator for the PGAE.
Followed by discussion on perspectives for Aid Effectiveness and INGOs

4) AOB