[ingodirectors] Briefing on the Consultative Group Meeting 2012 + INGO Statement

[Marko Lovrekovic]

Dear INGO colleagues:

The Consultative Group (CG) Meeting between the Government of Vietnam and
Development Partners took place on Monday 10 December 2012 with the focus
on Vietnam’s sustainable growth. Development Partners pledged 6,485 million
USD for Vietnam’s development agenda in 2013. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung attended the first part of the meeting and updated participants on
Vietnam’s performance in 2012 and the Government’s policy directions for
2013. In addition to a dialogue on macro-economy, the CG agenda included
the following topics: Education and Skills; Revision of the Land Law;
Report from Anti-Corruption Dialogue, Report from Aid Effectiveness Forum
and a new format of CG meeting in 2013. CG participants agreed on the
evolution of the CG into the Vietnam Development Partnership Forum from
next year. The INGO representatives delivered two statements that have been
well-received; supported by Development Partners; and acknowledged by CG
co-chairs during their closing remarks. They only had a few minutes to
speak about INGOs' recommendations, so they focused on key messages for
each theme. Please see a full version of the written INGO statement
(attached), which was distributed to CG participants during the meeting.
Below is a summary of what the INGO representatives said at the CG meeting:

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INGOs' (verbal) statement on Education (by Ms. Kim Ninh, The Asia
Foundation Country Representative):

Education and human resource development is an area where international
NGOs have worked in for decades in Vietnam to contributed to the country's
development. An effective and expanded education system is important not
only for the country’s sustainable economic growth but also one of the best
ways to address social inequality in the long term. Based on the INGOs’
experience in the education sector over the year, we would like to
emphasize the following points and recommendations:

1. Further reform of technical and vocational training system is urgently
needed, and we concurred with other development partners’ emphasis on a
more market oriented approach. A few years ago The Asia Foundation
conducted a vocational training assessment in the province of An Giang, and
we found that a) too many agencies were involved in vocational training; b)
these training programs did not have any interaction with businesses in the
provinces; and c) businesses themselves indicated that they would rather
employ untrained workers and train them directly rather than having to undo
badly trained workers. Given our discussion this morning regarding the
state of vocational training system in Vietnam, I do not think the
situation in An Giang has changed significantly. Rather than simply
focusing at the national level, however, I want to emphasize that there are
changes that can be done at the provincial level that would bring immediate
impact.

2. The second point we would like to raise is on the adoption of new
education methodologies. INGOs have long worked with local authorities to
improve access to and quality of education for disadvantaged and ethnic
minority children. Child centred methodology, second language teaching
methodology, and practical models of bilingual education have been piloted
and tested by INGOs. Given that many ethnic minority children learn
Vietnamese as a second language, these education methodologies have proven
effective in increasing not only their ability to learn Vietnamese but also
to learn in general. Given Vietnam’s interest to improve children’s
learning over all and second language acquisition such as English, these
methodologies can also be used to the benefit of Kinh Vietnamese children
as well. The challenge is how to aggregate these successful experiences at
the local level and scale up across the country.

3. The third point we would like to raise is to urge the government to have
a careful balance between national standards and space for local
adaptations. A single textbook and curriculum does not reflect the lives
and experiences of children from different regions and ethnic backgrounds.
Local adaptation and creativity is critical for improved learning.

INGOs will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Education, the
Ministry of Labour, education experts and local authorities toward the goal
of an effective and expanded education system for all.

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INGOs' (verbal) statement on Land Law Revision (by Ms. Le Kim Dung, Oxfam
Associate Country Director):

The revision of the Law on Land (2003) is clearly a critical step the
Government is taking to address land issues. INGOs very much welcome the
Government’s commitment to the principles of transparency and
accountability. To effectively respond to the range of challenging land
issues, the revision of the law would benefit from being informed by the
experiences and aspirations of people.

INGOs such as Oxfam have been supporting a series of grassroots
consultations on the draft revised Law on Land, in partnership with the
National Assembly Institute for Legislative Studies, mass organizations and
NGOs. The grassroots consultations consider the experiences, issues and
recommendations of small scale farmers, poor and marginalized households,
women-headed household and ethnic minorities. The consultations in
particular consider issues in relation to land planning, land use change,
forest land for ethnic minority, land pricing, land recovery, compensation
and resettlement.

Informed by our experiences in communities across Vietnam and feedback from
ongoing grassroots consultations, international NGOs would like to make 3
main recommendations:

1. People, communities and their representative organizations must be given
a stronger voice and role in land use and management. The revised law needs
to increase transparency, access to information and enhance participation
of people and communities in land-use planning. Community participation
must be guaranteed in land conversion and land acquisitions on the basis of
the principles of free, prior and informed consent. Concrete mechanisms to
enable effective community participation should be clearly stated.

2. Customary practices in land and forest management and use are critical
for ethnic minorities - not only for livelihoods but also spiritual and
religious practices. Communities have demonstrated that they are good
custodians of forests. The provisions for collective and customary land use
and management practices of ethnic minorities must be better recognized in
the law. The various purposes of forest land, including spiritual and
religious, need to be more recognized.

3. Make progress in and disclose the ongoing review of the current use,
productivity, employment, social functions and sharing of benefits from
agricultural and forest land controlled by state farms and state forest
enterprises. Agricultural land and forest land from under-performing
state-owned enterprises should be reallocated to support poverty reduction
and local rural development, with special considerations for land-poor and
landless households, especially ethnic minorities.

We would very much welcome the Government’s response on how these
recommendations could be taken into consideration.

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Please allow me to use this opportunity and thank all of you who
contributed to a successful completion of the INGO statement -- by
providing valuable inputs, comments and suggestions.

Kind regards,

Marko
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Marko Lovrekovic, Managing Co-Director
VUFO-NGO Resource Centre
La Thanh Hotel, 218 Doi Can
Hanoi, Vietnam
Mobile: +84 904 191 871
Phone: +84 4 3832 8570
Email: director at ngocentre.org.vn
Web: http://www.ngocentre.org.vn
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