With funding from Care International in Vietnam, the Northwest Development Cooperation Center (TABA) implemented the project “Supporting ethnic minorities in the resettlement areas of the Da River hydropower plant to increase their participation in the planning and implementation of local socio-economic development plans.” The project was carried out over one year, from November 2013 to October 2014, in Da Bac District, Hoa Binh Province.
Da Bac is one of the two poorest highland districts in the mountainous province of Hoa Binh. It is home to ethnic minorities such as the Tay, Muong, and Dao, who resettled to make way for the construction of the Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant since 1979. Over more than 30 years of resettlement, these ethnic groups have continued to face challenges and difficulties. To help reduce poverty among the ethnic minorities in the district, it is necessary to increase the direct participation of the people and community organizations in the planning and implementation of local socio-economic development plans, in addition to charitable activities and direct funding.
To achieve the goal of “increasing participation in the planning and implementation of local socio-economic development plans” for the people and government of Hien Luong Commune, the Northwest Development Cooperation Center has outlined specific objectives:
- Raise awareness about grassroots democracy ordinances and train skills (monitoring, giving feedback, decision-making, etc.) for community organizations and people in Hien Luong Commune, Da Bac District, Hoa Binh Province.
- Create opportunities for the people to exercise their rights to “know, discuss, act, and supervise” and support the Hien Luong Commune government in implementing accountability, increasing transparency in the management and implementation of socio-economic plans and projects through policy dialogues.
- Contribute opinions and build recommendations to send to the People’s Committee of Da Bac District and Hoa Binh Province to replicate the model throughout the district.
To achieve these objectives, the Northwest Development Cooperation Center – TABA coordinated with the Da Bac District People’s Committee to carry out the following key activities:
- First, the Northwest Development Cooperation Center conducted a series of activities to raise awareness about grassroots democracy rights for the people and government of Hien Luong Commune: surveying the area, disseminating materials, and training for commune officials, community organizations, and residents.
- Next, the Northwest Development Cooperation Center coordinated with the Hien Luong Commune People’s Committee to organize community meetings and policy dialogues to give people the opportunity to contribute opinions and directly participate in the implementation of the local socio-economic development plan.
- Finally, the Northwest Development Cooperation Center summarized the project and compiled recommendations into documents such as reports, manuals, and models as a basis for the Da Bac District People’s Committee to apply and replicate the model throughout the district.
The project has achieved positive results, creating many positive changes in building democratic governance in Hien Luong Commune, Da Bac District, Hoa Binh Province, and contributing to the socio-economic development of the locality:
- More than 80% of the people in Hien Luong Commune and community organizations, and the Hien Luong Commune project monitoring committee have been empowered to exercise grassroots democracy rights and participate in the decision-making process and implementation of local economic development activities.
- Created practical opportunities for people to participate in the decision-making process and implementation of poverty alleviation projects in the commune in 2013-2014; the Hien Luong Commune People’s Committee disclosed information and listened to people’s opinions about the plan and implementation of the commune’s poverty alleviation projects in 2013-2014.
- Modeled the project activities and compiled project documents to make recommendations on the effectiveness of the project to local authorities to replicate the project model.
TABA is delighted that the project has received support and collaboration from organizations, units, and individuals. Although it has not yet addressed all the difficulties in Hien Luong Commune, we believe that this foundation has helped the people and the government find a common voice and gain the necessary knowledge and skills for building and developing their locality.
During the one-year project implementation, TABA completed three phases with specific activity groups as follows:
Phase 1: Raising awareness about grassroots democracy: Helping people understand their rights and responsibilities in planning and implementing, while also helping the commune government improve management and administration capacity according to democratic principles, leveraging the power of community solidarity.
- Activity 1: Surveying the project area on grassroots democracy implementation and people’s participation in the planning and implementation of local socio-economic development plans.
- Activity 2: Transferring and printing project documents.
- The documents include: the process of implementing grassroots democracy in communes, wards; skills for monitoring infrastructure construction projects; skills for monitoring local production support projects; the process for communities to evaluate public services of local authorities; the process for dialogue with the community on the implementation of socio-economic programs.
- Activity 3: Capacity building training for community organizations and commune monitoring committees.
- Organized eight training sessions, helping 28 officials from community organizations (farmers’ association, women’s union, veterans’ association, youth union) and the Hien Luong Commune project monitoring committee to improve skills in implementing grassroots democracy ordinances in communes and wards.
- Organized 21 skill classes on project monitoring; the process of implementing grassroots democracy ordinances… organized proactively by the community with financial and technical support from the project. Provided knowledge and skills to 420 people in 7 hamlets of Hien Luong Commune.
- Activity 4: Supporting the community in organizing capacity-building training sessions for participating in the planning and implementation of local socio-economic development plans.
- The project allocated a budget of 2,000,000 VND per training session to support hamlet leaders in coordinating with Women’s Union officials and project monitoring committee members (who participated in the source training sessions) to organize training sessions and disseminate learned knowledge to the people.
Phase 2: Implementing practical activities to apply grassroots democracy knowledge in Hien Luong Commune: organizing policy dialogues, collecting feedback to build the 2013-2014 socio-economic development plan for the commune:
- Activity 1: Organizing community meetings to collect feedback on the socio-economic development plan for Hien Luong Commune.
- Organized two meetings to collect feedback from the people on the dialogue topics and guide participation and organization methods before each policy dialogue (the people were involved in monitoring).
- Activity 2: Organizing policy dialogues.
- Organized two policy dialogues to publicly disclose information about the process and results of implementing the 2013 socio-economic development plan for Hien Luong Commune.
- Organized one meeting between community representatives and local authorities to contribute opinions and discuss the development plan for Hien Luong Commune’s 2014-2015 socio-economic program (the people were involved in building the plan).
- Activity 3: Surveying and evaluating the changes before and after the project implementation for the Hien Luong Commune community in Da Bac District.
Phase 3: Project summary – Documenting knowledge, skills, and experiences – Modeling the project for replication throughout Da Bac District:
- Organized one workshop to introduce the project model to the Da Bac District People’s Committee, Hoa Binh Province People’s Committee, and media units in Hoa Binh Province.
- Compiled a set of project documents, including four types of manuals, to send to local authorities. Printed 400 copies of manuals on skills for participating in local economic development activities.
- Systematized project activities into one model, sent to local authorities as a basis for project recommendations.
After one year of implementation, the project has achieved significant positive results, creating many positive changes in building democratic governance in Hien Luong Commune, Da Bac District, Hoa Binh Province, and contributing to the socio-economic development of the locality.
