In the Heritage Agricultural Village, there are 58 Thai and Muong households. We have established the Dong Rung Cooperative, primarily consisting of these 58 households, with joint investment from Agritage Vietnam.

In the Heritage Agricultural Village, we have transitioned from chemical-intensive farming to ecological farming, saying no to chemicals and creating a living environment in harmony with nature.

In the Heritage Agricultural Village, we have pooled land and resources to build a central area for tourists visiting the village, called Agritage Hill. The locals affectionately refer to this center as Tea Hill because it was originally a hill where 11 households started growing tea 20 years ago. When we began constructing Agritage Hill, the tea hill was severely degraded and eroded, with infertile soil and low productivity. Agritage Hill now features a communal stilt house, bungalows, and basic amenities striving to meet 3-star standards to welcome long-term visitors from afar.

In the Heritage Agricultural Village, nature and cultural exploration tours are organized and standardized to serve tourists with the highest level of professionalism and dedication possible from the mountainous farmers.

Organic agricultural products are produced for tourists and sold through the Dong Rung Van Ho Cooperative. After 5 years of operating the Heritage Agricultural Village, on April 24th, the Cooperative held its annual meeting to summarize business results and distribute profits to members. Cooperative households earned over 460 million VND per year from selling agricultural products and hosting tourists. Additionally, they received profit shares based on their land contributions. Representatives from the four neighborhood groups also received 2023 profits to fund village development and improvement activities.

Despite many challenges, the Heritage Agricultural Village model and the residents of Buot village are gradually becoming more adept and proactive in their business activities. 

TABA and the villagers dream of turning the village into a must-visit destination for tourists, creating more well-paying jobs for the local youth. It’s that simple!

Join TABA in the Heritage Agricultural Village project!

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.

Since 2019, when the project “Promoting gender equality through improving economic efficiency of agricultural production and tourism development” sponsored by the Australian Government was implemented in Son La, people have been trained and educated. create and continue to plant rice.

Phát triển nông nghiệp di sản từ gạo Tẻ Râu (youtube.com)

Up to now, farmers have had a bumper crop, good quality and a consumer market. Fields growing non-bearded rice have also become places to visit, exchange, and learn from experiences. From this rice variety, people started plans and strategies to develop heritage agriculture and agriculture associated with tourism, in order to retain beautiful stories about the life of the poor but colorful village.

The project was implemented by the Northwest Development Cooperation Center (TABA) from November 2021 to April 2022, with sponsorship from the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF). Up to now, this model is still being maintained and developed by TABA with the goal of continuing to create an impact on the locality and contribute to adapt to climate change.

Watch the video to listen with us to part of the journey of converting a bare hill due to monoculture farming into a forest garden!

Video by: Le Courrier du Vietnam

“When I visited Phụ Mẫu village in Chiềng Yên commune, I had the opportunity to tour Mr. Khải’s orange garden. My first impression was one of amazement at its scale and beauty. Mr. Khải, a passionate farmer, chose a different path to realize his dream: organic farming.

His orange garden is now seven years old. He purchased it and began converting it to organic farming over the past three years. Throughout this time, with perseverance and continuous research, he has applied organic farming methods, using homemade preparations: nutrient solutions (from fish, snails), fruit juice, calcium solutions, and homemade biological pesticides for orange cultivation. Hearing him enthusiastically share about his learning process, implementation, and subsequent adjustments to suit the local climate and soil conditions, I could see his determination to achieve wealth through sustainable agriculture.

The result is a garden that not only avoids pests but also produces high-quality oranges, ensuring the health of his family and the community. This further deepens my admiration for his vision and dedication.

Looking at the heavy-laden orange trees, I couldn’t help but ponder how one person can sow seeds of trust and hope into this land and subsequently reap the rewards of patience and hard work. Each orange is not just a product of cultivation but also a symbol of willpower and the desire for a healthy life.

Mr. Khải’s orange garden is not only a workplace but also a source of inspiration for those wishing to change traditional agricultural production methods towards a more sustainable future. I left the orange garden with many reflections and inspiration, wondering what I could do, even in the smallest way, to contribute to this change.”

During the workshop, the Mầm Market information portal and the Women Entrepreneurs Club were introduced to provide attendees with a clearer understanding of the upcoming activities within the initiative. Additionally, representatives from the cooperatives expressed their challenges and sought assistance from the Mầm Market in their production activities. At the conclusion of the workshop, representatives from the Northwest Cooperation Development Center and the Women’s Union of Lac Son signed a cooperation agreement to jointly implement the initiative, demonstrating their commitment and determination for long-term success.

On March 14, 2024, the Northwest Cooperation Development Center, along with the residents of Sung Village, Da Bac District, Hoa Binh Province, had the honor of welcoming a working delegation from the U.S. Embassy for a visit, tour, and cultural experience.

Ms. Dinh Thi Huyen, Director of the Center, introduced the advantages and challenges in collaborating with the residents of Sung Village to operate and develop the community tourism business model in Sung Village, Cao Son Commune, Da Bac District, Hoa Binh Province.

Mr. Matthew Stannard, Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, expressed his joy and excitement at being warmly welcomed by the residents of Sung Village, who showcased traditional music and culinary specialties of the Dao ethnic group, reflecting the rich cultural values preserved by the local people.

This activity is part of the U.S. Embassy’s program in Hoa Binh Province from March 13 to March 15, 2024.

Below are some quick updates in pictures from our classroom atmosphere.

Below are some images capturing the training process:

This contributes to enhancing the competitiveness of local agricultural products and increasing income for people involved in production.

Below are some images from the training session: