How Can the Implementation of Grassroots Democracy Help the

Poverty Reduction Strategy in Vietnam?

by Trinh Duy Luan
Director, Institute of Sociology,
NCSSH (National Centre for Social Sciences and Humanitities)

December 2001

Localized Poverty Reduction in Vietnam

A Program to Build Capacity for Policy Assessment and Project Planning
Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency
and coordinated by
The National Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi and
the Centre for Human Settlements, Vancouver

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 Abstract:
This report is an overview of the Grassroots Democracy Decree (GDD) of 1998 and its constraints. It looks
at the results of its implementation over the last 3 years and suggests points of discussion for how the DGD
can better support the poor and the poverty reduction program.

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 HOW CAN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY HELP THE
POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY IN VIETNAM?

Trinh Duy Luan

Institute of Sociology

I. The Decree 29/1998/ND-CP on Grassroots Democracy (DGD)

1. The DGD issued on May 11, 1998 has been implemented nationwide during the last three years. It
has become a large political and social movement in the whole country, especially in rural
communes. The main objective of the Decree is to improve local governance. The main approach
is to let "People know, people discuss, and people supervise" the activities of the local government
in order to mobilize active participation of people in social, economic, and political processes at
grassroots level, and to change the working style of the local government, thereby reinforce the
political system and make it more effective.

2. DGD requires that the political system at commune level ensures broad-based grassroots
democracy measures, especially that:

! People are fully informed about land use planning, the commune socio-economic development
plan, the commune annual budget and expenditure, socio-economic programs and projects
implemented at commune level. These are supported by the central government or other donors,
people's contributions, supervision and investigation of people's complains and way to address
them, etc.

! People participate in discussion of issues such as commune budget revenue and expenditure,
construction of infrastructures, supervision and people's complains.

! People are encouraged to participate directly or through elected representative individuals or mass
organizations to control, supervise, and monitor activities of the local government.

II. Results of DGD implementation during the last three years:

! DGD implementation has received strong support and it has generated positive political attitudes
from local people.
! DGD implementation has raised awareness among local cadres and people about democracy in the
social and political life of the commune. The commune cadres become "closer" to the people, are
known more by the people, and are "supervised" more by the people.
! DGD implementation has involved people more in discussion of economic development plans,
especially in the area of rural infrastructure construction. Thanks to the people's participation, the
people are more willing to contribute to the common goods and it becomes more of a voluntary
nature.
! Results of the latest study (November/2001) show that:

Majority of respondents (72%, N=1500) confirmed that during the last three years they were more
informed and consulted with about the commune affairs as well as participating more in the
commune affairs than before.

III. DGD implementation for the poor and opportunities for poverty reduction

• The poor have more opportunities to access information about the poverty reduction program,
credit, and projects supporting the poor. In the cited study, the proportion of respondents
knowing about these is highest, 87%, compared to only 20-30% knowing about other issues.
22% of the respondents, many of who are poor, not only know but also have opportunities to
participate in discussing the issues.
• Mass organizations and local associations are encouraged to participate in supervision of
implementation of policies and programs/projects, including the poverty reduction policies
and policies supporting social welfare groups and disadvantaged groups.

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 • DGD has created favorable conditions to promote and support further participation of the
local people, especially the poor, and extend poverty reduction activities at commune level.

IV. Constraints of DGD:

" Implementation of DGD has been still strongly in top-down manner.

" Provision of information has been stressed at the expense of creating favorable conditions for
promoting participation. Implementation has been stressed at the expense of participation.
" Socio-economic participation has been emphasized at the expense of political and managerial
participation.
" It remains too general, not taking into account differences and specificities of regions and target
groups. There is no specific target and indicators as well as methods to assess its effectiveness.
" Lack of long-term road map.
" General knowledge base of people in many regions is still low, especially the poor, and they have
not had enough knowledge and skills to participate and to make full use of their rights and
responsibilities that DGD has brought for them.
" The poor have not been the main priority group of DGD. Therefore, the poor have not been able to
benefit from DGD as well as other more advantaged social groups.

V. Topic for discussion: How to make DGD support better the poor and the poverty reduction
program?

" Living standards and general education have been improved, but there is still low awareness of
legal and social issues. What specifically should be done to raise awareness of legal and social
issues to ensure more effective implementation of DGD?

" What solutions would help to make DGD more bottom-up? What activities would increase people
understanding, legal knowledge, and participatory skills of people?

" Develop operationalized objectives of a long-term road map to implement DGD.

" Consider the poor as a priority target group in implementation of DGD. In implementation of
DGD, there should be requirements to listen to the poor, and specific requirements that local
cadres work more closely with the poor.

December 2001