Implementing Agency:
Department For International Development (DFIDSEA)

Managing Institute:
Actionaid UK

Contractor:
OXFAM

SCF UK Vietnam

Project Code: 186-508-002	Start Date: 01/04/1997	End Date: 31/03/2002
Commitment: £5,754,000	Status: Current	Type of Funding: Bilateral - TC

Project Background:
The North Central region is one of the poorest in Vietnam. Within the region Ha Tinh is the poorest Province with a GDP per capita of US$110 (1994), less than half the national average.

The key immediate constraints that poor people face in Ha Tinh are access to capital and credit, a poor natural resource base aggravated by a harsh climate, inadequate infrastructure and poor protection against climatic hazard. In addition, public services are underfunded, poorly managed and constrained by centralised systems of finance and control. The programme will develop solutions to these problems that can be replicated elswehere. The programme will use a process approach and the monitoring and evaluation systems will produce information that will be used to improve as well as report on impact.

The components of the programme are based on the analysis done by AAV, Oxfam and SCF with the primary stakeholders of the causes of poverty. Through supporting NGOs working with commune, district and provincial level organisations to address poverty directly, the programme will (i) identify weaknesses in government structures and services and attempt to address these through practical interventions at the local level: (ii) use the data collected to promote province wide interventions; and (iii) inform national level programmes and policies designed to tackle poverty.

Project Objectives:
Poor people in Ha Tinh Province benefit from sustainable economic development and lessons learned from the programme being applied elsewhere.

District and provincial authorities and other development organisations apply lessons learned from innovative poverty projects being run in Ky Anh, Cam Xuyen, Can Loc and Thack Ha Districts.

Intended Outputs:
Successfully implemented credit and savings components supported and preparations made for scaling up impact throughout and beyond the Province.

A ramge of projects that protect the livelihoods and raise the agricultural productive capacity of the poor and, where appropriate, create employment opportunities for the poor, successfully designed and implemented.

Innovative approaches to sustainably improving the lives of poor children are successfully piloted.

Methods for extending the experience of NGOs within programme districts and to other districts in the Province and beyond are established.

Institutions strengthened and capacity built within specific programme components.