Foreword

he primary objective of both the Government and the United Nations System in Viet Nam is to eradicate hunger and reduce poverty. This common goal enables a successful partnership dialogue in identifying ways to effectively assist people get out of poverty in a sustainable manner. How can we achieve this: we strongly believe that the best way is to develop the capacity of local rural leadership and to ensure people's participation in the planning and implementation of rural development projects.

Learning by doing is a traditional and successful methodology of Vietnamese people to gain new knowledge and to adopt to new technology. This is also the approach that we, UNDP and UNCDF, are promoting in several provinces of Viet Nam in poverty reduction projects: Local leadership and communities learn and apply the participatory methodology through processes of planning, designing, constructing and maintaining of small scale rural infrastructure schemes that actually help them improve their lives.

More importantly, upon the request from the Government, UNDP and UNCDF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), are aiming to introduce the positive results of the participatory planning process into the national poverty reduction programmes, in particular, the Programme to Assist the 1715 Most Remote and Disadvantaged Communes.

Edouard A. Wattez
UNDP Resident Representative
UN Coordinator
Viet Nam