[Vnbiz] Fatherland Front helps fight inflation

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear Craig,

This is a very good piece of writing.  I have realized for a long time
that Vietnam ARD (agriculture and rural development) suffers serious
planning.  In the sectors where we have major exports, like coffee and see
products, there appears to be good planning and coordination, thanks to the
strong economic stimulation and direct involvement of large exporting
players. Rice appears to have some good coordination, thanks to the
strategic priority its has in the government's agenda.  But for thousands of
other products and services, Vietnam truly has a free market without vision,
coordination and leaders.

This issue has come up again and again for more than a decade.  On the one
hanm the government can't do and shouldn't do much "planning."  Farmers
still remember the bad old days and are paranoid everytime they hear about
"planning" or "cooperative" (hop tac xa) from the government.  The solutions
appear to be in the CSO (community service organization), but how to help
farmers organize their CSO is something else.  Some years ago, I have some
intensive discussion with the leadership of MARD about cooperatives.  MARD
at the time had some international grants to help farmers form their own
cooperatives, but my feeling at that time was that these programs didn't
have much impact (mostly they provided more income for MARD personnel).

I have the feeling that the problem of ARD is much deeper than an
organizational issue (i.e. deeper than whether we can establish CSOs in
villages).  The ancient social structure of the village was replaced by the
government's political structure for many years.  All ancient trace has
disappeared a long time ago.  And the village's government structure
today has shrunk down its duty--it no longer covers any economic and social
activity, only administrative and security.  And even in it shrunk-down
role, the village's government structure has lost much of its moral
authority (due to, of course, rampant corruption and incompetency).  So we
have a disintegration of the village's coherence.  The fabric of the village
life is being worn down quickly, so to speak.  That disintegration of the
village fabric makes organizing CSOs a very difficult job, because the
natural sense of "being together" is not there in the village anymore.

As I observe the country folks in the US for example, rural life in the US
have also faced tremendous changes as the US grows.  Technology and economic
waves have swept through the American countryside and put tremendous waves
and waves of pressure on the American farmers.  But the American rural
fabric has withstand these attacks rather well.  So what helped the US
countryside?  I think that is the churches.  Churches are the centers of the
American rural life.  Governments come, governments go, technology comes
technology goes, depression comes depression goes, but the church building
is always there as the heart and soul of the village.  There villagers
gather at least once a week to be together, to say hello to each other, find
comfort and support in each other, to share the common experiences though
good times and bad times.  The church keeps the village in one piece, rain
or shine, wet or dry.  This is true not only in the US but also throughout
the Western world and Japan.

Vietnam did not have the benefit of the church/and temple.  Traditionally,
Buddhist temples were not much of a social hub (they tried to be away from
social life instead).  The Catholic church is a very strong social hub, but
it is a minority and in most of the time it was heavily politicized until it
is greatly discredited in recent times.  Cao Dai temples and and Hao Hao
temples are indeed very good social hubs, but they are such a minority.
Protestant is a new minority.  The traditional social hub of the village
(cai dinh) and all the social structure it stood for has disappeared a long
time ago.  So we have have some kind of social vacumm.  This vacuum takes
away the feeling of "being together" in the village.  And that makes the
effective organization of modern CSOs difficult.

So you all understand why in my thinking religious organizations  play such
a major major major role in the national development.  In any event,
difficult or not, we need to figure out ways to help establish rural CSOs as
a major strategic thrust in rural development.

Have a great day!

Hoanh


On Sun, Apr 6, 2008 at 12:46 AM, Craig Stevenson <cstevenson2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
> Hi All:
>
> Some writing below:
>
>
> Generally were one to describe the state of Agricultural and Rural
> Development in Vietnam, it would be characterized to stand in some starker
> contrast to broader societal advancement and common acknowledgement of
> Vietnam's success in progressing the socio-economic development of its
> people.  This success is a trend, as averages where indicators go, but it
> cannot be forgotten that rural populations in Vietnam suffer across a broad
> range of measures relative to urban populations.  This stands despite some
> large success where national policies and programs have led to important
> agricultural improvements in Vietnam as it is a large producer of numerous
> commodities; rice, coffee, and pepper to name a few.
>
> The agricultural sector is plagued by low levels of investment in
> technology, inadequate access to modern techniques and a range of other
> issues which inhibit the quality of much of Viet Nam's agricultural
> production. From this, prices suffer in world, and even domestic, markets.
> Lacking needed technology for processing, preservation and cold storage,
> Vietnamese farmers are further burdened by the inadequate development of
> rural infrastructure.  In such a situation inefficiencies cause spoilage
> and wastage while failure to employ better techniques causes the quality,
> size, and uniformity of produce to be less competitive against more well
> funded and coordinated competitors. Add to this the new commitments Vietnam
> faces related to WTO membership, and heightened competition within the
> agricultural sector raises questions as to security in livelihood for a
> large percentage of the nation's population.
>
> ARD remains an important factor in the overall development of the country
> as 73% of Vietnam's population can be found in rural areas along with 56% to
> 70% of the nation's workforce, dependent upon how measured. In many ways
> Agricultural and Rural Development should remain the primary priority of all
> stakeholders who seek for the stable sustainable development of the country.
> With Vietnams growing integration into the world trading system, it would be
> thought that many of the nation's comparative advantages would tend to be
> found within rural sectors of the economy.  However, multiple issues
> inhibit the realization of those advantages. For example, despite some
> wealth in variety of climates, more than 9 million farmers remain
> underutilized and landless. Even where land has been transferred to farmers,
> much of it that has remains highly inefficient.  The inefficiency of
> available land is further exacerbated from the practice of delivering land
> to farmers in small plots. This implies the resulting inability to
> efficiently apply new techniques and use technology for the distribution of
> patches across some regions.
>
> Recently it was announced that Donors would begin to withdraw ODA from
> ARD. Rather it is foreseen that FDI will be effective for contributing to
> the development of the agricultural sector as agreed in the CPRGS dialogues
> with Donors. It would seem that this will ultimately place small farmers at
> some disadvantage. For this reason, it would seem that rural people are
> likely to suffer associated social and environmental strains as often stems
> from increased FDI in ARD. In such an environment CSOs may be essential
> toward mitigating negative impacts where national strategy may not directly
> align with the needs and livelihoods of the rural poor. With capacity
> development for all local actors, greater support needs to be provided for
> those farmers most likely to be negatively impacted with a refocusing of ARD
> strategy toward FDI as ODA lessens.
>
> CSOs are an important part of the international aid architecture and
> provide an important voice for aid effectiveness. They are one of the
> pillars of good governance and have a role in providing the effective
> delivery of development programs and operations. Also, they have a role in
> the social empowerment of particular groups and the realization of h-r. CSOs
> act as donors, channels of assistance, grassroots actors, and as watchdogs.
> CSOs can improve services through an h-r approach and empower local people
> to more usefully engage in the development of their communities.  CSOs
> should be seen as constructive for aiding in the attainment of agreed
> poverty reduction and growth strategies.
>
>  In Vietnam, CSOs are gaining attention in society as they seek to act
> within the "birdcage" allowed by official policy; a "birdcage" that defines
> space for CSO activities in respect to the changing implementation and
> interpretation of relevant laws and decrees.  Over the past several years
> there has been an explosion of VNGOs and CSOs. Estimates range up to 10,000
> such organizations, hundreds of associations. However it is important to
> remember that all such organizations need to be formed under the auspices of
> state, or para-state, organizations, with the acceptance of local
> authorities. Therefore CSOs play only a limited role, at present, in the
> formation, implementation, monitoring and supervision of donor funded* *rural
> development projects. The close nature between official acceptance and local
> power structures ensure a current state of Civil Society very much beholden
> to preservation of the status quo. For many external observers this may be
> seen to inhibit independent actors as can be envisioned by commonly held
> definitions of terms elsewhere. However, the more important issue for CSOs
> and other 3rd Sector actors is alignment of activities to serve the
> important national strategies that have been created. Of course, to enrich
> the development, implementation, supervising, and evaluation of the dialogue
> and to add more robustness to current practices, recognition and voice at
> the grassroots is essential.
>
>  Currently, the important roles that Mass Organizations play in the
> socio-economic development of the nation, under the banner of the Fatherland
> Front, cannot be underestimated. The strength of these organizations
> implies a large degree of downward and upward accountability for CSOs and
> VNGOs within society and under governmental, or para-state, institutions.
> Such accountability speaks to some degree of difficulty between small
> community based actors and the monolithic Socio-Political Mass Organizations
> which are more clearly, but not fully, integrated within state policy
> development mechanisms. Often overburdened local government staffs wear
> multiple hats in local institutions. From this overburdened staffs often
> lack both the interest and capacity to ensure smooth relations between
> different local actors. Passivity on the part of local officials and,
> perhaps, their lack of trust in the utility of more independent development
> actors, further inhibits the impact CSOs can have in serving their
> communities effectively.  Of course, policy mechanisms such as the
> financial management system at the local level and the giving and receiving
> mechanism in relations with the national government only complicate matters
> further.
>
>  To round out the context of CSOs a discussion of the legal context of
> associations is fruitful.  With state institutions improving in measures
> of transparency, responsibility and efficiency more remains to be improved.
> As the socio-economic development of the nation results in more complex
> relationships it should be understood that a diverse and active Civil
> Society plays a central role in the stable sustainable development of the
> nation.  More attention needs to be provided toward framing the exact role
> of CSOs, relative to national law and implemented policy, such as those on
> association. To realize the benefits of a healthy and dynamic Civil Society,
> a more consistent system for implementing laws and regulations needs to be
> established. In enabling local people to more effectively contribute to the
> collective development of the nation, local farmers will be more able to
> preserve the rich cultural heritage and diversity of the Vietnamese people.
>
>
> CS
>

-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
Washington DC
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