Millennium Development Goals in Vietnam

Rice fields, Sapa, Vietnam © Piet van der Poel

Vietnam has the remarkable record for a developing country of achieving the first of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - halving poverty over the period 1990-2015 - more than a decade in advance. According to the most recent progress report published in 2005, the percentage of households below the poverty line (assessed as the cost of adequate food plus non-food essentials) fell from 58% in 1993 to less than 24% in 2004, whilst extreme poverty (food costs alone) dropped from 25% to below 8%.

Although no formal sources of more recent date can be traced, it is generally accepted that this rate of poverty reduction has continued unchecked, at least until the end of 2007. The UK Department for International Development suggests that 3 million people moved above the poverty line in 2006 alone. Other key social indicators show similar spectacular improvement to the extent that Vietnam claims to have achieved all of the MDG targets except those for HIV/AIDS and sanitation.

Despite these successes, Vietnam remains classified as a “low income” country where poverty limits opportunities for 12 million people and a further 10 million hover just above the poverty line. The Vietnamese government’s Socio-Economic Development Plan (2006-2010) is clearly focused on the MDGs – indeed under new and tougher criteria for poverty assessment, the government has set a range of 12 more demanding targets for 2010 which are known as the Vietnam Development Goals.

Studying in Vietnam © unicef

The most challenging component of this programme is the concentration of poverty amongst Vietnam’s minority ethnic groups who form about 13% of the population and who predominantly live in the remote upland and highland regions. Cut off from the country’s prosperity by underdeveloped infrastructure and dependent on low yielding agriculture and forest products, more than 60% of these groups were assessed as below the poverty line in the 2004 survey. Key government services such as education tend to be below standard and NGO development programmes struggle to produce sustainable results. Decentralisation of project responsibility to the areas in need is often cited as the remedy.

The Economy in Vietnam

Nike factory, Vietnam. © Corporate Watch

Vietnam’s success in poverty reduction is widely attributed to the doi moi (open door) policy introduced by the government in 1986 and which signalled a move away from central planning and collectivist agriculture towards the beginnings of a market economy and farm ownership. The country’s traditions of social welfare may also have been important in ensuring that the benefits of spectacular growth rates have been shared – the Gini coefficient measure of inequality has increased less in Vietnam than in other countries of comparable headline performance.

The radical shift in economic philosophy culminated in Vietnam’s successful application to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in January 2007, supported by a frenzy of new laws and regulations necessary to align business activities with the western model. The Vietnamese government has nevertheless attempted to maintain state control over key industries through a much slower programme of privatisation than has been prescribed elsewhere. Underperforming state-owned enterprises are however blamed by international advisers such as the IMF for the difficulties that Vietnam is experiencing in guiding its macro-economy through the 2008 crisis of rising food and energy prices. If inflation cannot be brought under control, poverty indicators could swiftly move into reverse. The government’s decision to freeze rice exports at 3.5 million tonnes for 2008 (compared with 4.5 million in 2007) was driven by the motive to stabilise domestic food prices.

Vietnam has retained strong support from the international donor community which pledged a substantial $4.4 billion for 2007, unaffected by possible concerns about governance and human rights. Conditionality instead focuses on overcoming inconsistency and inadequacy in the legal infrastructure for business and property, and on compliance with the rules of global trade.

Climate Change in Vietnam

Floating fishing village in Halong Bay, Vietnam © Piet van der Poel

The achievement in poverty reduction faces a more fundamental uncertainty than transient world economic instability. A 2007 UNDP case study stated that climate change represents “a very real threat to Vietnam’s continued socio-economic development” with the poorest communities most at risk. Vietnam has been identified as one of five countries most vulnerable to rising sea levels which will impact the low-lying Mekong Delta. A one metre rise could displace a significant proportion of the 25% of the population that lives in the coastal region, destroying agriculture and fishing livelihoods. And predictions of changing rainfall patterns and more extreme weather events impinge on sensitive rice yields.

The case study warns that awareness of the implications of climate change is contained within a small group of experts in Vietnam, that there is no national adaptation strategy and that government bodies will require greater coordination. By contrast, the country has long experience in disaster management which could provide a basis for action. For example, the restoration of lost mangrove plantations and better maintenance of thousands of existing dykes are relatively straightforward steps. An exceptionally severe typhoon season in 2007, with extensive loss of life, the worst flooding for 50 years and damage valued at $725 million, may catalyse a more concerted response.
Health in Vietnam

Traditional medicine at market, Vietnam © Piet van der Poel

Despite a dramatic fall in cases of malaria since 1995 and control over polio and tuberculosis, healthcare at local level - especially in remote areas - is still very poor in terms of quantity and quality. Health insurance for the poor was adopted several years ago but access to free healthcare for those groups has remained modest. UNDP is recommending that the government increases the relatively small share of national income devoted to health.

To fulfil its commitment to child protection, the government introduced a new regulation in 2005 under which children up to six years old should receive primary healthcare, medical check-ups and treatment free of charge. However there are signs that the necessary funding has not yet materialised at the level of individual health centres. In 2005 27% of young children were underweight for their age and a more concerted effort will be needed to address malnutrition and child health problems – a contributory factor is the slow progress in improving access to adequate sanitation, in part a failure of donor coordination.

A problem which insistently causes concern for Vietnam's leaders is HIV/AIDS, despite generous donor funding in excess of $50 million pa. Prevalence is officially relatively low at 0.5% but has been increasing sharply amongst high risk groups in recent years. Although the government has made it a priority to address the issue at both national and community levels, the virus has now spread to every province in Vietnam. The government’s 2006/07 report on HIV/AIDS acknowledges that more effort and more spending is required if the MDG target is to be achieved.
Politics in Vietnam

Mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh © Piet van der Poel

Subsequent to the collapse of the former Soviet Union and Eastern European bloc, Vietnam provides one of the last surviving examples of the socialist system, retaining a national development model guided by a sole political party - the Vietnam Communist Party (VCP), headed by the Secretary-General Nong Duc Manh who was re-elected for a further term at the National Party Congress in April 2006. Members of the National Assembly are elected by compulsory public vote every five years, most recently in 2007, but no political parties other then the VCP may be represented. About 20% of deputies to the Assembly come from outside the Party but only after vetting by local officials.

The National Assembly’s authority to enact laws and to appoint government ministers and the judiciary is strongly influenced by the political bureau of the VCP which sets the agenda of government. However, recent years have seen increasing assertiveness shown by the National Assembly in scrutiny of legislation and in demands for accountability of ministers. More than a quarter of deputies in the National Assembly are women, a proportion thought to be the highest amongst comparable legislative bodies in Asia.

A serious weakness of the current political structure is the endemic corruption in many state-run bodies which has undermined the prestige of both the supreme organizations (Communist Party and National Assembly). Estimates suggest that as much as 20% of public funds are wasted in fraudulent activity. The government is embarrassed by the problem and has introduced new laws with severe punishment for offenders, but their effectiveness is in doubt. The 2006 appointment of Nguyen Tan Dung as Prime Minister and Nguyen Minh Triet as President raised hopes that a younger generation of leaders will bring change to the old ways and the more youthful cabinet appointed after the 2007 elections has promised to fight corruption.

The concept of civil society is not well understood in Vietnam. There is certainly an established culture of assisting poor and disadvantaged people but this is dominated by vast multi-million membership organizations such as the Women's Union and Farmers' Association which have their origins in the Party structure. An interesting survey led by Civicus concluded that, whilst a non-governmental sector is emerging in Vietnam, it lacks the organizational and legal infrastructure to enable impact on public policy or accountability of business and government.
Information and Media in Vietnam

ICT for Vietnamese children © United Nations Development Programme

There is no independent media in Vietnam; all newspapers are effectively owned by the government. Strict controls over content by the Ministry of Culture and Information place Vietnam close to the bottom of the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders. But journalists are striving to improve the basic skills of their profession so as to maximise what scope there is for effective communication.

The advent of the internet poses a dilemma for the authorities. Anxious to demonstrate commitment to new technologies, the government has committed to extensive development of the telecommunications infrastructure including the provision of information centres in poor rural communities. But restrictions have been adopted for anti-government content which, according to Vietnam authority, violates the current law.
Human Rights in Vietnam

In common with several countries in Southeast Asia, the role of individual rights in Vietnam's political culture has not evolved in exact parallel with traditions in Europe and North America. The centralised and over-arching Vietnamese state apparatus that extends its influence into civil society has frequently drawn criticism on the status of ethnic minority rights, women's rights, capital punishment, and religious and political freedoms. The latter attracted particular attention in the period leading up to the 2007 National Assembly elections when attempts to form a new pro-democracy party, Bloc 8406, were stifled by prison sentences for its leading activists. Human rights groups claim that there are about 350 prisoners in Vietnam sentenced for political or religious “propaganda” undermining the state.

The Vietnamese government expresses frustration that groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch present a one-sided picture which takes no account of positive developments that are taking place at a speed appropriate to the country’s stable evolution. The election of Vietnam as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council from January 2008 may hasten the building of bridges between these polarised positions.

War and Peace in Vietnam

For middle-aged and older generations in the west, Vietnam is synonymous with the terrible war which ended over 30 years ago, having caused the deaths of more than 1.5 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans. The Clinton administration restored US trade and diplomatic relations in 2000 and many parallels have been drawn with more recent US military adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For the Vietnamese themselves, the legacy of war remains distressingly more tangible than history books. Unexploded ordnance and the continuing revelations of the use and impact of the chemical defoliant Agent Orange cause human suffering for generations unborn at the time of the war. Any prospect of a clean-up operation is beyond the means of the Vietnamese government and probably beyond the realms of practical science.

Agent Orange was a herbicide sprayed by the Americans during the Vietnam war with the intention of destroying the jungle cover of the Vietnamese army. It is now known that the chemical contained dioxin fatal to humans and that its presence in the environment is not dispersed. US veterans waited a generation for their claims to be fully recognised by their government and for legal action against the manufacturers to be concluded. The wait for three million Vietnamese may never end following the 2008 rejection by a US Court of Appeal of their claim for compensation.



Hanh Vu is Information Editor for American Technologies Inc (Hanoi), a company which creates direct links between U.S. businesses and new markets in Vietnam, particularly through its website. Hanh Vu has been an active online volunteer for UNV since 2002, with especial interest in child labour and corruption.

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