Results
Enhanced social accountability through different citizen feedback mechanisms
The introduction of citizen feedback mechanisms helped enhance the social accountability of public institutions in Viet Nam. To meet this aim, the UN and national partners introduced ground-breaking tools and mechanisms, headlined by the Viet Nam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Index (PAPI), Viet Nam Justice Index (VJI), and social audits. Complementary to social audits, PAPI and VJI were launched as external monitoring tools to keep government and public service delivery institutions more accountable to citizens, which they became.
In 2016, thirty-six provinces issued action plans to respond to citizen feedback and expectations as indicated by PAPI. “The VJI, and similar tools, put forward citizens’ demand for a more responsive justice system. Such tools, pioneered or implemented in Viet Nam, significantly contributed to government efforts and priorities to develop a more accountable, transparent and responsive State apparatus,” said Dr. Le Dang Doanh, independent senior economist, former president of the Central Institute for Economic Management.
Participation assistance made it possible for local and national officials to strengthen policy and legal frameworks that supported the inclusive and increased participation of citizens in policy discussions and decision-making processes at both national and sub-national levels.
Facing up to gender-based violence
Viet Nam has a high prevalence of gender-based violence (GBV), but many survivors do not seek support from public services because of gaps in laws, limited availability of services or adequate sanctions, and stereotyping of, or discrimination against, women survivors. To counter this, the UN provided policy advice aligned with international norms, standards, and backed by evidence to support their integration into national GBV legislation and policy frameworks.
Furthermore, collective advocacy that included important leadership by CSOs played a strong role in bringing voices of the most affected to the policy fore and also contributed to the approval of the National Thematic Project on GBV Prevention and Response.
Business-enabling environment for private sector development
Improving the business and investment environment to unlock resources for the business community, especially the private sector, has been a government priority to drive economic development. This is why the UN worked to provide complimentary technical support and policy advice on creating a business-enabling environment, which included insights into simplifying business registration legislation, policies and procedures to create a computerized nationwide online business registration system, and ways of providing legally binding information to government, businesses and the public.
As a result, business registration times declined sharply and there was a substantial increase in newly-created enterprises, with a record high of 110,100 in 2016 (14% were through online registration!). In addition, the UN successfully advocated for the removal of having corporate seals as a mandatory administrative procedure, thereby granting businesses the absolute right to decide on their own.
Timely responses for rapidly ageing populations
Viet Nam is one of the fastest ageing countries in Asia, with a longer life expectancy and declining fertility and mortality rates underlining the dramatic progress. In less than 20 years, there will be one older person for every five—an accelerated period of ageing that can further exacerbate older people’s vulnerable position in society. As a response, the UN assisted in the development of policy responses for a middle-income country that could support an increasing elderly population and reap the benefits of a “longevity dividend.”
Workshops and learning initiatives resulted in the roll out of comprehensive social safety net for older people, within extensive community and healthcare networks. As a follow up to the capacity-building support provided, national ministries initiated research and discussions on social pensions and a review of the 2009 Law on the Elderly.
One Plan Fund II action created opportunities for stakeholders to provide policy advice, build capacities, raise awareness and advocacy, and support civil society leaders to achieve gender equality and empowerment for women.
Green growth in Viet Nam
With its current growth, the country will become a major GHG emitter: a projected four-fold increase in total net emissions will take place between 2010 and 2030. Heeding the government’s call for support to address this threat, the UN played a leading role in policy advocacy and technical support to shape the landmark National Green Growth Strategy, which set concrete targets to reduce GHG emissions and energy consumption for the first time. The UN also played a central role in setting up GHG emission and adaptation targets for Viet Nam’s nationally determined contribution to ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement and adoption of an implementation action plan.
This action framework will continue to leverage international climate finance for implementation of National Climate Change and Green Growth strategies for emission reductions and adaptation. One Plan Fund II support also helped Viet Nam become one of the first countries in Asia to issue the national ISO 50001 energy management standard and implement the Law on Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency on energy management in industry.
Zoonoses and other public health threats
It is estimated that 70% of emerging diseases have a ‘zoonotic’ origin, such as avian influenza, Ebola, and MERS. Transmitted between animals and humans these viruses and bacteria lead to enormous negative impacts on human health including higher mortality rates and impacting people’s livelihoods and national economies. Viet Nam’s increased foreign engagement has led to a greater volume of international and domestic travel and trade, further compounding risks of zoonotic infectious diseases.
To counter the potential fallout of an outbreak the UN worked to strengthen preparedness and address diseases at the animal-human health interface. Action included strengthening animal influenza surveillance field and laboratory capacity, building capacities required by the International Health Regulations (IHR2005) to detect, assess, notify and respond to public health events, and supporting policy dialogue among ministries regarding the establishment of the One Health Partnership, which serves as forum for enhanced information exchange and planning for risk reduction on Avian Influenza and other zoonotic diseases.
From reaction to resilience
The UN worked side-by-side with government institutions, international bilateral/ multilateral partners, and NGOs to address those most vulnerable to climate crises, including poor and women-headed households and ethnic minorities. Building on multi-sectoral needs assessments in six provinces, more than two million people suffering from acute water shortages, loss of crops, reduced food availability and unhygienic practices were targeted so stakeholders could provide life-saving WASH, food security, nutrition, health and early recovery relief assistance to 412,343 people in the Central Highlands, Mekong Delta and South Central coastal region.
This type of assistance transformed communities by increasing access to safe drinking water, food availability and consumption, and helping restore agricultural production, improve hygiene and sanitation conditions, and augment harmful behaviors. By combining the unique strengths of all partners a holistic and contextually-relevant approach was applied to emergency preparedness and strengthening climate and disaster resilience.
Improved data for development In Viet Nam
In the past the UN was a trusted partner in supporting the Viet Nam Statistics System (VSS) in its systematic and structural development. Under One Plan II the UN had a role to play in the establishment and adoption of the 2015 Statistics Law, which embeds new features that emphasize the importance of informal statistics, data dissemination, transparency, accurate administrative records, and international cooperation—overall stakeholders were able to include SDG indicators into the National Statistics Indicator System under the new law.
The collaborative relationship with the General Statistics Office (GSO) led to better connections with data users through various mechanisms such as online/offline user-feedback surveys and user forums. The UN supported the GSO and Vietnamese ministries in uptake and refinement of the VSS with regards to population, migration, ethnic minority, industry, environment, gender, health, education, national account, labor and employment statistics.
Inclusive education for children with disabilities
In Viet Nam, 6.7 million people live with disabilities and 1.3 million of these are children. Despite a strong legal framework to guarantee these people access to inclusive education challenges remain (83.1% of children with disabilities are not enrolled in school). To turn the tide, significant momentum was generated to improve education opportunities for children with disability by way of advocacy campaigns and events that called for more comprehensive policies, programmes and measures to support equal rights and opportunities in education.
The UN worked closely education counterparts on inter-ministerial circulars 42/2013 and 19/2016, and also monitored the implementation of supportive education policies for persons with disabilities in selected provinces, alongside teacher training, and community awareness-raising for stigma reduction.
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$55M - $25M
$25M - $5M
< $5M
