A survey released on June 20 showed that many among Vietnam's poor do not benefit from the national poverty reduction Program 30A, which has been implemented since 2008.
The survey by Oxfam Vietnam randomly polled 1,440 households in three among Vietnam's poorest districts of Si Ma Cai (northern Lao Cai Province), Tuong Duong (Nghe An Province) and Ba To (central Quang Ngai Province) during the period of 2012 and 2013.
According to the survey, only 17 households said they had received some kind of payment as incentive to protect forests and generate livelihood from forest.
Under the 30A program, participating households can earn VND200,000 per hectare per year to protect forests, and poor households can receive 15kg rice as supplemental assistance.
In Si Ma Cai District, the survey found that most communes had only sent around three people to work abroad and in many communes in Ba To District, that number was zero. This means many people do not benefit from the scheme to send workers abroad for poverty reduction.
While most of the budget from Program 30A focuses on infrastructure transport projects, many residents reportedly said there should be more funding on infrastructure projects that generate clean water and support healthcare development.
For example, in Si Ma Cai District, between 2009 and 2011 only 18.18% of the total budget for infrastructure (VND8.9 billion) was spent on projects that generate clean water.
Paul Schuler, from the University of California at San Diego and head of the research group for the Oxfam survey said the 30A program lacks independent evaluation on its effectiveness in each beneficiary district.
The survey recommends that the program should have a better monitoring and evaluation process, focus on infrastructure needs of residents instead of just focusing on roads and transportation projects, implement training and agricultural extension courses by local language, among others.
The national 30A program was implemented in 2008 for 64 poorest districts. From 2009 to 2011, the State budget allocated a total of VND8.5 trillion ($405 million) towards the poverty reduction program implemented under Resolution 30a. (Vietnam News Jun 21)