Oxfam and ActionAid in Vietnam have completed two research reports on communal-level social and economic factors contributing to “bright spots” in poverty reduction in Vietnam, the two organizations said in a press release on June 17 in Hanoi. The reports entitled “Poverty reduction models in some ethnic minority communities in Vietnam” and “Role of village institutions in poverty reduction in several typical ethnic minority communities in Vietnam” stressed the vital role of governance reform at grassroots level in poverty reduction, which will improve the efficiency of poverty reduction policies, programs and public service supply in ethnic minority groups. The two studies, under the framework of the project “Participatory poverty monitoring” funded by the UK Department for International Development, were implemented in Ha Giang, Dien Bien provinces in the north, Nghe An, Quang Tri, Dak Lak and Dac Nong provinces in the central region, and Tra Vinh province in the south in late 2012. The researchers applied an approach called “positive deviance” in the analysis of best poverty reduction models to understand decisive factors contributing to better living standards and improved poverty reduction results in some ethnic minority households and communities compared to other households and communities in the same context. These factors are then combined in a “poverty reduction framework, which can be useful for many programs in order to build and expand the “bright spots” of poverty reduction in ethnic minority communities. The reports also made several recommendations for policy-oriented poverty reduction and policy discussion aimed at sustainable poverty reduction. (vietnamplus.vn June 18)
