Nearly 17,000 poor people in Vietnam have gained better incomes and livelihoods thanks to the Vietnam Challenge Fund (VCF) as part of the “Making Markets Work Better for the Poor Phase 2” (M4P2) project funded by international donors. The information was released at a recent seminar in Hanoi to review the three-year M4P2 project backed by the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The M4P2 project aimed to increase participation of the poor in three areas of public-private partnership in infrastructure services, value chains and private sector employment. Fiona Lappin, head of DFID in Vietnam said VCF aimed to promote the private sector’s ability to generate and invest in new ideas to benefit of the poor, through commercially viable business models. With a new approach, the project has helped Vietnam’s rural markets function better, with greater fairness for poor people joining such markets. The projects under M4P2 are diverse with involvement of private firms, joint ventures, multi-nationals, and state-owned enterprises, reflecting the diversity of businesses operating in Vietnam’s agricultural sector. Hoang Viet Khang, head of the Department for Foreign Economic Relations under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said through innovative projects and policy changes, the M4P2 project has provided the poor with more opportunities to participate in and benefit from the economic growth process. “The ministry expects to expand the project in the coming years, and uses it as a new model of assisting communities that experience persistent poverty,” Khang added. VCF has granted a total funding of over $1.26 million, with an additional $2.45 million contributed by participating companies. By March 2012, up to 2.58 million households were poor and 1.53 million deemed near-poor, showed a national survey by the Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. This year, the government set a target of reducing the poverty rate to 10% from 12% in the previous year. (thesaigontimes.vn June 24)
