People’s Participation Working Group Strategy PAPER, 2007 - 2010

People’s Participation Working Group

Strategy PAPER

2007 - 2010

1. Background

Since the Doi Moi reforms were launched in 1986 Vietnam has made great achievements in reducing the national poverty rate. Alone in the period from 1998 to 2004 the poverty rate was brought down from 37,4% in 2004 compared to 19,5% in 1998 (Poverty and Poverty Reduction in Vietnam, 2007). During this period Vietnam's political reforms have emphasised the importance of mobilising people nation-wide to further the country's development goals. This determination has been emphasised by a range of new policy developments relating to people's participation in development, such as the Grassroots Democracy Decree and Ordinance, the new draft Planning Law, etc. Particularly, during the past few years new spaces are opening up for people’s participation in Vietnam (CIVICUS Civil Society Index Study for Vietnam, 2005), visible in government policies, national plans and programmes.

The changes in the context offers new opportunities for the People's Participation Working Group (PPWG) and the role it can play in sharing information and experiences on people's participation, and in relation to policy making. PPWG was established in 1999 as part of a network of thematic Development Partnership Groups. As a partnership group PPWG is providing inputs to the Consultative Group (CG) meetings, held semi-annually between the Government and donor committee. PPWG is an informal network and forum for organisations and professionals - donors, government employees, NGOs, project managers, consultants, researchers, etc. - to meet and exchange information and ideas on issues relating to people’s participation, grassroots democracy and civil society.

In response to the broad rage of changes in the context since 1999, the PPWG decided to analyse the changes and update the PPWG strategy, including overall goals and objectives, and strategic directions for 2007 to 2010, aligned with the period of the Government's Socio Economic Development Plan 2006-2010. The process of revising the Strategy has included an Environmental Scan and SWOT analysis, attached to this paper.

2. Objectives and strategic directions

2.1 Objectives

Overall goal:

To promote people's participation in the development and poverty reduction process of Vietnam.

Specific objectives:

· To enhance exchange of information and coordination amongst the Group's members;

· To advocate and promote an enabling environment for effective people's participation in the development and poverty reduction process of Vietnam;

· To facilitate dialogue and improved understanding of people's participation experiences and lessons learned amongst different stakeholders (state, civil society, international organizations, donor community, etc.).

2.2. Strategic directions

The PPWG will concentrate efforts and resources on the following four strategic directions:

Information and knowledge exchange:

The Group will focus on sharing focused and needs-based information, experiences and policy research on relevant government and civil society initiatives that have impacts on people’s participation.

PPWG continue to build on its accumulated strengths to select the most important and interesting opportunities for its members to share and exchange information and knowledge in the areas relevant for, and based on the needs of, its members in promoting people participation in Vietnam. The Group will facilitate information and knowledge exchange on government policies and programs important, and having a potential positive impact, on people’s participation. This includes the new Grassroots Democracy Ordinance, the National Target Programs 135, the current government “socialisation” policy of public services delivery and the draft Planning Law. An initiative such as the direct promotion of grassroots participation in national policy advocacy, are also interesting for PPWG to cover as this initiative is brought forward to support the government in achieving a greater level of people’s participation in Vietnam’s development process.

Promotion of thematic dialogue amongst key stakeholders:

The Group seeks to enabling open dialogue amongst INGO/VNGOs and other important stakeholders from government, mass-organisations and donors, and fostering their active participation in discussions on relevant issues related to people’s participation.

Promotion of thematic dialogue continues to play an essential part of the work of the PPWG. In the past, many thematic meetings were organised, receiving positive feedback from members and other stakeholders. PPWG will continue arranging these events but further try to reach out to include more key stakeholders (VNGOs, mass organisations, networks, etc) who have an interest in, and influence on, the issue of people participation. From 2007, extra efforts will be made to involve active participation of more stakeholders in order to diversify and expand our current membership base to truly make PPWG open to all with an interest in the Group’s activities.

Institutional advocacy:

PPWG proactively seeks opportunities to bring value-added inputs to the decision-making processes affecting policies and initiatives on people’s participation, grassroots democracy and civil society development.

While acknowledging the opportunities for enhancing people’s participation PPWG also recognises the challenges that exist in the current socio-political environment. The new aid modalities such as direct budget support, the new Decree on Collaborative Groups, and the limited mechanisms for bottom up/participatory approaches in planning, are only few examples of the current development with unclear incentive for inclusive participation.

PPWG see the expanded role of the Group in coming years to continue acting as an important venue for stakeholders, especially from key government institutions, mass- organisations and Vietnamese NGOs, for open dialogue and improved understanding, and eventually bringing about positive changes in policies and programs that have impacts on people participation, grassroots democracy and civil society.

Networking:

PPWG seeks to strengthen networks and forge clearer links between the Group and relevant stakeholders in order to update and better coordinate the Group’s activities.

People participation in itself is a cross-cutting mechanism, and a means to achieve various development goals. Promoting people’s participation is currently exercised in other working groups and networks (Ethnic Minority Working Group, Development Cooperation Network, etc). It is important for PPWG to create improved linkages with such groups and networks. Such linkages would make it possible to explore opportunities for combined efforts, avoiding duplication and further improve the impact of PPWG’s activities.

In 2007, a brief stakeholders and context analysis will be conducted by the Core Group in order to better strategically position the PPWG in coming years.

3. Operational Principles

3.1. Working approach

PPWG is open for all who has interests in the promotion of people’s participation. The Group soundly believe in participatory development and advocates for greater involvement of local people, knowledge, priorities and skills as a key to development. The Group conceives people’s participation as a multidimensional process through which socially, politically and economically marginalized people and non-state actors increase their involvement in decision-making over their own lives. The Group is devoted to tackle and properly integrate into the Vietnamese context a number of key concepts related to participatory development such as grassroots democracy, civil society, decentralisation and empowerment. PPWG approaches these concepts from an impartial perspective, acknowledging the very fact that truly democratic systems cannot be imported, but can be homegrown, internally-led developed and improved. The strengthening of the channels and mechanisms of people’s participation, along with the creation of innovative participatory arrangements within the existing local institutional frameworks, may contribute very significantly to the enhancement and consolidation of any country’s socio-economic development process.

The Groups activities are based on the following key principles:

Diverse and open membership:

Membership of the PPWG should include only representatives from the NGO and donor community, but also members from the mass-organisations, media and government agencies. All members should show a high decree of commitment to participate in the Group’s activities and working towards achieving its objectives.

Macro-micro linkage:

As many PPWG members are engaged in community work to support direct grassroots participation, efforts are made to link their grass-roots experience with national policy making in order to make advocacy effective.

Dialogue and information sharing:

The PPWG is not project-based in its operation. This means that it does not aim to seek fund for project implementation. Rather, PPWG serves as a channel to strengthen information sharing and policy advocacy. Depending on specific activities, resources (mostly in kind) will be mobilized from its members as voluntary contributions.

Demand-driven:

While every organisation has their own mission, participation in the PPWG appreciates common needs/interest based on the real policy context and as much as possible, to respond to the needs of its members in order to provide timely inputs and contribution to policy development.

3.2 Operational arrangements

Core group and the Chair:

The group core membership covers different sections of the Vietnamese society, so far including international and Vietnamese NGOs, and donor organisations. The membership is being broadened to also including government and Vietnamese mass-organisations. Core Group members are proactive in identifying policy shifts or policy advocacy opportunities, and are experienced in public mobilisation. These members play an important role in directing the group to success. Core membership will be reviewed every six months in order to enhance consistent participation.

The Chair of the PPWG is elected among the Core Group members on a rotational basis. The choice of the Chair is shared with the PPWG wider group for support before being finally endorsed.

An internal Operational Plan is guiding the operations of the Core Group.

PPWG – the big group:

The composition of PPWG is more diverse than that of the Core Group. It includes all who has an interest in people’s participation, grassroots democracy and civil society development in Vietnam. The PPWG comprises of people in and outside Vietnam; NGOs, mass-organisations, various government agencies, international organisations, donor agencies, institutes, mass media, and individual researchers, etc. While the core group meets on regular basis, the wider group is invited to 4-5 thematic meetings yearly, organised by the Core Group. The PPWG wider group is equally consulted through the network to provide comments to certain papers and issues connected with the work of the Core Group.

3.3 Review and Reporting

PPWG has semi-annual reporting cycle. The first reporting is done in form of the Partnership Note, which is prepared as input to the mid-term CG meeting in May. The same is done in November every year as input to the annual CG meeting. At the end of every year PPWG Core Group organises an annual review of its work and develops a work plan for the year ahead, which is shared with PPWG and other stakeholders for inputs.

4. Thematic areas for meetings 2007-2010

At the end of every year the Core Group of PPWG prepares an annual meeting schedule for the coming year. Normally, about 4 thematic meetings are arranged and facilitated by the Core Group every year but there are always space for adjusting the topics and adding other meetings that are in line with the four identified broad strategic directions, to the schedule. The meeting schedule is shared with the wider PPWG for their inputs/information. The meeting schedule is furthermore shared and discussed with Ministry of Home Affairs in the beginning of a new year.

The meetings are planned every year closely aligned with the development and events affecting people’s participation in Vietnam, such as relevant legal or policy changes, and new research or projects. Overall, the themes addressed in the meetings cover two major areas, namely: i) channels and mechanisms of participation, and ii) institutional frameworks for participation. The meetings mainly focus on changes of legal framework, policy formulation and implementation, and socio-economic trends that directly or indirectly affect the mentioned two main thematic areas. More precisely, the thematic meetings would normally fall within the following themes:

· Development of legal framework and polices related to grassroots democracy

· Legal framework and role of civil society organizations

· Subjects related to local governance such as planning and budgeting processes, local legislative bodies, political representation at local level, electoral system, etc

· Reform of local public administration and service delivery

· Development assistance and international and Vietnamese civil society organizations

· Implementation of the SEDP 2006-2010 and contributions for the SEDP 2011-2015

These themes provide guidance for the topics for PPWG meetings until 2010. It is planned that at the end of this strategy period, the Strategy of PPWG will be updated including prospects for new thematic areas for the Group, aligned with the next SEDP period, 2011-2015.

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