CARE INTERNATIONAL

IN VIETNAM

Engagement of People's Organisations

in Poverty-focused Rural Development
and Natural Resource Management in
Vietnam

Background Study
(Volume I – Main report)

April 2003
 TABLE OF CONTENT
VOLUME I

Introduction 1

Chapter 1: International Concepts of Civil Society 3

1.1 International Concepts of Civil Society 3

1.2 Why Do We Need Civil Society? 4
1.3 Roles of Civil Society Organisations in Natural Resources 6
Management

Chapter 2: Civil Society in Vietnam 8

2.1 Historical Overview of Traditional Civil Society Organisations in Vietnam 8

2.2 The Current Legal and Institutional Framework for Civil Society in Vietnam 10
2.2.1 Current regulations governing the formation and operation of civil 10
society organisations
2.2.2 Challenges and opportunities with respect to the implementation 16
of civil society related regulations in Vietnam
2.3 Defining and interpreting Civil Society in the Context of Viet Nam 17
2.3.1 A Note on Terminology 17
2.3.2 Defining Civil Society in the Context of Vietnam 18
2.3.3 Role and Function of Civil Society Organisations in Vietnam 21

Chapter 3: Mapping out Civil Society Organisations in Vietnam 27

3.1 Mass-organisations 27
3.2 Popular and Professional Associations 31
3.3 Research and Professional Centers – Non-Profit Organisations 33
3.4 New-style co-operatives 37
3.5 Community-Based Organisations 42
3.6 Funds, Charities, Supporting Centers and other Civil Organisations 45

Chapter 4: Conclusions - Key Challenges and Opportunities 48

References 56

VOLUME II

Annex 1:
Annex 2:
Annex 3:
Annex 4:
Annex 5:
Annex 6:
Annex 7:

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Introduction

For more than 12 years, CARE International in Viet Nam (CARE Vietnam), in partnership
with Vietnamese authorities, agencies, organisations and grassroots people, has been working
to support the development process in Viet Nam by implementing a range of projects in the
areas of rural development, agriculture, natural resource management, integrated
conservation and community development, public and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS
prevention, support of people living with HIV/AIDS, and natural disaster preparedness and
response.

In 2001, CARE Viet Nam attempted to restate its strategic directions for the period 2001 to
2006. Central to this strategy is the implementation of a partner-based programme approach
to CARE's work in Vietnam. This approach recognises the need to identify long-term
Vietnamese partner organisations and to jointly define and implement programmes and to
emphasise development of partners' capacity to participate in, direct and control sustainable
development interventions with CARE acting as a supporter, resource channel and capacity
builder. Valuable lessons in implementing such processes were gained from a five year
partnership with the Hanoi People's Committee and 8 local organisations involved in
reproductive health under the 'Stepping Stones' Project for Adolescent Reproductive Health
(EU/UNFPA).

CARE Viet Nam already enjoys strong partnerships with a range of Government
Departments, agencies and mass-organisations at commune, district, provincial and national
levels. CARE seeks to improve the quality of its own contribution to these partnerships and
under the new strategic plan will invest energy and resources to achieve that goal. At the
same time CARE is seeking to identify other organisations and structures with which it can
work to ensure the effectiveness of development interventions.

One possible option is to more fully engage with existing and emerging civil society agents in
the development process. The Danish International Aid Administration (Danida) together
with CARE Danmark have expressed a particular interest in exploring possibilities for greater
involvement of civil society organisations in programmes in Viet Nam for which they provide
financial support. Accordingly CARE Viet Nam has agreed to investigate options for

Page 1
establishing long-term working relationships with new potential partners in order to enhance
the contributions by people's organisations to social and economic development for poor and
disadvantaged rural people, and to promote the engagement of these organisations in
informing policy and decision making processes in accordance with policy frameworks and
laws established by the Vietnamese Government.

In order to inform the design of an appropriate programme of engagement between CARE

Viet Nam and organisations recognised and/or accredited by the Vietnamese Government as
part of civil society in Vietnam, it is critical for CARE Viet Nam and its key partners to
establish a thorough understanding of the meaning and form of civil society in the
Vietnamese context in general and with respect to poverty-focused natural resource
management (NRM) in particular. It has therefore been decided to conduct a study/learning
process aimed at providing a general overview and assessment of the civil society in Viet
Nam and the potential for involvement of Vietnamese peoples' organisations in poverty-
focussed NRM.

This Background Study was compiled by CARE Viet Nam staff on the basis of a draft study
paper prepared by a team of independent national consultants. The goal of the paper is to
provide the CARE management and potential stakeholders with a general insight into the
current issues of civil society in Vietnam. Much of the contents of this report are based on the
available reports on the institutional framework for and the development of people's
organisations in Viet Nam over the past five years. The study team has also tried to interpret a
concept and classification of CSOs in Viet Nam based on the local development context and
in adaptation of the international concepts and experiences of civil society development.

This paper is currently to be considered an internal document intended to inform the

formulation of new CARE sponsored programmes supporting a further increase of the
contributions by civil society organisations to socio-economic development in rural Vietnam.
The paper should therefore not be publicized or circulated outside CARE without prior
authority of CARE.

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Chapter 1: International Concepts of Civil Society

1.1 International Concepts of Civil Society

The term of “civil society” has a long and conceptually rich history and debate. Centuries
ago, philosophers defined civil society as a social contract, an agreement among people on
the rules for maintaining a peaceful order. The idea was initiated in the seventeenth century
by Thomas Hobbes who explained how people agree to live together in amity as opposed to
the laws of the jungle. It was elaborated by John Locke who saw civil society as distinct from
the state. It developed further in the eighteenth century through the work of Jean Jacques
Rousseau who sensed the power of a democratic community emerging. It was refined by
Adam Ferguson who saw conflict as a condition of progress. It was then developed in the
nineteenth century by G.W.F. Hegel who saw civil society rising with the new merchant class
and it was revised further by Karl Marx who saw a conflict in classes emerging in society.
For Hegel, civil society was defined as "that arena of social engagement which exists above
the individual yet below the state", or “a complex network of economic, social, and cultural
practices based on friendship, family, the market, and voluntary affiliation". For Tocqueville,
the civic organisations that constitute civil society are an important means for citizens to
moderate the power of the state, and assert their own interests.

The notion of strengthening civil society is pursued by multilateral and bilateral

organisations, which focus on the role of NGOs and grassroots organisations in addressing
poverty reduction and social welfare. For example the UNDP Human Development Report of
1993 viewed the strengthening of the institutions of civil society as the only appropriate
policy response for increasing citizen participation, and the World Bank’s World
Development Report of 1997 discussed the “reinforcement of civil society as a way of
increasing the resilience of social institutions that may be able to fend off anarchy even if the
state is very weak”.

Today, civil society generally refers to an order of associations (alliances, federations and
confederations) which become relatively autonomous and self-regulating. The concept
includes the economy within its domain. The concept of civil society is often identified
today as the “Third Sector”. For example, Gramsci and Parsons emphasised a three-part
model that differentiates civil society from both the state and the economy (Parsons 1971;

3
Gramsci 1971). Thus, they classified society into three sectors: government, business and
civil society. Recently, Kaldor proposed that civil society is an intermediate association,
which grows out as "self-organisation outside the formal political circles" and "expands space
in which individual citizens can influence the condition in which they live both directly
through self-organisation and through pressure on the State" and "provides a substitute for
many of the functions performed by the state .... and the function in the field of welfare which
the state can no longer afford to perform" (Kaldor, 2000).

Generally, civil society refers to voluntary organisations, community groups, trade unions,
church groups, co-operatives, business, professional and philanthropic organisations, and a
range of other NGOs (UNDP, 1993; Macdonald, 1997). The main objectives of these groups
or associations acting collectively in a public sphere are to exchange information, achieve
mutual goals, and make demands on the state. Their activities are not part of the process of
government. Civil society includes the organisations that could assemble the individual
interests without interference from government, but could help these interests be considered
in decision-making process of the government.

A strong civil society means a strong democracy. Thus, the policy to develop civil society is
also the way to strengthen democracy in any country. Current literature on democracy
generally suggests that “when civil society is relatively strong vis-à-vis the state, democracy
prevails…Democratization is understood as a process of strengthening civil society”
(Budinan, 1998). Broader participation gained through civil organisations empowers people,
bringing social capital into play in economic development, and makes the government more
responsive to people’s needs. Some ineffective institutions may exist in part because there are
no civil society groups pressing for change. “The strength of civil society is measured by the
peaceful coexistence and by the collective capacity to simultaneously resist subordination to
the state and demand inclusion into national political structures” (Philip Oxhorn).

1.2 Why do we need civil society?

Many studies around the world have proved that apart from its impact on the efficiency of
government activity, social capital has a positive impact on a number of factors which
improves economic performance. In societies characterized by high levels of trust and strong
civic norms, transaction costs tend to be lower. There is consequently a greater range of
market transactions in outputs, credit, land and labour. There are also stronger incentives to

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innovate, and to accumulate physical and human capital. There may also be a greater sharing
of household risk and the scope for co-operative action by local groups is expanded,
particularly in cases where excessive exploitation or poor maintenance of assets would result
from purely individualistic behavior under open access to "common property" resources.

Building up social capital or the civil society means improving the democratic governance at
grassroots level. This can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of economic resources in
three ways:

First, the synergy arising from partnership and co-production arrangements can mobilize
underutilized resources (money, labor, management capacity, or information, for example)
from civil society. These resources, combined with government inputs, result in more
efficient service provision than could have been attained with the various actors intervening
independently. These arrangements may also free public resources previously going toward
the direct government provision of private goods to target critical collective goods that are
under-supplied. Empowered citizens groups' capacity to improve service delivery by entering
into new relationships with government service providers has been well documented in a
variety of examples derived from the experience of poverty reduction projects. Wherever
such self-organised community-based management of development resources are seriously
undertaken, they generally result in more efficient and productive resource management, a
reduction in dependence on external resources, increased equity, increased local initiative and
accountability, and a strengthening of economic discipline.

Second, with the existence of civil organisations at the implementation level, decentralized
and democratic governance down to even the village level has replaced top-down and
bureaucratic administration of resources. Undoubtedly, this innovative approach creates
incentives that can increase efficiency and effectiveness. Such incentives include increased
competition among levels of government, increased local control over resources, decision-
making empowerment of beneficiaries, increased targeting of services to local needs, and
increased transparency.

Specifically, greater participation of civil organisations as actors outside government

definitely increases efficiency and effectiveness. Monitoring and feedback from civil
organisations on implementation of public agencies (e.g., service delivery surveys) help to

5
assure that policies and programmes of government serve their intended purposes. Further,
the increased transparency and accountability that result from civil society oversight enhance
efficiency by decreasing the potential for patronage or corruption. Such democratic
governance gives stakeholders new incentives and opportunities to keep an eye on service
providers (inside and outside of government), who should become more responsible to public
resources and responsive to local demands.

Third, improved economic efficiency of resources is achieved due to better technical quality
of services through increased participation and competition of professional civil
organisations. Increased participation and an enhanced role of civil society groups will enrich
the competition of state and non-state service providers, and provide better quality services to
the needs of the population.

1.3 Roles of Civil Society Organisations in Natural Resources Management

CSOs play important roles in community-based natural resource management. Experience
from the past several decades of planned development and top-down natural resources
management practices indicates that many states have lacked capacity to coerce their citizens
into natural resources management programmes. These limits are seen starkly when state
actors attempt to discipline resource users. Where resources such as fodder, fuel-wood, fish
and wildlife are intrinsic to everyday livelihood and household budgets, a top-down
management generally fails. Faulty design, inefficient implementation and corrupt
organisations have played an equally important role in the poor outcomes associated with the
state-centered natural resources policies.

With the spread of democratic political structures and the increasing insistence on
participation, CSOs are mobilized to play a positive role in the management of the
conservation of natural resources. CSOs at different political levels have helped to amplify
the voices of local, indigenous, and community groups in natural resource policies. The
recognition of the limits of the state and the emphasis on participation of CSOs have come
roughly at the same time as new revisionist ecological research began to question the two
other main planks of coercive conservation.

The principle of community-based conservation and resource management uses new beliefs
about the suitability of communities to implement the natural resources management policies.

6
The implicit assumption behind these recommendations is that communities have incentives
to use resources unsustainably when they are not involved in resource management. If
communities are involved in conservation, the benefits they receive have the potential to
create incentives for them to become good stewards of resources.

This vision of community-based management of natural resources, as the centerpiece of

conservation and resource management, is globally supported. The development of capable,
effective CSOs at grassroots level provides their advocates with options for realising the
long-term goal of increasing the role of community in natural resource management.

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Chapter 2: Civil Society in Vietnam

2.1 Historical Overview of Traditional Civil Society Organisations in Vietnam

Research on traditional organisations in Vietnamese society points to the cooperative
relationship between state and villages, in which the state did not intrude deeply into village
affairs, although over 1000 years of Chinese domination and cultural influence to some extent
affected this relationship. In this state-society relationship, villages, particularly in the North,
over centuries sustained a form of organisations that emphasized a high degree of autonomy
and independence from state as well as internal ‘democracy’. To some extent, Vietnamese
traditional villages could be considered as quasi-civil societies.

This societal organisation was largely defined by the country’s traditional economic system –
water-rice cultivation – which required village organisations with strong community sense
and cohesion to fight flooding and natural disasters, alternate labor and perform similar
societal functions. Several factors contributed to the existence of this internal village
‘democracy’: (i) mutual dependence on agricultural production among families created
mutual respect, equality, and egalitarianism; (ii) the existence of craft guilds (phuong) and
associations (hoi) created interdependence and mutual respect; (iii) age groups/cohorts (giap)
– although forming a hierarchy, egalitarian principles were applied within each cohort, and
with increasing age, anyone would ultimately reach the "higher ranks"; (iv) the administrative
organisation of village was based on the triangle of advisory (ky lao), legislative (ky muc),
and executive (ky dich) groups in which ‘ky dich’ contacted villagers through ‘giap’, a very
stable and volunteer form of association. The numerous wars taking place during this early
period further enhanced the tradition of unity and mutual support.

In addition, each village had its own laws (huong uoc) and governance (hoi dong ky muc).
The statement that ‘the King’s rule stopped at the village gate’ to a large extent illustrates the
democratic dialectic relationship between state and villages. Each village could be seen as ‘a
republic’, as noted by the French Indochina governor-general Paul Doumer.

Phuong, hoi, also existed in urban centers. In fact, the old Ha Noi, the capital of Viet Nam
since 1010, was formed by 36 phuongs. These phuongs produced and traded goods such as
silk, jewelry, leather, metal goods including bronze, iron, and various other types of

8
handicrafts. Members of phuong committed to help each other in production the goods, for
example to provide technical assistance or to give loan to each other. They also committed to
protect the secrets of their trade, to keep common price of the products, etc. The names of all
phuongs remain in the names of the streets in Hanoi's old quarter even until the present days.

During the French colonization, particularly from the late 30s to the 40s, there was a further
evolution of civil society in Viet Nam with the formation of many self-established
associations. The most prominent association was the Reform Association organised by Phan
Boi Chau who wanted to send young Vietnamese people to Japan and China to learn how to
reform the country. Phan Boi Chau called for general reform, the dissemination of the
romanized Vietnamese script, and the development of industry and commerce as well as
organised charities and farmer's associations. Phan Chu Trinh, another reformist, organised
campaigns against outdated customs and encouraged charitable activities. Most members of
the Reform Association were intellectuals or social activists and mainly from urban areas.
Financially, the Reform Association mainly relied on contribution from the members and
from wealthy families who were opposed to the colonialist government. Other associations
existed in most economic, social, political, and cultural arenas., the majority of which
favouring overarching social reform and. Some in fact supported anti-feudal, anti-colonialist,
and revolution movements.

With the introduction of socialist construction in the country since the mid-1950s, a new
socio-economic and political space was established. This was defined by a highly centralised
system comprising three pillars: the Party, the government, and the mass-organisations.
Within this scheme, the Party played and still plays the leading role, with encompassing
power. Mass-organisations, all joined under the umbrella of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front,
although being broad-based with wide participation of individuals from a wide spectrum of
social groups, were organised by the state with a mandate, among others, to mobilize their
members to achieve nationally defined goals.

Nevertheless, the need for local participation was broadly realised, and the government has in
this context increasingly counted on the mass-organisations. Thus, although being organised
and funded by the government, and therefore not being "non-governmental" in a conventional
sense, the mass-organisations have played an important role in voicing local interests and
needs to the government.

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The market reforms initiated in the mid-80s, and particularly the official and wide-spread
acknowledgement of the importance of a free private sector (i.e. independent from the state)
for socio-economic development of the country, have created a new socio-economic
environment conducive to the development of the civic organisations has emerged.

2.1 The Current Legal and Institutional Framework for Civil Society in Vietnam

2.2.1 Current regulations governing the formation and operation of civil society
organisations
Since the introduction of the socialist state, Vietnam's fundamental political structure has
been defined by a centralised system with three pillars: the Party, the government, and the
mass-organisations.
Figure 1: The Political Structure in Vietnam
Level Communist Party Legislative Body Executive Body Mass-organisations
Central Central National Government Central Committees
Committee Assembly of
of the Communist Fatherland Front,
Party Ho Chi Minh Youth
Union, Women's
Federation,
Trade Union,
Farmers’ Association
and other Mass
Organisations
Provinces Provincial Provincial People's Provincial People's Provincial
Committee of Council Committee Committees of Mass
Communism Party Organisations
Districts District District People's People's Committee District-level Mass
Committee of Council Services Organisations
Communism Party
Communes Party cell Commune People's Commune People's Commune Mass
Council Committee Organisations

Within this structure, civil society is "organised" and controlled through the government-
established mass-organisations, which are formed with a mandate of mobilizing people to
achieve nationally defined goals and securing people's active participation in the
implementation of the Party's policies. This construct builds on the notion that civil society is
uni-dimensional and socially homogenous. “The skeptics insist that in Viet Nam there is no
non-governmental organisations because all organisations are placed under the leadership of
the Party and under the management of the state” (Thaveeporn Vasavakul, 2001).

10
Currently there are about 30 mass-organisations, who are all organised under the umbrella of
the Viet Nam fatherland Front (VFF). The major ones include the Women’s Union (WU), the
Farmer’s Association (FA), the Federation of Labor and the Youth Union which each have
several million citizens as their members. For example, the WU has 12 million members
across the country and a well-organised structure linking its units at the central, provincial,
district and commune levels.

The commitment of the Communist Party of Viet Nam towards development of civil
organisations was declared at the beginning of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and
reflected in the Constitution in 1946 (and subsequent revisions in 1959, 1980, 1992, 2000 and
2001) Article 9 of the Constitution of 1992 (revised in December 2001) states that: “the Viet
Nam Fatherland Front and its member organisations constitute the political base of people's
power. The Front promotes the tradition of national solidarity, strengthens the people's unity
of mind in political and spiritual matters, participates in the building and consolidation of
people's power, works together with the State for the care and protection of the people's
legitimate interests, encourages the people to exercise their right to mastery, ensures the
strict observance of the Constitution and the law, and supervises the activity of State organs,
elected representatives, State officials and employees. The State shall create favorable
conditions for an effective functioning of the Fatherland Front and its component mass-
organisations.”

The Constitution also provided a principal basis for the development of civil organisations
established by citizens independently from the government. Article number 69 states that:
“the citizen shall enjoy freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of the press, the right to be
informed, and the right to assemble, form associations and hold demonstrations in accordance
with the provisions of the law”.

In another key development, on May 20th 1957, President Ho Chi Minh, issued the “Decree
on Enacting the Law on the Rights to Set up Associations”. The three first articles set out a
clear framework for peoples' right to association:

Article 1.
The rights to set up associations of people are respected and secured. Setting up associations

11
should have legitimate goals being appropriate to the interests of people, having impact on
popular solidarity and contribution to the establishment of people's democratic system in our
country.

Article 2.
All but those having been relieved of citizen rights and prosecuted have the rights to set up
associations. All people have the right to enter and exit the legal associations. Nobody is
allowed to violate the rights to set up associations, and to enter/exit associations of others.

Article 3
To guarantee the legitimate goals of association foundation, defend and consolidate people's
democratic system, permits should be applied for setting up associations. The procedures for
setting up associations will be stipulated by the government.

The 1957 Law of Association is an important historical reference for the decisions by today's
policy makers concerning civil society. The Law therefore constitutes an important reference
point for the formulation of any new legislation concerning civil organisations.

Recently, in consequence of the ongoing administrative reform, declining budgets for

government service delivery as well as the increasing demand of economy, the government
has come to acknowledge that transfer of many functions that used to be performed by
government institutions to the private sector and self-established organisations and
individuals may have its advantages. This is particularly so in the field of research and
application of science and technology, including the research and application of economic,
governance and social development policies. This has resulted in initial limited efforts by
government to legitimize a public sphere independent from the state.

The most relevant legal documents relating to the functioning of civil society organisations
issued by the state are:
(i) Resolution number 08B/NQ-TW of 27 March 1990 on "renovating public
mobilization policy of the Party, strengthening the relations between the Party and
people’s community".
(ii) The Government Decree No 35/HDBT issued on 28 January 1992 on the
establishment of non-profit scientific and technological organisations;

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(iii) The Joint Circular 195-LB of November 1992 of the Ministry of Science, Technology
and Environment and the Government Commission for Organisation and Personnel
Promulgating the implementation of regulations for registration and activities of
Scientific research and technology development organisations.
(ii) The Regulations on Operations of International NGOs in Viet Nam promulgated in
accordance with Decision No. 340/TTg dated 24 May 1996 of the Prime Minister;
(iii) The Civil Law promulgated 1 June 1996
(iv) Circular No. 143/TB-TW of 5 June 1998 on comments from the Standing Committee
of Political Bureau on organisation, operation and administration of professional
associations.
(v) The Regulations on the Exercise of Democracy in Communes in conjunction with
Decree No.29/1998/ND-CP;
(vi) The Decree No.177/1999/ND-CP of 22 December 1999 promoting organisation and
operation of social funds and charity funds
(vii) The Law on Science and Technology of 9 June 2000.
(viii) Decree 81/2002/ND-CP issued on 17 October 2002 on science and technology
organisations in accordance with the Law on Science and Technology.

Extracts from these legal documents are attached in Annex X-Y. In the following, a more in-
depth description of the most legal documents follows:

(i) Decree 35 of the Committee of Ministers issued on 28 January 1992 on

“Organisation of Scientific and Technological Activities”. This Decree forms a
very important part of the legal basis for the formation and operation of the socalled
research and development centers that are often labeled "NGOs" by the international
donor community in Vietnam. All scientific and technology research centers are
established and registered in accordance with this Decree. The Department for
Registration of Science and Technology Organisations (DRSTO) has been established
by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment to oversee the operations of
these centers. Article 1 of this Decree states that “all state agencies, military units,
business and social organisations and all citizens have right to organise and
implement science and technology activities, as well as to apply the achievements of
advanced science and technology…”. However, this decree does not mention the
rights and obligations of the scientific and technological associations established by

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 citizens.

(ii) Law on Science and Technology issued on 9 June 2000. This law is considered a
replacement of the above-mentioned Decree 35 on organisation of scientific and
technological activities. The law stipulates conditions for establishment of scientific
and technological organisations, their rights, obligations and strict restrictions. The
law provides the legal basis for the establishment of scientific and technological
service organisations who have to register their operations with competent State
agencies according to the provisions of law. The law stipulates these organisations'
right to autonomy and to conduct registered scientific and technological activities and
to conclude contracts, train personnel, foster talent and register their members'
participation in scientific and technological tasks. The scientific and technological
organisations are specifically prohibited from taking advantage of scientific and
technological activities to distort or oppose undertakings and policies of the
Communist Party and laws of the country, thereby disrupting the national unity. Also,
they may not use scientific and technological activities to infringe upon the State's
interests or the legitimate rights and interests of organisations and/or individuals,
causing harm to natural resources, environment and/or people's health, acting against
the morals, traditions and customs of the country.

(iii) Decree number 81/2002/ND-CP of October 2002 detailing the implementation of

a number of articles of the Science and Technology Law. The Decree's Article 3
confirms the right to establish scientific and technological service organisations by
individuals without an umbrella government organisation: "Organisations and
individuals may set up scientific and technological service organisations according to
the provisions in Article 13 of the Science and Technology Law in the form of public-
service organisations or scientific and technological service-providing enterprises
according to the Enterprise Law." The Decree's Section 2 details the right of
individuals not only to set up their own organisations (Article 11) but also to provide
comments that shall be "heard" by the government (Article 13).

(iv) Regulation on the Exercise of Democracy in Communes in conjunction with

Decree No. 29/1998/ND-CP. On 15 May 1998, the Government promulgated the
Regulation on the Exercise of Democracy in Communes in conjunction with Decree

14
 No. 29/1998/ND-CP to implement the constitutional principle “Viet Nam is a State of
the people, from the people, for the people”. This Decree is considered the first legal
framework for strengthening the participation of local communities at the local level.
The “foreword” of the Decree states that: “Democracy is the nature of our regime and
State. Our Party and State always respect and bring into full play the people's mastery,
creating an enormous strength and making a decisive contribution to the success of
our revolution. The people's mastery in all domains has been prescribed in the
Constitution, laws and legal documents of the State.”

The Decree assigns local governments the responsibility of providing information

concerning policies, laws, long-term and annual socio-economic development plans
of the communes, land-use plans and annual draft budget. Besides the right for
citizens to be informed, the Decree also stipulates the rights of citizen to establish
local committees that monitor construction projects. The decree also sets out the
rights of individuals when assessing activities of Commune People's Committees and
Councils.

The Decree differentiates between four levels of citizen's participation:

- People are informed about key issues: e.g. land use plan, budget allocation, etc.
- People participate but local authorities decide: e.g. project selection, local
development plans, implementation of national programmes, compensation for
land clearance, etc.
- People participate and decide: e.g. on their financial or in-kind labour
contributions to local development projects.
- People supervise and control: grievances, budget expenditures, construction of
infrastructure and other activities by public resources.

In the eyes of many observers, particularly development actors, the Decree is an important
step in the development of civil society in Vietnam. However, it is also felt that local
institutional barriers often prevent efficient implementation of the degree. Furthermore, the
decree focus on mobilising citizen's supervision over the utilization of resources by local
government, rather than empowering local communities through the establishment of civic
groups.

15
In general, these legal documents have significantly enhanced individual access to forming
associations in accordance with democratic principles. However, there is still room for further
strengthening effective participation and contribution of citizens in promoting
democratization and a market-based economy in Vietnam.

2.2.2 Challenges and opportunities with respect to the implementation of civil society
related regulations in Vietnam
Over the past ten years, opportunities for civil society in Viet Nam have been radically
improved, mostly as an inevitable consequence of the country’s economic reforms towards
market economy. In the economic transition process the sphere of society has become
increasingly open for new societal actors, especially for non-governmental actors. In the
context of the current objectives of administration reform, decentralization and grassroots
democratization, there is an on-going policy debate about whether the state should establish a
new legal framework for civil organisation, which defines the legitimate political, economic
and social position of the mushrooming civic organisations.

The NGO Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs has been assigned the
responsibility of drafting a new Law on Association. The 10 th draft version of this law seeks
to establish a clearer definition of the concept of "NGOs", defining the range of stakeholders,
the areas there NGOs can legitimately operate and regulations relating to taxation, staffing
and management of NGOs. The fact that this process proceeds in spite of the inherent
challenges is an indication of the commitment of the Party and the Government to define a
meaningful role for civil society organisations in the context of the Vietnam's socio-economic
development. However, complex political concerns still need to be addressed and negotiated
within the Party, the Government and the National Assembly, and it is therefore unlikely that
a new Law on Association will be promulgated in the short term.

In parallel with the deliberations on a new Law on Association, the National Assembly and
Government agencies are processing various other laws and regulations related to the
formation and operation of civil society organisations. This among other initiatives include
the proposed revision of the Law on Cooperatives, the Law on Science and Technology of
2001 and Decree 81 of October 2002 on science and technology organisations in accordance
with the Law on Science and Technology. The latter has established a legal basis for NGOs
working in science and technology (including social and political science) that among other

16
things establish the right for individuals to form science and technology centeres with no
formal affiliation to Government umbrella organisations [CHECK THIS WITH TUNG].

Therefore, in order to maintain the momentum of these multiple institutional and legal
processes, it is of key importance that the positive contributions by current civil society
organisations to the social and economic development of the country are documented and
made available to central decision-makers in the Party, Government and the National
Assembly. Similarly, it is important that institutional barriers to the implementation of
legislation on civil society organisations, local level administrative reform and grassroots
democratization be documented and that support is made available for the gradual removal of
such barriers. An interesting example of the open debate and dialogue on such issues is the
publication in 2001 by the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy of the book titled "Cong
Dong Lang Xa Viet Nam Hien Nay" (Grassroots Community in Viet Nam Today). This book
lists key challenges to the implementation of the Decree on Democracy at Grassroots Level1.

2.2 Defining and Interpreting Civil Society in the Context of Viet Nam
2.3.1 A Note on Terminology
The interpretation of the civil society concept in the context of Viet Nam needs to take into
account the fact that this concept was initially developed in the West, and that it therefore
needs to be considered how this concept "translate" into Vietnamese society, culture and
language. This need is illustrated by the fact that the word "civil society" is quite rarely used
and referred to in local literature and public policy documents, and that it has been difficult to
translate the concept into Vietnamese language. The term most commonly used in current
Vietnamese reports seems to be ‘xa hoi cong dan’ (which may be translated as "society of
citizens"). Other reports translate civil society as "xa hoi dan su" (in connection to the
translation of the Civil Code as "luat dan su" TUNG NEEDS TO EXPLAIN THIS).
However, this terminology largely remains odd to ordinary people and sensitive to the
government in a political context. On the other hand, Vietnamese words such as "doi song
cong dong" ("community life"), "cong dong nhan dan" ("people's community") and "cong
dong lang xa" ("grassroots community") are widely used by public documents. Consequently,
if civil society can be defined as a separate public sphere (cong), “it is a well understood term
going back centuries in Vietnam, representing the space in which people conduct affairs
beyond family or private sector (tu), but not specifically under the jurisdiction of government
1
An extract of this work is provided in Annex X1

17
officials (quan)” (Marr, 1994). This terminology therefore contributes to a more culturally
sensitive and accessible interpretation of civil society in Vietnam. Accordingly, rather than
referring to "civil society organisations", it may be more conducive to strengthening of civil
society in Viet Nam to refer to the terms "social organisations" or "community organisations"
which are more commonly used in Party and Government documents.

2.3.2 Defining Civil Society in the Context of Vietnam

Several attempts have been made to define civil society in the context of Vietnamese society.
David Marr in 1994 while assessing the civil society in Viet Nam found that the definition
made by Larry Drummond seemed to suit the political context in the country better than other
definitions. Larry Drummond defines civil society as “the realm of organised social life that
is voluntary, self-generating, (largely) self-supporting, autonomous from the state, and bound
by a legal order or set of shared rules. It is distinct from society in general in that it involves
citizens acting collectively in a public sphere to express their interests, passions, and ideas,
exchange information, achieve mutual goals, make demands on the state, and hold the state
officials accountable”. “Actors in civil society need the protection of an institutionalized legal
order to guard their autonomy and freedom of action”.

The concept recently proposed by Kaldor also seems relevant to the Vietnam's context. It is
defined as an intermediate association, which grows out as "self-organisation outside the
formal political circles" and "expands space in which individual citizens can influence the
condition in which they live both directly through self-organisation" and "provides a
substitute for many of the functions performed by the state.... and the function in the field of
welfare which the state can no longer afford to perform" (Kaldor, 2000).

The research undertaken as part of this study indicates that any definition of civil society in
the context of Viet Nam need to carefully review the "requirements" with respect to the
linkages between civil society organisations and the state as formally all organisations
operate under the leadership of the Party and under the management of the state. For
example, since the new law on association has not been promulgated, all the 37 VNGOs,
which were listed in the recently published Viet Nam NGOs Directory, are formally
established and registered by the Government as units of government agencies or mass-
organisations. Most of these organisations were registered by the Ministry of Science and
Technology (MOST) as science and technology research centres under the Viet Nam Union

18
of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA). Party directives and government
decisions not only legally create these associations but also provide a framework for their
development and activities.

However, largely influenced by the economic liberalisation and administrative reform,

institutional arrangements in Vietnamese society are undergoing rapid transformation, and an
increasing number of civil society organisations, particularly provincial or "lower" levels of
the mass-organisations, many science and technology associations and community-based
funds and groups are increasingly operating fairly independent of the government. This
transition of Vietnamese society calls for the application of a functional approach to defining
civil society in Vietnam, i.e. a definition that catagorise organisations based on the nature of
their actual operations and activities. It is suggested that organisations that meet the following
criteria be "qualified" as civil society organisations in the Vietnamese context:

 First, while they may be originally formed by the government or formally registered
under a government umbrella agency, CSOs are autonomous or semi-autonomous with
respect to financial resource mobilization, management and resource allocation. As such
they raise funds from non-government sources and make managerial decisions
independent from government that contribute to the well-being of their members and to
socio-economic development.

 Second, CSOs in Viet Nam are based on voluntary membership. CSOs in Viet Nam refer
to organisations or groups that allow people to join as members. Objectives of such
groups of citizens “acting collectively in a public sphere” are to exchange information,
achieve mutual goals, and promote the interest and demands of their members vis-à-vis
the state leadership. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) defines nonprofit
organisations (NPO) as associations or voluntary not-for-profit organisations of
Vietnamese people or groups that unite people/organisations with common interests or
professions and share knowledge, resources and work on a regular basis for a certain
purpose which is legally accepted.

 Third, Vietnamese CSOs represent individual interests and help these interests be
considered by the government. The role of CSOs is important in amplifying the voices
from grassroots communities, especially in the most remote and mountainous areas, so

19
 that these interests are heard and considered the policy makers at the central level.
CSOs not only help the government in monitoring socio-economic development issues
but also substitute many functions traditionally performed by the state, such as
agricultural extension, credit management, irrigation maintenance, information exchange,
etc.

Applying this definition, civil society in Viet Nam may be said to comprise the following
categories of organisations:

(i) Traditional mass-organisations (Doan the), such as the Women’s Union, Youth
Union, Farmers' Union, the Viet Nam Union of Science and Technology Associations
(VUSTA), the Confederation of Labour Unions, Viet Nam Union of Literature and
Arts Associations (VULAA), Viet Nam Veteran’s Union, etc. While all of these
organisations are organised under the umbrella of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front as
stipulated by the Constitution and consequently are formally established under Party
or state control, they are also undergoing a gradual functional transformation and
increasingly perform functions defined as "typical" civil society functions under
international civil society definitions;
(ii) Professional associations (Hoi quan chung) such as the Association of Vietnamese
Writers (AVW), Viet Nam Association of Mathematics (VAM), Association of
Vietnamese Folklorists (AVF), Viet Nam Gardening Association (VACVINA), etc.
which are established under an umbrella of a relevant mass-organisation. As for the
mass-organisations, these organisations increasingly perform "CSO-like" functions.
(iii) Professional centres or research/education centres, which are often registered with
the Viet Nam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) and referred
to by international donor agencies as "VNGOs" (to chuc phi chinh phu). This includes
organisations such as the ones listed in the WB-supported 2002 VNGO Directory.
(iv) Community-based organisations, which include several thousand of groups and
associations without formal legal status that are voluntarily established by people in
rural or urban areas to collectively plan, finance and provide services to their
constituency. This includes Village Development Committees, Water User Groups,
Credit Groups, Extension Clubs, Cultural, Religious and Social Groups, etc.
(v) "New-style" agricultural and non-agricultural co-operatives established in accordance
with democratic co-operative principles contained in the 1997 Co-operative Law.

20
(vi) Social and charity funds established under Government Decree 177 and similar
organisations.

2.3.3 Role and Function of CSOs in Vietnam

Given the existing institutional and legal framework, and applying the CSO definition offered
in section 2.3.2 above, the role and function of CSOs in Viet Nam may be summarised as
follows:

1. CSOs provide public services and contribute to development for local communities
2. CSOs maintains a monitoring function with respect to the delivery of social services,
grassroots democratization and the application of "rule-of-law" at the local level
3. CSOs facilitate local self-help action and respond to a variety of societal problems
4. CSOs represent their constituencies vis-à-vis the state

1. CSOs provide public services and contribute to development for local communities.
Vietnamese CSOs undertake a variety of roles related to the provision of social services:
a) they act as mainstream service delivery agents complementing or supporting
government service delivery, b) they test and develop new ways of providing social
services and feed-back related learning to the government, and c) they act as
“intermediary organisations” facilitating flows of activities, resources and ideas between
the center and local communities in areas there government service delivery may be
sensitive or socio-cultural barriers.

The Government’s policy to develop the role of non-profit organisations is confirmed in

the National Development Plan for 2000-2005. This Plan states the intent to “support and
encourage non-profit organisations participation in fulfilling socio-economic targets.
These organisations can be authorized by the State to implement defined tasks, and to
provide services under the supervision of the community. By doing so, the State can
concentrate its resources on more important obligations (sic!).” Recognizing this
necessity to engage civil society organisations in provision of complementary public
services, the National Socio-Economic Development Strategy for the period 2000–2010
furthermore refers to the Government's strategy “to encourage and support organisations
which are non-profit and working for the people’s needs and benefits and facilitate
organisations carrying out public services under community oversight”.

21
 Examples of how mass-organisations such as the Women's Union, Youth Union, Farmer’s
Union and professional associations such as VACVINA provide services to and contribute
to improving the livelihood of their constituencies are plentiful. The Women’s Union is
the leading member within the statutory National Council for the Advancement of
Women (NCAW), and also participates in the Steering Committee of the National Hunger
Eradication and Poverty Reduction Programme. Like the Women’s Union, the Youth
Union implements a mixture of credit and employment creation schemes. The Youth
Union also implements a programme to send young volunteers and students to help
people in the most disadvantaged communes. The Farmers' Union is formally responsible
for facilitation of the formation of new-style co-operatives in accordance with the 1997
Co-operative Law.

Furthermore, a range of Government service delivery programmes increasingly seeks to

establish civil society-based and private sector mechanisms for service delivery. This
among other areas includes agricultural extension, which increasingly relies on the
establishment of community-bases extension agents and farmer extension groups.

Local NGOs are relatively independent bodies that are primarily engaged in testing and
piloting of innovative approaches to social service delivery and and development work.
While the NGO sector is still in an infant and emerging stage, NGOs increasingly act as
“development think tanks” with interest and expertise in community development,
participatory planning and capacity building for poverty reduction as the grassroots level.
One example among many others is the Eco-Eco, a Hanoi-based NGO seeking to promote
the concept of balanced economic and ecological development in rural areas).

Similarly, local charities, community groups and NGOs increasingly act as intermediaries
for service delivery to severely disadvantaged community groups such as HIV/AIDS
inflicted people that may be difficult for government agencies to reach. In the case of
HIV/AIDS, this important role is explicitly acknowledged by central government health
agencies2. Though the state has not developed a clear legal framework for the operation of
NGOs, their involvement in policy making and implementation is increasingly important,
and there is evidence that the government has recognized their contributions to poverty
2
CATHERINE…..!

22
 reduction and socio-economic development.

2. CSOs maintains a monitoring function with respect to the delivery of social services,
grassroots democratization and the application of "rule-of-law" at the local level.
Under Doi Moi, the Government has come to realize its changing role and the importance
of the emergence of a "third sector" that not only provides complementary services as
mentioned above, but also plays a key role in improving the effectiveness and efficiency
of the government policies and programmes through monitoring of the implementation of
such programmes and provision of feed-back to central authorities. in order words, CSOs
helps the Government to "hearing the voice" of people. For example, facing problems of
inefficient implementation of national programmes due to corruption at implementation
levels, the State has realized the role of community participation in improving
transparency and accountability of public resource utilization. The issuance of Politburo’s
Directive 30-CT/TW and the Government’s Decree 29/ND-CP on the implementation of
democracy at the commune level in 1998 were meant to mobilize the participation of
people at grassroots level in the supervision of resource management at the
implementation level. Since then, national programmes such as the Programme to Assist
the Most Difficult and Remote Communes (Programme 135) have required that local
government consults with local people during the planning and implementation of
projects. However, while some programmes anticipate a role for groups of citizens, other
(notably the grassroots democracy degree) focus on citizen's individual participation.
Given the strong inter-linkage between democracy and organised civil society, there is a
further need to emphasise and support to the participation of CSOs in this context.

The commitment of the Party for democratization and improvement of community

participation is expressed by the issuance of the Grassroots Democracy Decree and recent
Party’s political reports. Currently, the Communist Party of Viet Nam is more active in
promoting the democratization process. The Party’s General Secretary Nong Duc Manh,
told at a conference held in March 2002 to review the implementation of the Politburo’s
Directive on building and executing the regulation on grassroots democracy that Party
officials should obtain a better understanding of people’s democratic rights. He said: “the
Party itself should set an example in observing democratic rights and firm leadership in
the process”. The General Secretary also said the promotion of democratic rights should
go hand in hand with the ongoing Party rectification and Party building drives,

23
 administration reform and the fight against corruption, wastefulness and red tape (Viet
Nam News, 6 March 2002).

3. CSOs facilitate local self-help action and respond to a variety of societal problems.
As reflected by the Vietnamese idiom “the intact leaf covers the ragged one” Viet Nam
has a profound tradition of extended family living and community-based solidarity action
in times of difficulty. It would be impossible to estimate the number of informal and
quasi-market community-level arrangements or groups that are formed by people to help
themselves out of poverty. For example, rural households adopt informal and voluntary
arrangements to exchange labour among households to cope with seasonal and
unexpected labour shortages. Similarly, informal or quasi-formal water-user associations
and saving and social protection schemes exist throughout the country. Members of these
schemes make regular contributions and can expect to receive insurance benefits in cases
of individual emergency.

Furthermore, formal and informal CSOs make remarkable contributions to the fight
against ”social vices” such as domestic violence, and support community training,
education classes, health care (often free of charge) and job and income creation for poor
people and women. In an economy witnessing increasing disparities between those who
are most vulnerable and the mainstream population, and a widening gap between the
needs of the "have-nots" and what the state can support, CSOs are well suited to reach the
most disadvantaged.

4. CSOs represent their constituencies vis-à-vis the state. During the 1990s, it has
become common for government-appointed legal "drafting committees" to distribute draft
legislation to mass organisations and professional associations in order to solicit
comments on the content of such drafts. The Vietnamese legislative process has thus
become more open to the participation of CSOs. In fact, mass organisations enjoyed the
right to participate in law making even before doi moi, as Article 86 of the 1980
Constitution empowered them to submit draft laws to the National Assembly and to
attend meetings of the Council of Ministers. The process of soliciting public opinion on
draft legislation was further institutionalized in August 1988 when the State Council
issued the "Statute on Drafting Laws and Ordinances". In November 1996, the public
solicitation process was codified into law when the National Assembly passed the "Law

24
 on the Promulgation of Legal Documents". Article 30 of this law stipulates that the "Viet
Nam Fatherland Front and its member organisations shall have the right to make
comments on bills and draft ordinances." When draft legislation is related to the
functions, tasks and powers of these organisations, drafting committees are required to
send the drafts to the VFF and its member organisations for comments. The process of
gathering opinions from the general public is set out in Articles 39-41, which stipulate
that the Standing Committee of National Assembly (NASC) decides on the range of draft
legislation for which public comments should be solicited, and also determines the
content, scope, mode and time of such solicitation.

Citizens can offer comments through "their agencies or organisations" or can mail their
comments directly to the Office of the National Assembly, the drafting committee, or to
the mass media. During the solicitation process, the VFF and its member organisations,
social and economic organisations and state agencies are responsible for creating
conditions for citizens to offer comments on draft legislation. Finally, the Office of the
National Assembly is responsible for gathering all of the public comments. Then the
concerned drafting committee coordinates with the evaluating agency (one of the seven
specialized committees of the National Assembly) with a view to "study and accept the
public comments, revising the draft document and making a report to the Standing
Committee of the National Assembly".

Consequently, the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents provides mass

organisations and professional associations with the rights to comment on all draft
legislation, and also stipulates the mechanisms by which the general public may comment
on selected legislation.

In conclusion, different types of CSOs in Viet Nam have both traditionally and in
contemporary society performed a range of important societal roles and functions. Viet Nam
has had a long-standing tradition for a corporative relationship between major centralised
CSOs and the state, and for informal or quasi-formal organisation at the community level. As
the economic reform process has moved forward, the state has increasing acknowledged the
need to support the emergence of an increasingly independent "third sector". This in turn has
strengthened the role of civil society, contributed to a wider role of CSOs and for a
transformation of the roles traditionally performed by the mass-organisations and other

25
central level CSOs.

26
Chapter 3: Mapping out Civil Society Organisations in Viet Nam

3.1 Mass-Organisations
Under the Constitution of Vietnam, mass-organisations are established as members of the
Viet Nam Fatherland Front (VFF). Founded in 1955 by initiation of the Communist Party, the
VFF is a broad alliance and voluntary federation of socio-political organisations representing
various strata of society. The goal of the VFF is to unite all third sector organisations for the
socio-economic development of the country. In addition to VFF's central level organisation,
there are 61 provincial, 662 district and 10,511 commune branches of the Fatherland Front.
The central level VFF President and Vice-Presidents members of the Central Committee of
the Communist Party.

Currently 30 mass-organisations are organised under the umbrella of the VFF. The major
ones include the Women's Union, the Farmer’s Union, the Federation of Labor, the Youth
Union and the Veteran's Union, which each have millions of members. For example, the
Women's Union has 12 million members across the country and a nation-wide organisational
structure reaching from the central to the commune level. The Ho Chi Minh Communist
Youth Union has 3.5 million members and the Farmer’s Union has 7 million members.

All mass-organisations have branches in all the 61 provinces, 622 districts and 10,511
communes in the country. The government provides 100% of the operating costs of these
organisations, and central, provincial and district level leaders of most mass-organisations
receive monthly salaries and benefits similar to government employees (for the Veteran’s
Union and the Union of the Elderly, only leaders at central level receive salary and benefits).
Members of Commune Fatherland Fronts receive a symbolic allowance from the relevant
local government. In most communes, members of VFF, especially presidents and vice-
presidents, are retired government employees with a monthly pension.

The Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) in 1999 comprised 46,230
grassroots trade unions with about 3,633,000 members. Article 10 of the Constitution defines
the function of the VGCL as a political and social organisation under the leadership of the
Communist Part. It further states that the organisation participates in state administration and
in “social management”. The VGCL has a dual role and is expected to both protect the rights

27
and interests of workers as well as to
promote production and create jobs. The
dual role is defined in Article 2 of the 1990
Trade Union Law. This law also stipulates
the rights of the President of the VGCL to
attend cabinet meetings as well as meetings
of government agencies and
organisations when these discuss matters
relating to “the rights, obligations and
interests of workers”. The Law also gives
the VGCL the right to submit “draft laws
and ordinances to the National Assembly
and the State” in matters of concern for
workers.
The statute of the Viet Nam Union of
Literature and Arts Associations (VULAA)
(Lien Hiep Cac Hoi Van Hoc Nghe Thuat
Viet Nam), revised at its Sixth National
Congress in 2000, states that the Union is a
political, social, and professional
organisation (to chuc chinh tri, xa hoi, nghe
nghiep) that acts as the fatherland front of
literature and arts associations in Vietnam.
In 2001, the VULAA structure consisted of
the central Union structure, ten central
professional associations, and 61 provincial
and municipal unions. The central Union's
main decision making body is its congress
that meets every five years. Between
congresses, the National Commission of the
Union, consisting of heads of the ten
professional associations and the
provincial and municipal unions, meets
A CSO Profile: The Farmer's Union
 In 2000, 828,000 farmers joined the Farmers' Union
(FU), increasing the total number of members to 7,
855,000 or 68% of all farming households in
Vietnam.
 In 2002, FU reviewed the implementation of its
programme for legal popularisation and information
dissemination for farmers; and the participation of
farmers in providing comments to drafting a
other
revision of the Grassroots Democracy Decree
(based on Dir. 02 and Decision 03 by the prime
Minister)
 Also in 2002, the FU in cooperation with MARD
and the Ministry of Fisheries has implemented the
project “Production Support and Jobs Generation”.
This project has organised training courses on
agricultural, aquacultural and industrial extension
for 2,000 participants from 22 provinces, and
established 32 extension demonstration models for
1,600 members.
 The FU has also cooperated with the Bank of
Agriculture and Rural Development concerning
management of credit support for farmers.
 In October 2001, the Prime Minister issued
Instruction 26/CT-TTg on Provision of Support for
the Farmer's Union to Participate in Solving Letters
of Complaints/Accusations from Farmers (the text
of this Instruction is included in Annex X2). The
FU consequently initiated collaboration with the
Ministry of Justice, the State Bureau of Inspection
and the Land Administration Authority on legal
promulgation and education for FU's Cadres,
Members and Farmers.
 Under this programme, 164 FU cadres nation-wide
have been trained in receiving, negotiating and
solving complaint letters from farmers and delivery
of legal aid to farmers. FU has selected 6 pilot
communes in 6 provinces to implement the
programme.
 The FU Centre of Legal Support and Dissemination
has conducted surveys in three ethnic minority
communes in Lang Son and Tuyen Quang
provinces. The survey found that almost all the
interviewed farmers did not have even basic
knowledge about their rights and obligations under
current legislation. 60% had heared about laws such
as the Civil Code, Land Law, Cooperative Law and
Forest Protection Law, but they did not know or
understand the content of these laws.
61  So far, the FU has received 1250 letters of
complaints from farmers and transferred these to
28
annually. Between these annual sessions, the President, three vice presidents and the
Presidium (consisting of general secretaries from the ten professional associations and the
three municipal unions from Hanoi, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh City) run day-to-day affairs with
assistance from a standing committee. The central Union's financial resources come from the
Government, income generated from its activities, and contributions from individuals or
domestic organisations.

The Viet Nam Union of Science, Technology Associations (VUSTA) comprises the central
organisation, professional member associations, province-level unions, and the centers and
research institutes ("NGOs") registered under VUSTA. It has about 650,000 members. The
VUSTA congress meets every 5 years and elects a Central Council consisting of
representatives from all member associations. The Central Council elects a Presidium.
VUSTA’s budget comes from government subsidies, returns from scientific and technological
activities and enterprises, donations from individuals and institutions, and membership
contribution. VUSTA’s mission is defined by the Party Directive 45-CT/TW of November
1998 and Prime Minister Directive 14/2002/CT-TTg of August 2000 (refer Annex X3).
VUSTA has branches in all 61 provinces.

CSO Profile: Hanoi Union of Science, Technology Associations (HUSTA)

 The mission of HUSTA is to: a) upgrade the cultural/intellectual standards of Hanoi's inhabitants, b)
disseminate and apply scientific and technical knowledge in practical life and production, and c) review
and appraise socio-economic policy documents related to scientific and technological affairs in the city.

 During the past five years, HUSTA has organised 96 scientific conferences and workshops; 137 policy
discussions and debates in the Vietnamese media, 283 training courses, produced 15 scientific films and
conducted thousands of scientific research projects at various levels. A 17-volume science and
technology encyclopedia has been issued by HUSTA with involvement of 150 scientists. The HUSTA
professional member associations also contribute to the drafting of development programmes, projects,
legal and public policy documents by the Communist Party and the National Assembly, and engages in
the socio-economic development plans of Hanoi.

 In 2002, with a budget of VND 2 billion, the HUSTA and its members were involved in technical and
"clean city" initiatives in the capital city, such as civil transportation, protection of old architecture,
streets and the citadel, etc. Research in agriculture and rural development focussed on improved
breeding practices, safe and organic agricultural products, and clean rural environment. Research in
health has included disease treatment, community health, mainstreaming of environment safeguards,
training, etc. In relation to commercial production, HUSTA has paid special attention to developing the
VAC model (integrated gardening-fishing-husbandry farming), and institutionalisation of collection and
processing of waste in urban and suburban areas of Ha Noi. In recent years, HUSTA has also
undertaken social appraisals of residential area development schemes, etc. in the context of industrial
zone development.

29
As mentioned in Chapter 2, mass-organisations constitute a pillar of the state structure of
Vietnam, thus they can not be considered as components of civil society in a strict sense.
However, with their ongoing transformation towards increased adoption of "CSO-like"
functions as defined earlier in this report, the mass-organisations are playing an increasingly
important role in advancing the civil society agenda in the country. Over the past few years,
the role of mass-organisations has changed at an remarkable pace. From being political
organisations with a purpose to promulgate the policies of the Party and the government to all
groups of society and convince and mobilize support from citizens for the implementation of
established policies, mass-organisations are increasingly shifting their towards a role that
focus on representing and protecting the interests of their members in the decision making
process. For example the Farmer's Union is taking the lead in helping rural communities to
perform their monitoring and control roles under the grassroots democracy decree and is also
representing and negotiating claims or expressions of dissatisfaction from farmers vis-a-vis
local administrations.

As public services under the market-based economy increasingly fall short of people's needs
and expectations, the mass-organisations have further diversified their roles and function and
increasingly establishing themselves as providers of economic service to their members. In
spite of the fact that the rapid reduction in poverty levels in Viet Nam would allow many
members to discontinue their membership, the willingness of members to stay with the mass-
organisations seems to indicate that members have noticed and appreciate the changing role
of the mass-organisations towards service and welfare provision, although they are still being
in a political alliance with the state. Examples of the diversified social and economic
activities organised by mass-organisations include the HIV/AIDS prevention programmes,
revolving micro-credit schemes, support for small-scale private enterprise and the “Women
help each other develop their household economy” campaigns organised by the Viet Nam
Women Union throughout the country.

In general, the central Unions of mass-organisations are state-induced institutions. The close
integration of mass-organisations with the Government and Party ensure that the affairs of the
state and citizens are interwoven from the top to bottom of the state chain. At the same time,
the mass-organisations are well placed to influence the government process, and are
increasingly taking on "CSO-like" fuinctions. They therefore constitute an important entry
point for informing policy makers on civil society related matters, including the strengthening

30
the role of civil society with respect to rural development and natural resources management,
and for facilitation of civil society development. However, the mass-organisations'
organisational culture of acceptance of authority and the expectation for subsidies of
resources from the government and other organisational constraints remain barriers that
remain to be overcome in order to position the mass-organisations to becoming efficient
change agents for civil society.

3.2 Popular and Professional Associations

According to government’s statistics, as of July 2001, there were 240 nationwide professional
associations and 1,400 local professional organisations. As mentioned earlier, these popular
or professional associations are established at a “secondary” level under the structure of a
mass-organisation. For example, the second layer of VUSTA’s structure includes professional
associations in natural sciences, social sciences, applied sciences, and technology. The
number of professional associations registered with VUSTA increased from 34 in 1992 to 49
in 2001. To set up a popular professional association Vietnamese scientists in a particular
professional branch will have to agree with the central union that a new association is needed.
The Central Union then will make recommendations in this regard to the Ministry of Home
Affairs. The new association has to submit its draft statute, documents on its operational
procedures, and a list of full-time administrative staff. To receive preliminary approval from
VUSTA, applicants will have to show that there are at least 1000 members interested in
joining and that the new association will have sufficient financial resources. Member
associations report to the Central Union twice yearly but have responsibility for their own
finance.

Some associations maintains complex organisations, running their own research centers or as
private schools and universities. For example, the Association of Economics administers the
Hanoi University of Business Management, while the Association of Physics runs the Dong
Do University and the Union of Technology and Science Associations of Hanoi runs the
Phuong Dong University.

VULAA has ten central professional associations such as the Associations of Vietnamese
Writers, Fine Arts, Vietnamese Musicians, for Vietnamese Artists, Film Makers,
Photographers, Dancers, Architects, Folklorists, and Minorities' Arts and Literature. The total
number of members was approximately 10,000 in 2000. These professional associations are

31
independent from the central union, and run their own organisation, recruit their own
personnel, and make their own decisions on how and to whom they grant membership. All
publish their own newspapers and periodicals and some run their own publishing houses and
clubs. The Association for Vietnamese Writers, for example, runs six newspapers and
periodicals and its publishing house produced around 200 titles in 1999, while the
Association of Vietnamese Architects runs two periodicals.

The main task of professional member association is to assist their members in professional
matters. In addition, they advise the state on policies related to arts and culture and contribute
to state cultural projects when requested. The Association of Vietnamese Musicians, for
example, proposed that music be taught in kindergartens and primary schools while the
Association for Vietnamese Architects assisted the government with urban planning and legal
issues related to construction. The Association for Vietnamese Writers also assisted the
Ministry of Education with the reform of textbooks on literature and the Association for
Minorities' Literature and Arts on textbooks for ethnic minority primary schools.

CSO Profile: The Viet Nam Gardener’s Association (VACVINA)

 Organised under VUSTA, VACVINA is a popular organisation set up in 1986 to promote sustainable
agriculture through the development of the VAC ecosystem model.

 VAC is an acronym of three Vietnamese words: vuon (garden or orchard), ao (físh pond) and chuong
(animal shed). The VAC model is an economic model emphasising interaction between the three
farming practices; products from the garden can be used to feed the fish, the fishpond provides
irrigation and fertilizer for the garden, some of the fish can be used as animal feed, and animal manure
is used for plant and food for fish. In some households, farmers use animal manure in bio-gas digesters
for production of gas before reuse as plant and fish food. The main strategies adopted by the VAC
system are to recycle solar energy through spatial arrangements of crops and to use residue from one
farming system as material for another. The VAC model has been applied in the deltas, mountainous,
coastal, and forest areas and is considered beneficial economically (helping to increase the income of
rural households), socially (as a poverty reduction mechanism), and ecologically (promoting sustainable
practices). By the mid-1990s, the VAC model had been adopted and applied nationwide by various
groups and several Agricultural Colleges teach the VAC model.

 VACVINA is organised from the central to the local level with branches in 61 provinces. In addition to
the nationwide network of gardeners, VACVINA runs five centers and three companies that support the
promotion of the VAC ecosystem. The centers include the Center for Rural Community Research and
Development, the Center for Marine Products, two transfer-of-technology centers, and one consultancy
center. The three companies buys and sells fruit, fertilizer, rice wine and production inputs for those
applying the VAC concept. VACVINA voices its opinions through newspapers and meetings with
ministries and the cabinet, and has established separate relationships with the Party and state structure.
VACVINA also works with other popular associations such as the Association of Fertilizer Producers
and the Association for Vietnamese Planters.

Some associations have organised and developed branches at the provincial, district and even

32
the commune level to an extent depending on the nature of their professions and availablility
of resources.

3.3 Research and Professional Centers - Non-Profit Organisations

Within the current institutional framework, mass-organisations such as VUSTA or VULAA
and government agencies such as institutes and universities have supported the establishment
of professional research/training centers. As these organisations often maintain a high degree
of autonomy from the government and their umbrella organisation, they are often referred to
"local NGOs", "Vietnamese NGOs" or "Non-profit organisations" (NPO) by donors working
in Vietnam. The main activities of these organisations are primarily research and piloting of
interventions covering a wide range of economic, social and cultural dimensions of
development.

Since the Government has not issued a new law on association, the NGOs have to maintain
affiliation with their umbrella government agencies or science, technology, education,
training or environment institutions. They also have to register their operation with the
Registration Office of Science and Technology Organisations (ROSTO) under the Ministry of
Science, Technology according to the recently issued Decree No. 81, and with the NGO
Department under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) responsible for the overall
regulatory framework for NGOs and NPOs.

So far, about one thousand science and technology NGOs have been registered by ROSTO.
Most of these NGOs are established under the umbrella of the central or a provincial branch
of VUSTA (about 80%). The number of registered NGOs is increasing rapidly with 52
centres and institutes registered directly under VUSTA in 2002 and 273 by the end of 2001.
Since the issuing of Decree 81 of December 2002, about 40 NGOs have registered as
independent associations (i.e. not under an umbrella government agency or mass-
organisation). The NGOs mainly concentrate their activities in areas of business
management, urban and rural development, poverty reduction, community development,
environmental issues and training. A total of 36 centers and institutes work on poverty-
alleviation and community development issues as listed in the recent VNGO directory
published with assistance provided from the World Bank.

Setting up a center or a research institute is easier than to set up an association. Those

33
interested in setting up a center or an
institute under VUSTA will submit a
proposal directly to the central VUSTA.
Once the central Union agrees to sponsor
the center or institute, it will work with the
CSO Profile: Institute of Ecological Economy
(Eco-Eco)
 Eco-Eco was found in January 1990 as a research
organisation of a group of scientists and
registered under the umbrella of VUSTA in
August 1994.

Department of Science and Technology  Eco-eco’s mission is to a) carry out research on

theory and application of economy and ecology
Application, Ministry of Science, (eco-eco), b) demonstrate the eco-eco model
through piloting of eco-villages harmonizing
Technology, and Environment to secure economy and ecology to ensure sustainable
development, and c) organise training workshops
official registration as stipulated by the
and study tours on sustainable livelihood
Decree number 35 (now replaced by development.

Decree number 81).  Eco-eco is an association of 19 founding

ROSTO is working on formulation of
more appropriate regulations
guidelines on science and technology
NGOs in order to support the increasing
members, who are well-known professors on
ecology, biology, agronomy, etc. Most Eco-Eco
members are researchers retired from government
agencies. The institute has implemented projects
and funded by IUCN, CIDA, GEF, UNDP, SIDA and
CCFD (NGO). Projects concentrate on the
establishment of eco-villages under varying agro-
ecological conditions such as bare hills, sandy
coastal land and in mangrove forest.

engagement of the non-state sector in

poverty reduction and resources
management. Issues such as taxation for NGOs, access of NGOs to credit support from
banks, etc. need urgent legal attention.

While their contribution to the socio-economic development in Viet Nam is increasing, and
many NGOs demonstrate a strong sense of commitment to "their" cause and a significant
survival instinct", Vietnamese NGOs are facing a range of impediments and obstacles in their
efforts to support socio-economic development. These include the following:

1. These organisations' ability to act in a “true” NGO depends on the degree of

autonomy they have obtained from their government “umbrella” agency. As
mentioned at the earlier part of this report on regulatory framework for civil
organisations, until recently all professional organisations must be registered with a
government regulatory body and legitimated as a unit of the government agency or mass-
organisation in accordance with Decree 35. However, the new degree 81 allows for
registration as an independent association (i.e. NGOs can register without forming part of
an umbrella government agency or mass-organisation).

34
 Despite their close relations with the party-state structure, the NGOs that emerged in the
1990s differed from those established under the state socialist system with respect to their
mission, organisation and membership. Some popular and non-governmental
organisations succeed in getting involved in the policy making and policy implementation
process. However, the success and failure of these NGOs rests heavily on the personal
credibility of their leaders, alliances with the party and state leadership, horizontal
connections and support from other organisations, and alliances with their societal
constituencies (T. Vasavakul, 2001).

2. Lack of Resources and Capacity. While there are certainly exceptions to the rule, the
typical NGO has a limited number of staff, varying profession capacity and limited
financial resources. Although typically being formed under umbrella of unions,
significant legal and institutional barriers often prevents NGO from forming networks
and engage in collaboration that would allow exploitation of economics-of-scale. Given
their limited financial resources, recruitment of full-time professional staff is heavily
dependent on approval of donor projects, and most staff involved in implementation of
NGO activities are therefore either voluntary or hired on a short-term contractual basis.
This effects negatively on the ability of the NGOs to establish long-term and internal
capacity and experience within their respective fields and also pose a risk that some
NGOs become to focused on securing donor funding.

3. Unclear and complicated procedures for establishment, inspection and operations

and lack of clear financial regulations. The complexity of the procedures for
establishing NGOs outlined earlier in this section to a large extent prevents emergence of
new NGOs. In addition, regulations governing the operations, inspection and financial
management of NGOs, taxation and the financial relationship between NGOs and their
umbrella agencies have not been issued. This unfortunately limits the incentives for both
NGOs and their umbrella agencies to apply transparent and ethical management and
financial practices. This also puts NGOs in a vulnerable position they are exposed to
arbitrary definition of the management fees they are required to pay to their umbrella
organisations.

4. Exclusion from decision-making processes, information and implementation of

35
 national development policies. This is often due to un-transparent and bureaucratic
public administration processes (e.g. small professional NGOs often fall victim to un-
transparent bidding and sub-contractor selection processes, etc.) and discrimination by
public officials and state agencies who maintain traditional "state biases" and often lack
awareness of the role of civil organisations in the development process. Similarly, NGOs
often face limited access to information which is often controlled by state agencies who
hesitate to provide necessary information to NGOs.

5. Limited support. No, or limited, support from authorities at all levels in terms of
infrastructure, credits, incentives and other logistical assistance.

The major cause of these problems is the lack of a clear legal basis for NGO formation and
operations which would provide civil organisations with legitimacy and access to resources
and consequently enhance their ability to define long-term and short-term development
strategies, engage in coordination and networking activities and establish viable operational
frameworks.

36
 CSO Profile: Center for Legal Research and Services (LERES)

 The purpose of the Center for Legal Research and Services (LERES) is to promote rule of law in Viet
Nam through applied research and training on legal issues to public officers and citizens at the
grassroots level. LERES was registered in January 1997 as a unit of the Faculty of Law, Viet Nam
National University (VNU). LERES is functioning well since the VNU is enabling this center to
perform activities like a NGO. LERES has 12 full-time staff, some of them hold senior legal experts.
In addition, LERES has a wide network of senior legal experts working for government agencies or
private law firms, who are mobilized to participate in LERES’s activities on short-term contracts.

 LERES believe that the poor are always voiceless, are often ignored and therefore have no self-
confidence. Awareness and knowledge of political, civil and economic rights at the grassroots will
encourage people, especially the poor and those living in rural areas, to be more confident and take
active part in the political and socio-economic life at their localities. This will contribute to good
governance, promote participation, and enable farmers, especially the poor, to stand up against
corruption, law abuses and to assess the performance of local governments in delivering public
services and other activities.

 Consequently, LERES's objectives are to a) improve legal knowledge and awareness at village,
commune and district levels in order to facilitate governance by rule of law, b) recommend models for
how NGOs such as LERES could work effectively with local governments to increase legal
awareness of people and public officials and promote the democracy at the grassroots level.

 To achieve these objectives, LERES works to ensure that legal information is available and accessible
to people in rural areas in an understandable, user-friendly manner so that they can use this
information to exercise their rights of participation in and supervision of the distribution of public
resources. LERES receives financial support from the South-East Asia Fund for Institutional and
Legal Development, CIDA and UNDP. Project activities include a project to strengthen capacity of
the Office of the National Assembly, People’s Supreme Procuracy, and the People’s Supreme Court;
compilation, production and dissemination of “Guidelines for Implementation of the Civil Code and
the Grassroots Democracy Decree” for district-level public servants, the commune-level public
servants and ordinary citizens, and; provision of training courses and other interventions to improve
legal literacy at the local level. The legal literacy interventions mainly target village heads and women
who LERES sees as key change agents at the local level.

 Working at local levels enable LERES to collect information on governance an democracy at the
grassroots level and provide feedback to decision-makers at the central level with the “voice” from
local communities.

3.4 New-style Co-operatives

The current Law on Co-operatives was issued in March 1996 and has been in effect since 1
January 1997. This Law governs the establishment of the more democratic and market-
oriented "new-style" co-operatives and the transformation of old state-led co-operatives into
new-style co-operatives. The fundamental change in the Law on Co-operative of 1997 is the
State’s recognition on the civil nature of this kind of social organisation. The new-style co-
operatives defined in the Law are voluntary organisations, and they function as independent
economic entities. According to the law's Article 1, “an agricultural co-operative is an
autonomous economic organisation of farmers and people who have common needs and

37
interests. They voluntarily contribute capital and other resources to organise production and
business activities, to obtain services for agricultural and rural development, to increase the
potentials of their co-operative organisation as well as their own member households, and to
improve and increase the productivity and production of their member farm households…”.
Article 4 stipulates the organisation and operating principles of co-operatives, such as,
voluntary membership, democratic membership, equal rights in the voting process, education
and training for members, and co-operation with other co-operatives3.

The new law consequently establishes a new legal framework that allows for the formation of
democratic and independent co-operatives that are very different from the previous state-
managed co-operatives characterised by their dependency on the central planning mechanism
and compulsory membership. From a rigidly enforced centrally planned co-operative model,
the Vietnamese co-operative model has evolved into a form compatible with the Co-operative
Principles set by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA).

In order to guide the implementation of the law, the Government has promulgated nine
supporting decrees as follows:

 Government Decree 02/CP of 2 January 1997 on functions, powers and responsibilities of

ministries, ministerial agencies, provincial People’s Committees under the Co-operative
Law;
 Government Decree 15/CP of 21 February 1997 on government policies to promote the
new co-operative development;
 Government Decree 16/CP of 21 February 1997 on transformation of old co-operatives
and registration of new co-operatives and on the establishment and operation of the Viet
Nam Co-operative Alliance;
 Six Government Decrees 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 and 46/CP of 29 April 1997 on Standard
Rules for Co-operatives in the commerce, credit service, agriculture, industry and
construction, transport and fishery sectors.

However, five years after the promulgation of the Co-operative Law, the development of
new-style co-operatives remains relative modest, and the transformation of the old co-
operatives has met with many difficulties. In consequence, the process of transformation and
3
Please refer Annex X4 for a listing of the key articles of the law.

38
formation of new-style co-operatives has varied greatly across regions. As of first quarter of
2001, 2,361 new-style co-operatives had been established, or approximately 21% of the total
number of co-operatives. Of these, the absolute majority of new-style co-operatives had been
established in the agricultural sector (43%), with the rest distributed fairly evenly between
other sectors such as fishery, industry, construction, credit provision and transport.

Compared to the presence of old-style co-operatives, new-style co-operatives have been most
successful in the areas of fishery, construction and transportation, where the share of new-
style co-operatives amount to 59%, 59% and 44% of the total number of co-operatives in
these sectors, respectively. This is due to the fact that co-operative development in these
sectors is a relatively new phenomenon. The formation of new-style co-operatives has also
spread to other "non-traditional" such as sanitation and environment, health care, education,
funeral services, cultural services, tourism and taxi services, etc. This proliferation of co-
operative organisation can be attributed to the Co-operative Law.

The new-style co-operatives have generally performed better than transformed old-style co-
operatives since many of the transformed old-style co-operatives still suffer from problems
originating in "the old times". While in-depth evaluation on performance of the new co-
operatives is yet to be undertaken, the positive effects of the Co-operative Law may be
summarised as follows:

 A significant number of new-style co-operatives have been formed and operate in

accordance with the democratic intentions of the 1997 Law. New-style co-operative
development has attracted resources from different social groups and has succeeded in
creating employment in economic sectors where co-operative organisation traditionally
has not been applied.
 New-style cooperatives are based on voluntary membership and co-operative members
contribute a significant proportion of the investments required for democratically defined
co-operative business plans. On average, the operational budget of new-style cooperative
amounts to about 861 million Vietnamese Dong. Contributions from members amount to
about 44 % of this total.
 New-style cooperatives typically comprise a relatively limited number of members, who
often are actively engaged in building their cooperatives and share the democratic values
behind their establishment. This is very important to ensure sustainable and continued

39
 development of co-operatives. The average number of members is around 100 per co-
operative, with agricultural co-operatives averaging on 83 members, credit co-operatives
on 907 members and co-operatives in other sectors averaging between 14 and 58
members.
 The Law has provided the legal basis for abolishing a number the poorly performing old-
style co-operatives.

In general, after 6 years of implementation, the Cooperative Law has provided initial positive
impacts to the socio-economic development. The Law has also succeeded in generating
understanding for and appreciation of the fundamental principle of democratic co-operative
development and the advantages of creating co-operatives as independent economic entities
that effectively helps support co-operative members in maximizing their civil power.

However, in spite of these successes, the fact remains that new-style co-operatives still only
constitute approximately 21% of the total number of co-operatives in Vietnam. The following
legal, institutional and emotional factors have contributed to this situation:

 The legacy of forced collectivisation from the 1950’s to the end of the 1980’s has clearly
left its imprint on farmers’ perceptions of co-operatives and continues to negatively affect
their willingness to join co-operative ventures.
 Institutional barriers to new-style co-operative development remains in many localities
where conservative local government officials still consider cooperatives to be an integral
part of the local bureaucracy. Bureaucratic interference in co-operative decision-making,
planning and operation and requests for financial support from the co-operatives for the
administrative matters and social activities in the local areas are therefore still common.
This may include interventions to ensure that the salary of cooperative leaders does not
exceed the salary of local high-ranking officials or to remove leaders of cooperatives.
Such administrative interference is detrimental to independent co-operative ownership,
flexible management that is responsive to market demands and result-based distribution
of income to members.
 While co-operative development under the Co-operative Law as mentioned above has
resulted in an increased understanding and appreciation of democratic co-operative
management, application of democratic principles can still not be taken for granted. In
some new-style co-operatives, participation of members in decision-making is still poor.

40
 After the promulgation of governmental decrees in support of the 1997 Law, some sector
ministries issued detailed sectoral implementation guidelines for co-operative
development. However, in a number of key sectors and regulatory areas, guidelines are
yet to be issued. This includes the following areas:
• Sectoral implementation guidelines for the development of co-operatives in the
agricultural sector have not yet been promulgated by the Ministry of Agriculture and
Rural Development.
• The tax exemption policy for co-operatives remains unclear. According to Decree
15/CP of 21 February 1997, co-operatives providing services for their members are
exempted from income and profit taxes during the two first years of operation.
However, commercial co-operatives are not granted this exemption. In consequence,
tax collection problems arise since it is difficult for tax collectors to define the
difference between self-service and commercial cooperatives.
• The Ministry of Finance has not issued guidelines on implementation of Decree 16/CP
regarding debt relief on out-standing government loans hold by old-type co-operatives
and other economic entities.
• Decree 15/CP provides co-operatives with access to loans from commercial banks and
access to subsidized credit support under national socio-economic development
programmes, the Fund for Job Generation and other government’s investment funds.
However, as the State Bank has not issued guidelines on access of new-style co-
operatives to these credit services, banks hesitate to provide credit services to new-
style co-operatives. The history of poor loan service performance by old-style co-
operatives compounds this trend. Almost all existing co-operatives therefore face
difficulties accessing credit since they do not have the necessary collateral such as real
estate property with land certificates, etc. The agricultural co-operatives in particular
face difficulties with respect to credit access.
• The implementation of regulations aimed at strengthening the capacity of co-operative
leadership is hampered as guidelines for implementation Article 10 and 11 of Decree
15/CP have not yet been issued. Article 10 states that “managers and executive officers
co-operatives are entitled to 50% reduction of training and education fees when
attending courses organised by government agencies or the Viet Nam Co-operatives
Alliance (VCA). In accordance with Article 11, MPI and MOF are required to design
and financially support co-operative leadership training programmes.

41
 • Many co-operatives do not have sufficient funds to buy insurance for their members. It
has therefore been proposed that MOLISA and other relevant ministries provide
preferences in this regard in accordance with Article 15 of decree 15/CP, which states
that shall guide co-operatives with respect to purchase of social insurance for their
members. Another constraint is that in some provinces, insurance agencies deny
selling social insurance to co-operatives.
• Article 12 of Decree 15/CP require government administrative and trade promotion
agencies to provide support for co-operatives with respect to market access and
research. However, no government agency has yet actively taken on this.

In April 2002, acknowledging that the pace of implementation of the Co-operative Law was
less than desirable, the Central Committee of the Party issued five major resolutions focused
on the implementation of grassroots democracy and the development of co-operatives using
the principles of voluntary membership and democratic participation. The Party also recently
decided to transfer the responsibility for agricultural co-operative development from the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to the Viet Nam Farmers' Union.

Finally, revisions to the Co-operative Law are currently being drafted by the Central Institute
of Economic Management (CIEM) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment. This draft
is expected to be ready for submission for National Assembly’s appraisal by mid-2003.
Revisions are expected to include a revised co-operative definition aimed at emphasising the
role of co-operatives as collective enterprises and clearer definitions of the rights of co-
operatives, and clarifications with regard to the rights and benefits of co-operative
management.

3.5 Community-Based Organisations

Community-based organisations (CBO) in Viet Nam are numerous and have been on the
increase. CBOs may be divided into two categories: The first category is established through
projects and development programmes. The second comprise CBOs established by
communities themselves for provision of services within communities.

With doi moi, since 1990s Viet Nam has received large amounts of overseas development
assistance in support of national programmes for economic and social development. Among

42
these programmes, the National Programme for Hunger Eradication and Poverty Reduction
are among those receiving most support from the donor community. Along with many
international NGOs working at the grassroots level, development organisations such as
UNDP, IFAD, UNCDF, World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have implemented
provincial level poverty reduction projects at the provincial level. A main objective of many
of these poverty reduction projects is to promote participatory approaches as the dominant
rural development planning and service delivery mechanism. The process of participation in
most of the projects often includes formation of informal community-based organisations that
represent community members and engage in participatory identification of the needs and
interests of the community as well as planning, implementation and review of interventions.
These organisations often become responsible for overall management and maintenance of
local development projects, including mobilization of community participation and
contribution.

Examples of this type of CBOs include Commune or Village Development Boards

(CDB/VDB), Project Management Committees at the commune and village level, interest
groups formed as a means to deliver sectoral services (e.g. crop extension) and user
committees/groups (e.g. water user groups). Typically, management or members of these
committees or groups are selected among community representatives. In Tuyen Quang
province, for instance, under the IFAD-funded Participatory Resources Management Project,
VDBs were established to which members were elected by the people in the villages.
Similarly, in Quang Nam province, the UNCDF/UNDP Rural Infrastructure Development
Fund channeled funds for small-scale infrastructure construction through CDBs, which
comprised representatives from commune authorities, mass-organisations, and local people.
There are many such examples of grassroots development groups throughout the country.

43
 These CBOs thus act as mediating
CSO Profile: Water User Groups in Tuyen
Quang Province institutions in which representatives

In Tuyen Quang Province, there are 1,370 irrigation from community work in the interest of
systems (440 reservoirs, 360 weirs, 40 pumping
local people in the context of needs
stations and 530 temporary dams), 2,434 km of
principal canals and 5,000 km on field canals. The assessment, planning and
annually irrigated area is 27,000 ha. The efficiency of
irrigation systems is 65% of irrigation capacity. implementation of service delivery by
Before 1996, the Provincial Irrigation Management donors and the government, rather than
Company (IMC) ran 152 medium-sized irrigation
systems irrigating 3,800 ha. In addition, state-owned strictly follow directives from local
co-operatives operated many small systems. However,
government. These organisations often
the management of many of these systems was
limited. The water fees rate was 200kg rice/ha/year as cease to exist following the termination
prescribed by Government and 400-500 tonnes paddy
rice, equivalent to VND 450-500 million, was of the government or donor-funded
generated as fees annually. The amount covered salary
for IMC management staff only, leaving no funds for projects that facilitated their formation.
maintenance of the irrigation systems. In consequence,
the irrigation schemes were seriously deteriorating. However, in some cases projects do seek
to facilitate that these groups not only
In 1996, the Provincial People’s Committee adopted
Decision 142/QD-UB deciding to: serve short-term needs as a means to
 dissolve the provincial Irrigation Management
Company delivering services, but also work
 transfer all irrigation systems to WUGs
 set up Irrigation Management Boards and WUGs,
towards establishing these organisations
giving them the right of use of the irrigation as longer-term local level organisations.
systems
 increase the water fee rate from 200 kg To the extent that their members decide
paddy/year to 750 kg/year.
that these actually serve such a longer-
After 5 years of community-based irrigation
management, Tuyen Quang Province has achieved the term purpose and decided to maintain
following successes: these organisations, they do become
 All 1,368 irrigation systems in Tuyen Quang have
been transferred to WUGs or other owners; civil society organisations in their own
 The irrigated area has increased from 22,000
ha/year to 27,000 ha/year; right.
 Collected water fee has increased from 750 tonnes
in 1996, to 5,800 tonnes in 2000
 20% of the collected water fees were spent on While the above organisations are
management and 80% for maintenance, resulting
in schemes being upgraded induced from outside the communities,
 In addition to maintenance, 600 km of main canal
has been lined the second type of grassroots
 Crop yields have doubled in some areas
community organisations are created as
representative local civil society organisations by members who join voluntarily to pursue a
common interest. This second group typically also serves the purpose of providing services to
their members and their community, or to function as intermediary organisations posing
demands to external service providers with respect to provision of services. Examples of
these indigenous organisations are agriculture/aqua-culture extension groups, water user

44
groups, and credit-savings groups. They often have existed for a significant period of time
and are usually formed in response to a specific need of community and operate on a self-
reliant and democratic basis.

Over the last few years, this type of organisations have developed rapidly, particularly in rural
areas as a consequence of the fact that government service delivery does not met the demands
of people in a fast developing rural setting. For example, Water User Groups (WUGs) are
established by farmer households, which share an interest in maintaining and operating a
common water supply system. WUGs may either build on traditional water user entities or be
formed in response to the inability of government service providers to provide desired
services, or the withdrawal of such services (please refer the box on the following page for an
illustrative case from the Tuyen Quang Province and Annex X5 for a more detailed indepth
presentation of WUGs in Vietnam). WUGs are now widespread in Viet Nam since they often
successfully replace inefficient, unreliable and expensive irrigation services provided by state
companies. in many provinces, WUG are now being recognised or even institutionalized by
local authorities and entitled to formally holding the irrigation fee collected from farmers for
their system maintenance and management.

Another example of this second type of community-based organisations is the agricultural

extension clubs (AECs) which develop extensively in the southern parts of Vietnam. Farmers
voluntarily join these clubs to share their experience and information on the markets of
agricultural inputs and outputs. Similarly, credit and saving groups are increasingly common
in today's rural society.

Some government officials contribute the mushrooming of the thousands of CBOs are an
impact of the implementation of the Co-operative Law. According to MPI officials, “after
four years of law implementation, there are over 140,000 “simple cooperative organisations”
(to chuc hop tac don gian) developing in rural areas, such as Water Users Groups, Power
Users Groups, Co-operative Groups for a specific area of production, e.g. rice processing
groups, extension clubs, credit groups, etc. These co-operative organisations operate on a
very small scale, work flexibly for specific purposes agreed to by their members. They do not
register as formal co-operatives according to the Co-operative Law since they have not met
all conditions for formal recognition laid out by the Law. However, in fact, they apply co-
operative principles and appear to be a suitable response to the continuously changing

45
situation in rural areas. The State has not issued any legal framework defining the legitimacy
of this new type of individual co-operation, or provided guidelines or supporting to these
organisations”4.

3.6 Funds, Charities, Supporting Centers and other Civil Organisations

The operations of funds and charities were legalised with the issuance of Government Decree
177/ND-CP of September 22, 1999. According to the degree, funds and charities are non-
governmental, not-for-profit organisations. As of July 2001, about 200 funds were in
operation in Viet Nam.

Funds and charities are formed by several different agents. Most funds are set up by or
organised under the professional associations. Central government organisations also form
funds, such as the Viet Nam Committee of Protection and Care of Children, a ministerial-
level government body in charge of children issues, which has established the Fund for
Protection and Support of Children. Other funds are formed under the mass-organisations,
including the Compassion Fund of the Viet Nam Women Union, which has been set up in
many provinces, districts and communes. Local governments form funds such as the Hanoi
Peoples' Committee's Fund for Housing Development of Hanoi. A small number of funds and
charities have been established by individuals. This for example includes a charity
organisation in Hanoi devoted to helping street children by organising them into a newspaper
selling group named “Away from Mother”.

The majority of funds have charitable purposes. This includes the Compassion Fund of the
Women’s Union, the Viet Nam Red Cross Fund for Humanity and Charity for support to
victims of 'agent orange' in Vietnam, and the Fatherland Front's Fund for Poor People. As of
November 2001, after one year of its establishment, the Fund for Poor People under the Ho
Chi Minh City Fatherland Front collected almost 16 billion Viet Nam Dong, equivalent to
US$1.6 million, which was used to build houses for poor families, make study grants for poor
students, and provide bicycles to students of poor families (Nhan Dan Newspaper, 23
November 2001).

Several hundred social support centers are organised by or under different professional
4
For an in-depth discussion on the proliferation of co-operative groups and new-style co-operatives as new forms of rural
organisation, please refer Adam Fforde (2001). This study assesses that a legal framework for co-operative groups indeed
exists as these groups often register according to the Civil Code at the commune or district level.

46
associations. For example, a number of centers for orphans have been formed under the
Association for Protection and Support of Disabled People and Orphaned Children. These
centers register their operations directly with local governments or through their umbrella
association. Individuals also set up a relatively limited number of centers. The main purpose
of these centers is to provide care and support to orphans, disabled people, and lonely old
people.

Very recently, on 30 May 2001, the Government issued Decree 25/ND-CP on regulation of
the organisation and operation of supporting centers. This Decree stipulates that support
centers are not-for-profit institutions set up by governmental, non-governmental or social
organisations. Support centers can receive people in difficult circumstances such as orphans,
lonely elderly who has no income, people with disability having no income or other
resources, etc. Support centers may provide vocational training, involve people in production
and provision of community services. Support centers may may raise funds from member
contributions, donations from the government or social organisations, individuals inside and
outside the country, contributions by families or sponsors of people receiving support, income
from production or services, etc.

Many organisations exist that can not be classified under the categories established by this
study. Most of these organisations are informal or unregistered. These include organisations
such as associations of schoolmates and chess players, sport clubs and cultural, religious and
'ethnic' organisations. Some of these organisations manage to impact the behaviour of local
authorities and state departments. For example, self-established advocacy groups in some
localities critisise development agencies and business communities, requesting them to pay
attention to the environment impact of their operations upon communities. This has for
instance resulted in factories being forced to install air filters and relocation of other factories
(O'Rourke 2000).

47
Chapter 4: Conclusions - Key Challenges and Opportunities
The presence of "civil society" in Vietnam is restricted by the centralised socialist political
system according to which the Communist Party plays the leading role in society and posses
all-encompassing powers. However, the introduction of the Doi moi reform process has
resulted in an emerging transformation of Vietnam’s economic and social structure, which
have provided society with an impetus for the development of newly mediating civil society
groups such as NGOs, professional associations, CBOs, etc. The social and economic
benefits resulting from the establishment of "free" private enterprise as part of the economic
reform programme have contributed to an emerging appreciation of the fact that the existence
of independent civil society organisations may well contribute positively to the economic
development of the country without posing "unmanageable" political risks.

With the downsizing of the state sector, the provision of state-subsidized and organised
welfare and social safety nets through collective or planned systems has increasingly been
declining. In addition to this, the relative decline in the capacity of family networks or
informal mechanisms to provide alternatives, have created mounting pressures on individuals
to make a provision of economic and social services for themselves through establishments of
the CSOs.

At the same time, the current government policies for grassroots democracy have opened
numerous opportunities for individuals and communities to actively participate in economic,
social, and political affairs. Party officials increasingly acknowledge the role of "citizens'
monitoring" of state interventions at the local level as a means to secure administrative
transparency and good governance which in the longer term will contribute towards political
stability.

Furthermore, the government has come to realize its changing role and the importance of
developing a strong civil sector to provide complementary services, which used to be the
government’s sole responsibility. An increasing number of Government development
strategies and public service delivery schemes assume an increasing role for civil society in
the delivery and management of social and economic services. For instance, the ten-year
Socio-economic Strategy includes statements in support of “encouraging and supporting non-
profit organisations which work for the benefit of the people.” Likewise, Government service
delivery programmes such as Programme 135 for the poorest 1.715 communes and

48
agricultural extension delivery programmes increasing rely of private sector and community
based definition and delivery of services.

The recent issuance of relevant legal

CSOs Perspectives on Strategic
Approaches to Civil Society documents, notably the Decrees 29, 35, and
Strengthening in Vietnam: LERES
177 have provided a necessary, though still
Prof. Dr. Hoang Ngoc Giao, Deputy Director of
LERES : insufficient, legal framework for the

 NGOs should build sufficient capacity to establishment and operations of CSOs.

enable them to meet their own objectives of
Decentralization and the grassroots
providing services for development in
Vietnam. democratization have been creating an
 Until a comprehensive and sound legal
framework is in place, maintaining the enabling environment that significantly
present policy and regulations on NGO
operations is to be preferred. Actually the increased the CSO’s involvement in various
currently unclear NGO definition turns out
to be favouable for the NGOs because they economic, social, and political affairs at
can operate easier and achieve what they different levels. The needs facing the
plan. For example, most NGOs are now
under the “umbrella” of government bodies, government in developing a state based on
like LERES is under the National University
of Law. This relationship puts LERES in a rule of law, social equality and equity, wide
good position to negotiate and arrange its
work with the provincial authorities and participation and sound governance clearly
government officials at the grassroots level.
 International NGOs should work with local require the contributions from the civil and
NGOs. International NGOs are facing private sector to support the government to
difficulties in accessing central government
agencies, while local NGOs have keep pace with these challenges. In addition,
advantages in contacting the government
agencies at all levels. However, local NGOs challenges of regional and international
do not have enough funds and technical
capacity to carry out their activities. integration (e.g. to participate in ASEAN,
Establishing “joint ventures” between
international and local NGOs will be a
AFTA, WTO, etc.) also reinforce the necessity
perfect tool to achieve common objectives of a third sector.
of raising “the voices of civil society”.

Growing involvement of international organisations and donors have given additional

impetus for the growth of this sector. Many donor-supported cooperation programmes
including those of the UN, WB, ADB, bilateral donors and international NGOs focus on
poverty reduction through good governance and private sector and civil society
strengthening. The donor-government Civil Society Working Group in Hanoi has been
established to coordinate donor-supported efforts to develop civil institutions in Viet Nam5.
5
Objectives of this Group are to 1) support the Government of Viet Nam in its efforts to increase people’s participation in
their own development, 2) improve the coordination of external assistance to the nurturing of participatory methods of
development planning and implementation, 3) foster a network for learning by doing and of information sharing about
innovative new approaches to strengthen and develop civil society and community participation in Vietnam, 4) work towards
a shared Government/donor strategy in these areas, and 5) support capacity building for the civil society and communities.

49
The interaction between development agencies through the Poverty Working Group, the
CPRGS/PRSP formulation process, and the Civil Society Working group is an important
platform for donors to advocate the civil society development policies in Vietnam. Donors are
actively supporting the government in developing a law or governmental decree on
association.

Donors are also supporting for poverty reduction projects that include CSOs as key actors in
participatory planning and implementation processes, and many CSOs receive resources from
programmes funded by international agencies or from partnerships with international NGOs.
Likewise, the World Bank, AUSAID, the Government of the Netherlands, DANIDA, DFID,
for example, are now providing grants to Vietnamese CSOs through local poverty reduction
projects to strengthen CBO capacity. Ongoing UNDP and Danida administration reform
projects also include components aimed at strengthening “civil society”.

While the issue of "civil society" remains a politically sensitive issue, the political,
institutional and economic developments discussed above indicate that there is currently a
long-term momentum in favour of a strengthened role for civil society in Vietnam. As a result
of these changes, over the past few years Vietnam has witnesses the mushrooming of a wide
range of formal and informal CSOs caused by willingness on the part of the government to
foster this development and an increasing awareness and willingness on the part of
communities to engage in economic and social self-help action. Furthermore, some
organisations that are in principle "state-led", such as the mass-organisations, increasingly
perform functions that resemble "typical" civil society functions, such as provision of
services to members, monitoring of state interventions in development and representation of
their constituencies vis-à-vis the state

Consequently, over the last decade, NGOs and other civic associations have successfully
justified their existence of a third sector that perform roles complementary to those of the
government, especially in the areas of social welfare and poverty reduction. Presently, CSO
roles, functions and activities focus on:

 CSOs provide public services and contribute to development for local communities. This

50
 includes activities of mass-organisations, community-based organisations, credit groups
and funds that aim at increasing the income of people, either directly or indirectly
 CSOs maintains a monitoring function with respect to the delivery of social services,
grassroots democratization and the application of "rule-of-law" at the local level. This
includes facilitation of feedback between government and communities, dissemination of
information and knowledge, and exchange experiences (mass-organisations, NGOs,
advocacy groups, community-based organisations, cultural/religious groups)
 CSOs facilitate local self-help action and respond to a variety of societal problems(mass-
organisations, NGOs, community-based organisations, cultural/ religious groups);
 CSOs represent their constituencies vis-à-vis the state and local government authorities

The comparative advantage of CSOs in achieving their objectives rely on the following
factors:

 The flexibility in CSO mandates and resource mobilisation is an advantage in the context
of the rapidly changing characteristics of the market economy. This has created an
increasing demand from the public for their activities;
 CSOs have access to funding and support from a diverse range of sources, including
government, local government; (strengthened decentralization policy), membership
contributions and international donors and non-government organisations. Especially, the
interest of international aid agencies in promoting civil organisation stimulates CSO
development;
 The ever increasing education and training opportunities, modernised information
networks, workshops, conference, policy forums etc. provide CSOs with access to
programmatic, technical and managerial information and expertise and staff resources;
 Being part of emerging organisations with a common cause, members of CSOs often
identify strongly with organisational goals and are thus empathetic towards each other,
creating a sense of belonging and organisational "drive";
 CSOs often focus activities on specific, defined targeted groups, thus increasing
effectiveness and production of desired outcomes;
 The emphasis of many CSOs on application of participatory approaches to CSO
governance and planning and implementation of development projects foster commitment
by members and constituencies, enhance local capacities for managing common resources
and helps sustaining the social capital of members or constituencies.

51
 In this context, it should be emphasised that in
CSOs Perspectives on Strategic
Approaches to Civil Society the past, once formation of an association
Strengthening in Vietnam: ECO-ECO
received approval by the state, its operations
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Truong, Director of Eco-
would be subsidised and closely supervised by
Eco (interview June 2001):
the state apparatus. However, while the
 NGOs are effective means to assemble
intelligent and cross-sectoral resources, Government still partly funds the management
especially highly qualified and experienced
individuals who do not work in the and operation of the large unions and
government system. Eco-eco is an example
of how well-known professors can assemble associations, most associations and
and make contributions after their
organisations are now self-financed. The
retirement.
 However, NGOs in Viet Nam are facing government consequently to a lesser degree
many difficulties including lack of financial,
human and organisational resources, than before influences the orientation and
especially under the current institutional
framework. In other countries, the main activities of these organisations as most of them
government role is to establish a regulatory
framework for NGO operation, then the do not rely on the government resources.
NGOs work along these regulations, but
outside government control. However, in
Vietnam, it is quite different as the Despite all these advantages, within the current
government controls both the regulations
governing NGOs and the operations of legal, socio-economic and political framework,
NGOs. NGOs must rely on the government
in everything, such as registration, financial CSOs continue to face considerable constraints
resources, and human resources for
operation. and challenges.
 Moreover, regulations on the establishment
and operation of NGOs are not clear,
limiting the scale and impact of NGO 1. The ability of many CSOs to act as “true”
activities. In addition, un-transparent
mechanisms of bidding and unfair behavior CSOs depends on the degree of autonomy
of government officials have left NGOs
with limited access to participation in public they obtain from their government
programmes. To survive, NGOs most rely
on cooperation with international
“umbrella” agency.
institutions and donors. 2. Lack of Resources and Capacity.
 The issue of formulation of a new law on
NGOs has been reiterated at many recent 3. Continued lack of a clear legal framework
workshops and conferences. Participants
typically agree that a new law is necessary for their operation results in unclear and
to establish a legal basis for NGOs role in
society. In addition, the government should complicated procedures for establishment,
provide support NGOs to boost their
development.
inspection and operations and lack of clear
 The government of Viet Nam should learn financial regulations.
from the experience of governments of other
countries in developing civil organisations. 4. Exclusion from decision-making processes,
limited access to government information
and biases against CSOs in the execution of national development projects.
5. Limited support from authorities at all level in terms of incentives and financial, capacity

52
 building and logistical assistance

The fact that these constraints and challenges persist indicates that the issue of "independent"
civil society organisations remains a sensitive political issue, and that government hesitation
to empower this sector is still prevalent due to concerns of political instability.

To further strengthen the current momentum in favour of an increased role by CSOs in

Vietnam, and to reduce current constraints and challenges faced in this context, in particular
government hesitation towards providing legitimacy to CSOs, it seems evident that CSOs and
the development community have to prove to policy makers in both theory and practice that
autonomous CSOs are effective and efficient contributors towards socio-economic
development in Vietnam, and that the transformation of mass-organisations is necessary in
the context of a market economy. To demonstrate and document this "CSO potential",
"selecting" rural poverty reduction as an entry point for advocating for CSO engagement
would be ideal as CSOs have already gained some experience in this field and some of this
experience has been documented.

International donors and NGOs are well positioned to assist the Government of Vietnam and
local CSOs in this "demonstration and documentation" of the potential for CSO contributions
to socio-economic development and poverty reduction. However, it is critically important that
such support is based on careful analysis of the cultural, social and political "setting" with
respect to the current and potential role and function of civil society in Vietnam, and that the
starting point for this support is respect for and acknowledgement of the efforts already being
made by the Government of Vietnam and Vietnamese civil society agents.

Based on the research and analysis undertaken as part of this study, it is recommended that
such a more strategic approach would include the following features:
 Vietnam is currently is a stage of great societal transition. Consequently the role and
function of the state vis-à-vis society at large and the role of civil society and private
sector organisations is undergoing significant change. At the same time, civil society
development remains a politically sensitive issue. In this context it is suggested that
uncritical application of international or "Western" definitions of civil society will be
detrimental to the further development of civil society in Vietnam. On the contrary, any
civil society definition governing civil society strengthening in Vietnam should be based

53
 current Vietnamese political and societal realities. This calls for the application of a
functional definition of civil society in Vietnam, i.e. a definition that catagorise
organisations based on the extent to which their actual operations and activities includes
"typical" civil society functions. This will allow for inclusion of organisations that to a
higher or lesser degree maintain links to the state, which is an essential requirement in the
Vietnamese context. In this connection it is assumed that international organisations with
access to information on innovative approaches to civil society strengthening, will be able
to facilitate the adaptation of such approaches to the Vietnamese setting, while key CSO
and Government partners on the other hand will bring essential understanding of "do's
and don'ts" in the Vietnamese context and the contacts and networks required to
efficiently support community-level CSOs.
 In order to ensure that CSO strengthening programmes effectively support the existing
long-term momentum for civil society development in Vietnam, it is of key importance
that civil society support be based on a long-term strategic approach. Given the highly
transitional nature of contemporary Vietnamese society, the embryonic stage of local level
civil society and the continued political concerns and sensitivities, it is inevitable that
civil society strengthening efforts will be met with numerous short to medium term
barriers, constraints and challenges, and that maintaining a long-term perspective
therefore is essential.
 Emphasis on "experimentation" and engagement with a wide range of civil society and
government actors is important in order to generate the broadest possible learning about
how Vietnamese CSOs can effectively contribute to rural poverty alleviation, and to
identify optimal modalities for supporting civil society organisations to doing so.
 It is furthermore essential not only to build the capacity of CSOs to engage in rural
poverty alleviation, but also to support the establishment of an enabling environment that
will allow them to doing so. This calls for the application of "dual partnership" strategies
which on the one hand emphasise capacity building and establishment of partnerships
with CSOs, and on the other seeks to establish close collaborative links with Government
agencies responsible for regulating CSO activities in Vietnam. This is critical in order to
ensure that Government decision-makers are well informed about the potential of CSO
contributions to rural development and hence to facilitate the creation of a regulatory and
institutional environment favourable for civil society development.
 Further to the above point, given the sensitivities civil society setting in Vietnam, it is
essential to ensure that the Government is fully informed about and comfortable with any

54
 civil society focussed programmes. This is key as a high level of buy-in on the part of the
Government is essential for the establishment of an enabling environment CSO formation
and operation. It may therefore be advantageous to focus interventions in areas where
existing legislation that de facto supports civil society engagement (such as the grass root
democracy degree and the new co-operative law), and support the Government and CS
actors to remove barriers to effective implementation of these laws.
 Based on the findings of this study, it appears that the mass-organisations are well
positioned as "strategic entry points" for civil society support. Selection of mass-
organisations as such "entry points" would have the dual purpose of establishing a
channel for reaching community-level CSOs while simultaneously supporting the
ongoing transformation of these mass-organisations towards pursuit of a more
independent, "civil society-like" role in society. At the same time, as the mass-
organisations due to their scale and history enjoy access to central decision-makers, they
represent an institutionalised channel for policy consultation with key government
officials and institutionalisation of learning.

The present trend towards increased civil society engagement in social and economic
development seems to be an irreversible element of the ongoing transformation of
Vietnamese society. CSOs increasingly are allowed to and continue to demonstrate that they
are emerging as important institutional agents contributing to poverty alleviation and socio-
economic development. Being backed up by macro-level societal transformation and with
growing government recognition of their contributions and potential, the quasi-civil society
organisations of the past are on their way to become real civil agents.

55
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57