<div><div><div>Dear INGO colleagues:</div><div><br></div><div>The Consultative Group (CG) Meeting between the Government of Vietnam and Development Partners took place on Monday 10 December 2012 with the focus on Vietnam’s sustainable growth. Development Partners pledged 6,485 million USD for Vietnam’s development agenda in 2013. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attended the first part of the meeting and updated participants on Vietnam’s performance in 2012 and the Government’s policy directions for 2013. In addition to a dialogue on macro-economy, the CG agenda included the following topics: Education and Skills; Revision of the Land Law; Report from Anti-Corruption Dialogue, Report from Aid Effectiveness Forum and a new format of CG meeting in 2013. CG participants agreed on the evolution of the CG into the Vietnam Development Partnership Forum from next year. The INGO representatives delivered two statements that have been well-received; supported by Development Partners; and acknowledged by CG co-chairs during their closing remarks. They only had a few minutes to speak about INGOs' recommendations, so they focused on key messages for each theme. Please see a full version of the written INGO statement (attached), which was distributed to CG participants during the meeting. Below is a summary of what the INGO representatives said at the CG meeting:</div>
<div><br></div><div>------------------------------------------------------------</div><div><br></div><div>INGOs' (verbal) statement on Education (by Ms. Kim Ninh, The Asia Foundation Country Representative):</div><div>
<br></div><div>Education and human resource development is an area where international NGOs have worked in for decades in Vietnam to contributed to the country's development. An effective and expanded education system is important not only for the country’s sustainable economic growth but also one of the best ways to address social inequality in the long term. Based on the INGOs’ experience in the education sector over the year, we would like to emphasize the following points and recommendations:</div>
<div><br></div><div>1. Further reform of technical and vocational training system is urgently needed, and we concurred with other development partners’ emphasis on a more market oriented approach. A few years ago The Asia Foundation conducted a vocational training assessment in the province of An Giang, and we found that a) too many agencies were involved in vocational training; b) these training programs did not have any interaction with businesses in the provinces; and c) businesses themselves indicated that they would rather employ untrained workers and train them directly rather than having to undo badly trained workers. Given our discussion this morning regarding the state of vocational training system in Vietnam, I do not think the situation in An Giang has changed significantly. Rather than simply focusing at the national level, however, I want to emphasize that there are changes that can be done at the provincial level that would bring immediate impact.</div>
<div><br></div><div>2. The second point we would like to raise is on the adoption of new education methodologies. INGOs have long worked with local authorities to improve access to and quality of education for disadvantaged and ethnic minority children. Child centred methodology, second language teaching methodology, and practical models of bilingual education have been piloted and tested by INGOs. Given that many ethnic minority children learn Vietnamese as a second language, these education methodologies have proven effective in increasing not only their ability to learn Vietnamese but also to learn in general. Given Vietnam’s interest to improve children’s learning over all and second language acquisition such as English, these methodologies can also be used to the benefit of Kinh Vietnamese children as well. The challenge is how to aggregate these successful experiences at the local level and scale up across the country.</div>
<div><br></div><div>3. The third point we would like to raise is to urge the government to have a careful balance between national standards and space for local adaptations. A single textbook and curriculum does not reflect the lives and experiences of children from different regions and ethnic backgrounds. Local adaptation and creativity is critical for improved learning.</div>
<div><br></div><div>INGOs will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labour, education experts and local authorities toward the goal of an effective and expanded education system for all.</div>
<div><br></div><div>------------------------------------------------------------</div><div><br></div><div>INGOs' (verbal) statement on Land Law Revision (by Ms. Le Kim Dung, Oxfam Associate Country Director):</div><div>
<br></div><div>The revision of the Law on Land (2003) is clearly a critical step the Government is taking to address land issues. INGOs very much welcome the Government’s commitment to the principles of transparency and accountability. To effectively respond to the range of challenging land issues, the revision of the law would benefit from being informed by the experiences and aspirations of people.</div>
<div><br></div><div>INGOs such as Oxfam have been supporting a series of grassroots consultations on the draft revised Law on Land, in partnership with the National Assembly Institute for Legislative Studies, mass organizations and NGOs. The grassroots consultations consider the experiences, issues and recommendations of small scale farmers, poor and marginalized households, women-headed household and ethnic minorities. The consultations in particular consider issues in relation to land planning, land use change, forest land for ethnic minority, land pricing, land recovery, compensation and resettlement.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Informed by our experiences in communities across Vietnam and feedback from ongoing grassroots consultations, international NGOs would like to make 3 main recommendations:</div><div><br></div><div>1. People, communities and their representative organizations must be given a stronger voice and role in land use and management. The revised law needs to increase transparency, access to information and enhance participation of people and communities in land-use planning. Community participation must be guaranteed in land conversion and land acquisitions on the basis of the principles of free, prior and informed consent. Concrete mechanisms to enable effective community participation should be clearly stated.</div>
<div><br></div><div>2. Customary practices in land and forest management and use are critical for ethnic minorities - not only for livelihoods but also spiritual and religious practices. Communities have demonstrated that they are good custodians of forests. The provisions for collective and customary land use and management practices of ethnic minorities must be better recognized in the law. The various purposes of forest land, including spiritual and religious, need to be more recognized.</div>
<div><br></div><div>3. Make progress in and disclose the ongoing review of the current use, productivity, employment, social functions and sharing of benefits from agricultural and forest land controlled by state farms and state forest enterprises. Agricultural land and forest land from under-performing state-owned enterprises should be reallocated to support poverty reduction and local rural development, with special considerations for land-poor and landless households, especially ethnic minorities.</div>
<div><br></div><div>We would very much welcome the Government’s response on how these recommendations could be taken into consideration.</div><div><br></div><div>------------------------------------------------------------</div>
<div><br></div><div>Please allow me to use this opportunity and thank all of you who contributed to a successful completion of the INGO statement -- by providing valuable inputs, comments and suggestions.</div><div><br></div>
<div>Kind regards,</div><div><br></div><div>Marko</div><div>----------</div><div>Marko Lovrekovic, Managing Co-Director</div><div>VUFO-NGO Resource Centre</div><div>La Thanh Hotel, 218 Doi Can</div><div>Hanoi, Vietnam</div>
<div>Mobile: +84 904 191 871</div><div>Phone: +84 4 3832 8570</div><div>Email: <a href="mailto:director@ngocentre.org.vn" target="_blank">director@ngocentre.org.vn</a></div><div>Web: <a href="http://www.ngocentre.org.vn" target="_blank">http://www.ngocentre.org.vn</a></div>
</div></div>