[Ngo-emwg] Oxfam's latest publication: “Growing a Better Future”

[EMWG]

Dear all,

I would like to share Oxfam’s recent publication: “Growing a Better 
Future”.
The report present Oxfam’s analysis about Vietnam’s development 
challenges and its proposition in relation to the future of agriculture 
and small-scale farmers.
Please find the following link for the English and Vietnamese translation.
http://www.ngocentre.org.vn/pub/oxfams-latest-publication-%E2%80%9Cgrowing-better-future%E2%80%9D 


Below is an Op-Ed article with the key messages of the report.

If you would like to receive a hardcopy of this report, please do not 
hesitate to contact me. You can also download the report from our website.
Your comments and feedback are most appreciated.

I am happy to discuss the content of the report with you in more detail 
if you are interested.

Best regards,

Bert


****

*Growing a better future*

Vietnam needs a new approach in overcoming poverty claims the 
international NGO Oxfam.  In a new report ‘Growing a better future’ 
Oxfam says that whilst Viet Nam’s poverty reduction achievements are 
well-known and duly celebrated, the fight against poverty is not yet won.

Vietnam has often been praised for its inclusive growth. From paddy 
fields in the rural lowlands to upland remote districts along the 
nation’s borders, many people speak of an era of new opportunities and 
prosperity in Vietnam, albeit achieved through backbreaking labor in the 
paddy fields, on hot and noisy factory floors, or on street corners 
trading produce for the local market. But we must build on these 
achievements or risk seeing them slip away.

One in five people in Vietnam still live in poverty, applying a proposed 
new General Statistics Office/World Bankpoverty line. Eight million 
people regularly go to bed hungry. In 2011, UNICEF reported that at 
least one in five children was malnourished. Hunger and malnutrition 
remains the scandal of our time.

In the face of record-level production and export quantities, poverty 
continues to be a predominantly rural phenomenon. It is a cruel irony 
that in the countryside people are surrounded by the means to produce 
food and yet go without.

At the same time, pro-poor growth – the hallmark of Vietnam’s successes 
– is increasingly at risk as the benefits of economic growth have 
favored better-off households. Since 2004, the richest households’ 
incomes have increased twice as much as those of the poorest households 
– nine per cent and four per cent respectively.

Today, the potential of women remains underutilized and still too often 
unrecognized, while other groups, such as ethnic minorities and migrant 
workers, are excluded from the wealth creation altogether. Interest 
groups are growing strong and, drowning out the voices of the less 
well-off and poor. Meanwhile, vulnerabilities are increasing because of 
economic shocks, price volatility, natural disasters and the impacts of 
a changing climate. The drivers of exclusion and inequality have gained 
strength, while poverty reduction strategies are losing their impact.

We can grow a better future if we choose to pursue it. We have the tools 
and knowledge to overcome enduring and emerging development challenges, 
but we need stronger determination and focus to uproot poverty and 
pursue social justice. The drivers of our problems are diverse, but too 
often they are linked to poor people’s inability to shape and benefit 
from public policy. To realize the aspiration of overcoming poverty and 
achieving opportunity for all, it is critical that poor people and their 
associations have a stronger voice in the decisions that impact their 
lives.

For example, in the past two decades, farmers have demonstrated their 
ability to lift themselves out of poverty and grow a better future. The 
agriculture sector remains key to sustaining growth and reducing poverty 
because it is the largest employer of the poorest people in the country.

With over nine million farmer households each living from less than 0.5 
hectares, small-scale farmers and the rural economy are critical to Viet 
Nam’s development process. In many instances, small-scale farming has 
proven to be as productive and often more sustainable than large-scale, 
highly mechanized, and high external input agricultural models.

Focusing on these farming communities is therefore vital. It is critical 
that poor and marginalized farmers are kept at the heart of the 
decision-making process to ensure that growth is sustainable, equitable 
and resilient. A modernization strategy that ignores the contribution of 
small-scale farmers and denies their potential and aspirations will 
result in cohorts of landless, jobless and hungry people. This reality 
must not be forgotten as Viet Nam aims high in the pursuit of its 
modernization agenda. /‘New Rural Areas’/ should be built with and by 
small-scale farmers.

We must also recognize that the increasing pressures of natural resource 
constraints is one of the biggest challenges to building a prosperous 
and just society for all. Landis central to securing and improving the 
livelihoods of poor people, yet it is an increasingly scarce and 
contested asset. In the last five years, as many as three million 
Vietnamese people have been displaced or had their lives disrupted as a 
result of land conversions. In the first six months of 2012, 90 per cent 
of the 5,326 complaints received by the government related to land. Land 
policies are failing poor people. Ensuring farmers have stable land 
rights, with better protection and more voice in cases of land-use 
changes is critical for poverty reduction, development and social 
justice. Irresponsible and unjust land-use changes need to stop, and 
fair processes and just compensation must be guaranteed for all.

Growing a better future will take all the energy, ingenuity and 
political will from many actors in the society. But if we choose to 
pursue a just and optimistic vision, it is a future well within reach.

To read more, go to: www.oxfam.org/vietnam <http://www.oxfam.org/vietnam>.

//ENDS//


*Bert Maerten*

Associate Country Director
Oxfam
22 Le Dai Hanh, Hanoi
Vietnam
Tel +84 4 3945 4406 (ext 103)
Mobile +84 983 365 769
Skype bert_maerten

bertm at ohk.org.vn <mailto:bertm at ohk.org.vn>
www.oxfam.org/vietnam <http://www.oxfam.org/vietnam>

oxfamblogs.org/vietnam <http://oxfamblogs.org/vietnam>__

Oxfam in Vietnam on Facebook 
<https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oxfam-in-Vietnam/199803143390683>

PPlease consider the environment before printing this email

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://ngocentre.org.vn/pipermail/ngo-emwg/attachments/20121018/f32301f3/attachment-0003.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/png
Size: 13247 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://ngocentre.org.vn/pipermail/ngo-emwg/attachments/20121018/f32301f3/attachment-0003.png