The People's Participation Working Group was established to promote the implementation of the Government of Vietnam's Grassroots Democracy Decree, people's participation in development programmes and projects.

Government Decree No. 29, 1998 (including later amendments promulgated through Decree No. 79, 2003) established the principles of grassroots democracy at the commune level. These principles are: “people know, people discuss, people decide, and people supervise."

This decree entails the rights of people to be informed about local development policies and budgets, to be consulted about economic development and other plans, to participate in decisions about community contributions to projects, and to monitor the activities of the elected representatives at the local level. Therefore, the Grassroots Democracy Decree is the legal basis for people's participation in making decisions that effect their lives and development.

The People's Participation Working Group forms part of a network of thematic Development Partnership Groups, which facilitate information exchange and government-donor coordination and provide input to the Vietnam Consultative Group Meetings, the high-level meetings between the Government and donor agencies.

The group emerged,  together with the Public Administration Reform Partnership Group, out of the Governance Group in 1998 and its first meeting was held in February 1999.

In 2003, the group, then called the Civil Society Working Group, decided to take stock and reconsider its purpose and activities. As a result, the group decided to change the name to the People's Participation Working Group, and draw up a mission statement reflecting the revised orientation, objectives and character of the group.

Participation

The People's Participation Working Group is open for all who have interests in the promotion of people’s participation. The group soundly believe in participatory development and advocates for greater involvement of local people, knowledge, priorities and skills as a key to development.

The group conceives people’s participation as a multi-dimensional process through which socially, politically and economically marginalised people and non-State actors increase their involvement in decision-making processes that affect their lives.

The group is devoted to tackling and properly integrating a number of key concepts related to participatory development into the Vietnamese context such as grassroots democracy, civil society, decentralisation and empowerment.

The People's Participation Working Group approaches these concepts from an impartial perspective, acknowledging the very fact that truly democratic systems cannot be imported, but can be homegrown and internally-led, developed and improved. The strengthening of the channels and mechanisms of people’s participation, along with the creation of innovative participatory arrangements within existing local institutional frameworks, can contribute significantly to the enhancement and consolidation of any country’s socio-economic development process.

Accordingly, the group concentrates it efforts and resources on the following four directions:

Information and knowledge exchange: The group focuses on sharing focused and needs-based information, experiences and policy research on relevant government and civil society initiatives that have impacts on people’s participation.

Promotion of thematic dialogues among key stakeholders: The group seeks to facilitate an enabling environment for open dialogues amongst INGO/VNGOs and other important stakeholders from government, mass-organisations and donors, and foster their active participation in discussions on relevant issues related to people’s participation.

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

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

Working Definitions of People's Participation

Participation is the process of including and empowering stakeholders in decision-making that affects people's lives and their development.

There are three main dimensions to participation:

1. Civil Society
2. Decentralisation
3. Democracy

People participate by forming civil society organisations and taking part in activities that are decentralised to commune and village levels and being involved in democratic processes.

In Vietnam, the five-year Socio-Economic Development Plan (2006-2010) constitutes, among others, the strategic vehicle to reach the overall objectives of socio-economic development and poverty reduction, including the Millennium Development Goals and the Vietnamese Development Goals to which the Vietnamese Government is committed.

The Millennium Development Goals and the Vietnamese Development Goals emphasise the need for good governance for poverty reduction. With regards to participation, the national development strategies referred to above clearly articulate the need to:

• Create conditions for people to fully participate in the development process and to have equal opportunities
• Strengthen the capacity and create opportunities for all people to bring into full play their talents
• Participate in the development process and to enjoy the fruits of development

The strategies further point out the need to provide a legal framework for NGOs and for civil society and community organisation at the local level. The aim is to improve the poor people's participation in development processes and improve their capability to overcome poverty.

Activities

Through its activities, mainly in the form of workshops and meetings, the People's Participation Working Group contributes to:

• Information, experience and knowledge sharing
• Clarification of concepts
• Promotion of dialogue

Its activities include:

• Thematic meetings on topics related to participation and grassroots democracy
• Group meetings where information is exchanged and ongoing activities are discussed
• Preparation of Partnership Notes for the bi-annual Vietnam Consultative Group meetings