People’s Participation Working Group
Partnership Note
Ha Noi, Nov 2007
The People's Participation Working Group (PPWG) was established in 1999 as part of a network of thematic Development Partnership Groups. It is an informal network that acts as a forum for organizations and professionals - donors, government employees, NGOs, project managers, consultants, researchers, etc. - to meet and exchange information and ideas on issues relating to people’s participation, grassroots democracy and civil society. The PPWG is open to all those who are interested in participating and contributing to sharing information and carrying out joint goals and objectives. As a partnership group, PPWG provides inputs to the Consultative Group (CG) meetings, held semi-annually between the Government and donor community.
The PPWG is co-ordinated by an elected Chairperson assisted by a voluntary Steering Committee (former Core Group). This Steering Committee consists currently of 17 members from UNDP, World Bank, Embassy of Finland, international and Vietnamese NGOs, who meet regularly to organise relevant thematic workshops and other events. The current Chairperson is Ms. Vu Thi Bich Hop, Director of SRD (Centre for Sustainable Rural Development). The PPWG is open to all those who are interested in participating and contributing to sharing information and carrying out the joint objectives.
The overall goal of PPWG is to promote people's participation in the development and poverty reduction process of Vietnam. The specific objectives of the group are to:
1.Enhance exchange of information and coordination amongst PPWG members.
2.Advocate and promote an enabling environment for effective people's participation in the development and poverty reduction process of Vietnam.
3.Facilitate dialogue and improved understanding of people's participation experiences and lessons learned among different stakeholders (State, civil society, international organizations, donor community, etc.).
1. Update on PPWG activities in 2007
During the year the Steering Committee of PPWG has used a lot of time on reviewing the objectives and strategy of the Group and developing a Strategy for the period 2007-2010. Based on SWOT analysis and environmental scan, it was agreed to develop a strategy aligned with the period of the current Socio-Economic Development Plan of Viet Nam. To support the effective implementation of the Strategy, promoting the achievement of the overall goal and objectives set by the Group, an Operational Plan has been prepared for the Steering Committee. The new Strategy and Operational Plan are available at the PPWG website: http://www.ngocenter.org.vn/node/119.
The Steering Committee is currently working on a context analysis as well as stakeholder analysis to further align PPWG’s work to the interests and needs of its members and other important stakeholders. Meanwhile the PPWG concentrates it efforts and resources on the following four strategic directions as defined in the 2007-2010 Strategy:
1.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.
2.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.
3.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.
4.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.
2. Thematic meetings of PPWG in 2007
The PPWG has organised 3 thematic meetings in 2007. The meetings have been very well attended with presentations by Government officials, researchers, technical specialists, or other relevant experts depending on the topic.
May: Overview on the Legal Environment Affecting Civil Society Organisations (CSOs)
Within the past few years the Government of Viet Nam has showed determination to promote the growth of Civil Society Organisations. CSOs are playing and increasingly important role in improving the active participation of people at all levels to promote development nation-wide (VDR/PRSC Consultation Exercise, VUFO-NGO Resource Centre, 2006). Several legal documents have been or are in process of being drafted offering new opportunities to the CSOs.
To take stock of the legislative changes affecting CSOs role in facilitating a greater/active citizens participation at all levels, the PPWG organised a workshop on the ‘Legal Environment Affecting the CSOs in Viet Nam’. The overall purpose the workshop was to create an overview of the legislative process and of the legislation recently promulgated or in process of being drafted relating to the role CSOs in enhancing people's participation in development.
The workshop report is available on link: http://www.ngocenter.org.vn/node/241
August and November workshop on Decree 151
On 10th October 2007, the Decree 151/2007/ND-CP on Organization and Operation of Collaborative Groups (hereby called ‘Decree 151’) was officially approved by the Prime Minister. This is a good case of effective collaboration between PPWG and government agencies in policy formulation. PPWG has indeed provided supports and consultation to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and to the Decree’s drafting team during the formulation process with the result that the Decree reflects a better understanding of CG/CBO situation and their needs.
In August 2007, when the final Draft of the Decree was submitted to the Prime Minister for approval, having recognized the importance of the CGs/CBOs roles and the implication of the Decree, the PPWG organized a workshop by the title: ’Overview of Collaborative Groups/CBOs‘. The purpose of the workshop was to share experiences and create a better understanding among CGs/CBOs of their roles and contributions to the community development, the CG Decree formulation process, to update on the progress of the Decree, and to share experiences of CGs/CBOs in promoting peoples’ participation and poverty reduction.
In order to follow up on the August Workshop and in accordance with the approval of the Decree by the Prime Minister, PPWG in collaboration with MARD organised the second workshop on the Decree on 26th November 07 on “Effective implementation of the Decree 151”. The workshop aims to update on the Decree, the plans of MARD and PPWG to disseminate and implement the Decree as well as to discuss how PPWG and other stakeholders can effectively engage in and support the effective implementation of the Decree.
3. Other activities in 2007
The PPWG had planned a meeting on the new aid modalities and implications for people’s participation in Viet Nam. However, it was decided not to conduct this meeting as two other workshops in October 2007 covered this topic. In early October a national consultation workshop on Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Aid Effectiveness (AE) was organised by the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) with support from the Centre for Sustainable Community Development (S-CODE), the VUFO-NGO Resource Centre, UNDP as well as different members of the PPWG.
Following the national consultation, a regional consultation workshop covering East Asia, South Asia and the Pacific was organized in mid-October in Hanoi. Hanoi was chosen as the venue for this regional event since Viet Nam has shown a strong commitment in the implementation of the Paris Declaration (PD) on Aid Effectiveness and the Hanoi Core Statement (HCS). The workshops were part of a global consultative process on the issue of aid effectiveness relating to CSOs led by the Advisory Group on CSOs and Aid Effectiveness created by OECD-DAC. Moreover, workshop results will feed into the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Ghana, September 2008.
The workshops provided a good overview of the aid effectiveness among CSOs and facilitated good discussions on the role of CSOs in aid effectiveness, but it also made clear that the awareness amongst CSOs on aid effectiveness, Paris Declaration and Hanoi Core Statement is very low. There is a great interest though amongst CSOs to take a more active part in implementing the aid effectiveness agenda.
It has been discussed in the PPWG Steering Committee to organize a meeting on the topic in 2008.
The planned meeting to follow-up on the recommendations from the NGO workshop in 2006 has been postponed.
4. Meetings planned for 2008
PPWG plans to organize workshop for every three months as in previous years, below are some ideas for 2008 workshops:
Workshop 1: CSOs & Aid Effectiveness
As mentioned in item 3, this topic is in accordance with The Paris Declaration (PD) and Hanoi Core Statement (HSC) and to follow up on the National and Regional Consultation on Aid Effectiveness (Hanoi, October 2007 ). PPWG plans this workshop to support CSOs preparing for the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana 2008. So far the role of CSOs is not mentioned in the HCS and CSOs are not involved and not aware of HSC. This was an agenda discussed and agreed mainly by government and donors. Therefore, PPWG would like to raise awareness and to ensure involvement of CSOs on Aid Effectiveness and in the implementation of HSC. Different models of CSOs on aid effectiveness, e.g. participatory approach, village/commune development planning, participatory budgeting and planning, ODA’s monitoring, etc. will be presented and discussed on the workshop 2008.
Workshop 2: Training on Decree 151
Decree 151 could bring better benefits to the grassroots and especially the poor if they could form into “collaborative group“ as appropriate enabling them to increase their capital, their production/ management capacity and access to market. Thus PPWG, with financial support from Oxfam America, plans to organize two trainings on Decree 151 in 2008 aiming at raising awareness and application of CG Decree among stakeholders at different levels with CBOs being given utmost priority. Promoting Decree 151 into practice and outreach to grassroots and poor communities is as a long –term strategy. The two proposed training workshops must be therefore seen as critical for the definition of the PPWG vision according to which civil society organizations (CSOs) can contribute their resources and efforts to the development and application of Decree 151 and other related CBOs regulations in Vietnam.
Workshop 3: Evidenced Based Advocacy Workshop
Lobbying and advocacy in Vietnam is not so common, especially with CSOs who lack of skills and experiences with tools and practices in this area. The workshop, aims at providing a forum for various stakeholders, especially INGO and CSOs, who support and work at grassroots level to learn and share their experiences with evidenced based policy advocacy. This will support the sharing of good practices and establish a network among stakeholders and CSOs on lobbying and advocacy towards social changes and pro-poor policies for sustainable development.
Workshop 4: Updates on Legal environment and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs)
The Government of Vietnam has showed determination to promote the growth and increasing role of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the active participation of people at all levels in promoting socio-economic development nation-wide. PPWG to want to organize annual workshop to update information and increase awareness among CSOs about the overall legal environment that CSOs are operating in, and identify and discuss opportunities and constraints for CSOs concerning their participation in the socio-economic development process.
