Civil Society Index studies were carried out worldwide from 2004 to 2006 in order to assess the present strengths and weaknesses of civil society in several dozen countries. The assessments follow similar methodologies in each country to assess civil society at a national level, based on the participation of a national Stakeholder Assessment Group (SAG) and a national team comprising a coordinator, researchers and an international civil society expert. The assessments are based on a common methodology developed by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation through extensive research in a number of pilot countries.

The VietNam project was carried out from April 2005 to March 2006 and was made possible by support from the UNDP and SNV in VietNam. It was the first attempt in Viet Nam to broadly map civil society.

Objectives of the CSI include:

• Creating knowledge about the state of civil society
• Creating a shared understanding of civil society among key stakeholders
• Improving the self-understanding of civil society and developing a better appreciation of its role
• Producing an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of civil society and outlining some priority areas for policy and actions.

This discussion paper provides a context for the project in Viet Nam and summarises the methodology and outcome of the CSI study. The definition used for civil society is broad and inclusive and focuses on the functions, rather than the forms, of the organisations involved. The major findings are discussed and the paper concludes with a number of recommendations as to how the development of civil society in Viet Nam could be further supported.

The CSI studies assess four essential dimensions of civil society, which together give a broad and coherent perspective on civil society. The four dimensions are: the structure of civil society, the socio-economic environment for civil society, the values of civil society, and the impact of civil society activities. In all, the Stakeholder Assessment Group (SAG) assessed 74 indicators related to the four dimensions.

Vu Thanh Tu AnhBrian JM Quinn

UNDP Policy Dialogue Paper 2008/1
Ha Noi, June 2008

Foreward

Markets  require  clear  rules  and  supporting  institutions  to  function  properly.  Millions  of  business  deals  are made  every  day  between  complete  strangers,  and  most  of  these  transactions  will  not  be  repeated.  If individuals and businesses come to believe that contracts cannot be enforced, the cost of doing business will rise for everyone. Cultural norms and social ties are effective means of controlling bad behaviour within small communities, but they are not much help when markets operate beyond the boundaries of the village or small town.

This paper reports  results from a survey of 180 farmers and 47 traders in the Mekong Delta's pomelo fruit market.  The  authors  found  that  contract  enforcement  remains  a  serious  problem  in  the  fruit  trade.  Since transactions  are  risky,  costs  are  higher  than  they  should  be  for  both  farmers  and  traders. The paper also considers the appropriate policy response to this situation. The best solution would be to guarantee easy and affordable access to a transparent and impartial legal system. But the authors are aware that legal system development will take some time. In the meantime, the creation of feedback mechanisms that facilitate the development of commercial reputations would represent a cost-effective alternative.

The Chu Lai Open Economic Zone and Rural Development: Central Planning's Laboratory for Policy and Institutional Innovation 

Eli Mazur, David Dapice, Vu Thanh Tu Anh

UNDP Policy Dialogue Paper 2008/2
Ha Noi, July 2008

Foreward 

Viet Nam is still a predominantly rural country, and therefore the creation of good, stable jobs in rural areas is a key policy priority. Export Processing Zones (EPZ) are one of the instruments used in Viet Nam and other developing  countries  to  spur  employment  growth  outside  of  the major  cities. These  zones  combine  good infrastructure with other incentives to attract investors to locations that they may not have considered in the absence of the EPZ.

This paper examines the experience of the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone in Quang Nam province to distill some lessons about the performance of EPZs as a policy instrument to stimulate rural development. 

The paper argues that local officials have invested too much time and money in the attempt to attract foreign investors rather than concentrating on the domestic private sector. Although foreign investment is desirable, Quang Nam is more likely to emerge as a domestic business hub rather than a production location for major multinational  corporations.  Local  government  should  focus  on  the  essential  task  of  helping  the  domestic private sector gain legal and affordable access to land and capital. In addition, the authors recommend further decentralization of authority to local government to enable Chu Lai to engage in policy experiments without the prior approval of central government authorities.

Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world

Climate change is the defining human development challenge of the 21st Century. Failure to respond to that challenge will stall and then reverse international efforts to reduce poverty. The poorest countries and most vulnerable citizens will suffer the earliest and most damaging setbacks, even though they have contributed least to the problem. Looking to the future, no country—however wealthy or powerful—will be immune to the impact of global warming.

The Human Development Report 2007/2008 shows that climate change is not just a future scenario. Increased exposure to droughts, floods and storms is already destroying opportunity and reinforcing inequality. Meanwhile, there is now overwhelming scientific evidence that the world is moving towards the point at which irreversible ecological catastrophe becomes unavoidable. Business-as-usual climate change points in a clear direction: unprecedented reversal in human development in our lifetime, and acute risks for our children and their grandchildren.

There is a window of opportunity for avoiding the most damaging climate change impacts, but that window is closing: the world has less than a decade to change course. Actions taken—or not taken—in the years ahead will have a profound bearing on the future course of human development. The world lacks neither the financial resources nor the technological capabilities to act. What is missing is a sense of urgency, human solidarity and collective interest.

As the Human Development Report 2007/2008 argues, climate change poses challenges at many levels. In a divided but ecologically interdependent world, it challenges all people to reflect upon how we manage the environment of the one thing that we share in common: planet Earth. It challenges us to reflect on social justice and human rights across countries and generations. It challenges political leaders and people in rich nations to acknowledge their historic responsibility for the problem, and to initiate deep and early cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Above all, it challenges the entire human community to undertake prompt and strong collective action based on shared values and a shared vision.

Download the Summary Report here

Download this report by chapters:

• Foreword and Acknowledgments
• Table of contents
• Overview - Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world
• Chapter 1 - The 21st Century climate challenge
• Chapter 2 - Climate shocks: risk and vulnerability in an unequal world
• Chapter 3 - Avoiding dangerous climate change: strategies for mitigation
• Chapter 4 - Adapting to the inevitable: national action and international cooperation
• Notes and Bibliography
• Human development indicators
• Technical Note 1: Calculating the human development indices
• Technical Note 2: Measuring the short and long-term effects of climate-related disasters
• Definitions of statistical terms
• Statistical references
• Classifications of countries
• Index to indicators

This  is  the  second  of  two  reports  written  for  the  United  Nations Development  Programme  in  Viet  Nam  to explore the issues of income, poverty and social security in Viet Nam and which follow on from the Policy Dialogue Paper entitled Beyond HEPR: A Framework for an Integrated National System of Social Security in Viet  Nam  published  in  2005,  which  put  forward  general  principles  for  comprehensive  social  security programmes in Viet Nam (Justino 2005).  In this report we look exclusively at the position of the elderly in Viet Nam and answer several key questions about their circumstances as found in the 2004 Viet Nam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS).

The  approach  of  this  report  is  empirical  and  descriptive  and  Part 1 continues  by  outlining  how  elderly Vietnamese fit into the overall demographic structures of Viet Nam.  Part 2 then looks at elderly economic activity  while  Part 3  that  describes  their  health  profile.  Part  4  describes  incomes  of  the  elderly  and  then focuses on social security and remittances, which are particularly important sources of income. Part 5 then describes the poverty profile and Part 6 brings together the papers findings and draws some conclusions.