After almost 30 years of renovation from a centralized planning economy to a market-oriented one, Vietnam has witnessed significant achievements in economic development, poverty reduction and international integration. Various areas of governance have been reformed and institutionalized to effectively facilitate this process.

Nevertheless, the planning process (including planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) as an important state management tool still faces a number of constraints posed by the market economy and accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The most notable and also the key limitation of the current planning process is the lack of an institutional framework from the central to local level on the reform of a results- based, participatory, and market driven planning process, even though this has been mentioned in important documents of the Party and the Government. Therefore, needs for planning reform and institutionalization of such a reform have become necessary and important.

Within their operation framework, many internationally-funded projects in Viet Nam have supported the government at all levels in piloting the planning reform. Some projects have developed and piloted different manuals to foster their planning reform mainly at communal level. The support of international organizations, on one hand, has helped localities and institutions pilot and apply modern and scientific planning tools and approaches. On the other hand, these initiatives fell short of consistence and coordination from the central to local levels in the whole planning system. In reality, the national, local and sectorial SEDPs are generally developed following conventional approach under the direction of Ministry of Planning and Investment’s annual planning guidelines.

An assessment of child protection laws and policies, especially children in special circumstances in Viet Nam

Protection, care and education of children are one of the best traditional practices of Vietnam. That tradition has been protected, respected and promoted. The attention and care of children are more evident since Vietnam has signed the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990; which is a strong commitment of the Government of Socialist Republic of Vietnam regarding of protection, care and education of children, ensuring all children are subject to equal treatment and best conditions for full potential development and a safe and healthy living environment so that all children are entitled to basic rights and fulfil their obligations.

Vietnam has been developing and improving its legislation in general as well as child care and protection legislation and policy. Vietnam’s legislation has reflected international standards and harmonious adoption of them in Vietnam’s specific context. This is the legal framework to ensure the exercise of child rights. However, in accompanied with rapidly increasing and diversified social relationships in child protection, the legal regulations in child protection need continuously review assessment and revision to accommodate Vietnam context as well as international legislations.

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plays an important role in the planning process because it answers an important question about "how to know if a locality or sector is on a right track or proceeding towards a right destination". M&E is not a single activity but it is a process consisting two big activities: monitoring and evaluating the implementation of a plan. This process starts from the beginning to the end of the planning process. M&E is seen weak in the current planning process in Viet Nam. Reasons may include: (i) basis for implementing M&E – a system of legal documents, M&E indicators and targets of sectors and localities remains incomplete; (ii) M&E has been implemented as an usual procedures based mainly on administrative reporting from lower to higher levels that is lack of supervision and validation with objective and scientific evidences; (iii) the deficiency of human resources and working equipment for this work; and (iv) database is not updated in a regular, sufficient and accurate manner.

One of the main reasons for unsuccessful M&E and the biggest limitations of pilot planning projects is the lack of institutional framework from the central level, specifically the Ministry of Planning and Investment towards a results based, participatory and market driven manner even though this has been mentioned in some official documents of the Government and Party. Through adequate and scientific M&E implementation, scare resources will be effectively used and negative and unexpected impacts (both objectively and subjectively) during the planning process will be minimized, then this will facilitate the successful achievement of socio-economic targets of localities/ sectors.

This report was made under frame work of the National Nutrition Surveillance System of Viet Nam, which is an annual exercise led by the national Institute of Nutrition of the MOH. The data is collected in between July and September annually by the Provincial Preventive Centre. 1500 children under five from 30 clusters are involved for each of the province. Data were analyzed by the National Institute of Nutrition with broken down by province. The reports were shared back to the province, which was used for programme monitoring and evidence base planning of local interventions.

UNICEF Viet Nam supported documentation and analysis of the history, achievements and current status of the salt iodisation programme in Viet Nam in order to learn from the past. It is hoped that these lessons will help shape the future of salt iodisation in Viet Nam. This report was written by Karen Codling, public health nutrition consultant based on interviews with stakeholders of the salt iodisation programme in September 2012 and a review of a variety of documents, reports, evaluations, and surveys from the salt iodisation programme.

The author also drew upon several years of personal experience with the Viet Nam salt iodization programme, including a programme assessment and field visits. Dr. Nguyen Vinh Quang, Vice Director, Hospital of Endocrinology; Dr. Le Phong, Vice Director, Centre for Subnational Directing & Training, Hospital of Endocrinology; and Mr. Nguyen Huy Quang, Vice Director, Legislation Department, Ministry of Health provided assistance
in the writing of this review.

UNICEF Viet Nam Nutrition Specialists, Roger Mathisen and Nguyen Dinh Quang contributed significant inputs and insights, as did France Bégin, Regional Nutrition Advisor of the UNICEF Regional Office for East Asia and the Pacific and Do Hong Phuong, Nutrition Policy Specialist, UNICEF Viet Nam. The Ministry of Health, with the Hospital of Endocrinology, as the focal agency for the IDD programme, reviewed and endorsed the final report. Financial support for this report was provided by the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID)