According to officials from the Ministries of Planning and Investment (MPI) and Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), the government of Vietnam has always tried to make sure economic development go hand in hand with poverty reduction and empowerment for disadvantaged groups of people, including children, women, the disabled and ethnic minority people.

Vietnam’s achievements in poverty reduction have won international applaud. United Nations Resident Coordinator John Hendra praised Vietnam for being the first country in the world to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal - eliminating extreme poverty and hunger. 

The achievement is attributable to the effective implementation of poverty-related policies and programmes in recent years.

They include the national target programme for poverty reduction, the socio-economic development programmes for disadvantaged communes and ethnic minority areas, and the support programme for the fast and sustainable poverty reduction in 62 poor districts.

However, international experts said the Government is limited in resources to cover an increasing number of often fragmented programmes and policies. The mid-term results of the programmes have shown a substantial overlap and lack of coordination.

As a result, Resident Coordinator John Hendra said, many ethnic minority and mountainous areas continue lagging far behind further behind the rest of the country in terms of socio-economic development. 

He suggested that the existing poverty reduction programmes and policies be integrated into one master programme or framework to reduce overlap and improve coordination and enhance efficiency. 

He also stressed the need to improve the ethnic minority people’s capacity to play a more active role in the equitable and inclusive socio-economic development of their communities.