Grassroots Democracy in Practice in the Vietnamese Countryside

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Smith, Dominic
Ngo, Thi Kim Yen
Vu, Xuan Thuy
Waelty, Samuel
Tarnutzer, Andreas
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2018
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Sydney, Australia

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Vietnam’s Grassroots Democracy Decrees (1998 and 2003), Ordinance (2007), and subsequent guiding documents for major programs on poverty reduction and rural development have enshrined the principle of people’s participation in decision making and implementation of investment activities at commune and village level. However, political realities mean that decision-making is still a largely top-down process and the grassroots level is only responsible for implementing a minuscule proportion of investment expenditure. This paper presents experiences and challenges of a large-scale program to implement grassroots democracy in 3,000 villages in Cao Bang and Hoa Binh, involving more than 250,000 households in decentralised planning and investment management processes. While facing many difficulties in challenging political orthodoxy, entrenched biases and resource capture, the program has resulted in two provincial governments supporting ongoing grassroots planning processes covering a population of more than 1 million people and committing around US$4 million annually to grassroots managed investments.

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Asian Studies Association of Australia Conference 2018

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Agriculture, land and farm management

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Smith, D; Ngo, TKY; Vu, XT; Waelty, S; Tarnutzer, A, ‘People Know, People Discuss, People Do, People Supervise’: Grassroots Democracy in Practice in the Vietnamese Countryside, Asian Studies Association of Australia Conference 2018, 2018