Making Voices Heard and Count in Vietnam

The Leave No One Behind coalition in Vietnam was founded in 2018. From 2018-2020, country lead organisation was ActionAid Vietnam. The current lead organisation is the Management and Sustainable Development Institute (MSD). The VUFO NGO Resource Centre acts as strategic support of the coalition.

Current members (June 2024) are:

ActionAid Vietnam
ADRA Vietnam
CBM Vietnam
ChildFund Australia in Vietnam
Federation of Canadian Municipalities – FCM
Helvetas in Vietnam
Human Rights Space – HRS
IDEA
Management and Sustainable Development Institute – MSD (Lead)
Plan International in Vietnam
Save the Children International in Vietnam – SCI
Towards Transparency
VUFO – NGO Resource Centre
World Vision International Vietnam
WWF Vietnam

The country coalition has delivered a project pilot, focussing on people living in poverty; ethnic minorities; people with disabilities; elderly people; young people. Target SDG was SDG 10.2.

The scaled up project aimed to increase citizen participation in the monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Vietnam. Initially, SDG data relied solely on official sources managed by the national statistical office. However, recognising the importance of citizen engagement, the project empowered local civil society organisations (CSOs) to contribute to SDG monitoring through data generation.

The project had three main objectives:

To increase the capacity of local organisations to generate SDG data.
Fostering dialogue between CSOs, government and the private sector to amplify marginalised voices in SDG implementation.
Advocating for the inclusion of citizen-generated data in government SDG reporting.

To achieve these goals, the project conducted focus group interviews with marginalised communities, worked with relevant ministries to strengthen community-government linkages, and participated in national and international forums to share findings. In addition, online trainings and a national dialogue empowered local civil society organisations and partnership members in SDG monitoring.

With the past project, the Vietnam Coalition has achieved significant milestones:

– Presenting CSO statements at the Vietnam Development Forum.

– Conducting UNDP-sponsored training workshops on advocating for an enabling environment for CSOs.

– Contributing to Vietnam’s Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs).

– Incorporating nearly 80% of the recommendations from ongoing community-generated data research into the 2020 National SDG Implementation Report.

– Completing the Vietnam SDG 16 Plus Report with cases provided by coalition members.

– Initiating discussions with national authorities to establish a framework for the production and use of citizen-generated data (CGD).

– Conducting a comprehensive survey of 3,100 people from different vulnerable groups across Vietnam, resulting in the report Citizen-generated data – Community voices on Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in Vietnam.

– Organising a webinar to present the report’s findings and recommendations to government officials, UN representatives, civil society organisations and marginalised groups. A report film and talk show further disseminated the findings to over 3,000 people.

– Ensure sustainability through strengthened partnerships, collaboration with government agencies and plans to develop a national CGD manual/toolkit.

Future directions include strengthening CGD capacity, building partnerships for data collection, and addressing challenges related to survey coverage and outreach to ensure broader representation and impact. These efforts aim to further promote inclusive development and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs in Vietnam.

Pilot Project

Country Publications Targeted SDGs

Vietnam Pilot

SDG Target:

Target 10.2:

By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status

Target groups:

People living in poverty; ethnic minorities; people with disabilities; elderly people; young people.

How did we engage marginalised groups in SDG monitoring?

LNOB partners and a partner research institute trained community members in two sites to conduct quantitative surveys with 400 people and facilitate focus group discussions. Further, 49 in-depth interviews were conducted with officials (district + commune level) and community members.

Ways target groups are left behind

Ethnicity is a strong driver for marginalisation in Vietnam, and several ethnic minority groups experience discrimination due to low literacy, lack of economic opportunities and awareness about their rights.
Women and people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable as they are burdened with unequal workloads and face barriers accessing public services.
Prejudices about ethnic minorities, young people, people with disabilities and women impede their opportunities to contribute to local decision making.
Language is a crucial barrier preventing ethnic minority groups from contributing in elections, and particularly women from joining in vocational training and finding employment.
40% of citizens surveyed had participated in making local SDG action plans – but significantly more men than women participate and ethnic minority participation is low.

What is missed in national reporting?

The national indicator for 10.2 focuses on income inequality, overlooking complex socio-cultural and language barriers to social, economic and political inclusion.
Currently, only a small number of sources – all developed by or with the close participation of government agencies – are recognised as official data for measurement of the SDGs, which overlooks perspectives of marginalised groups.

National advocacy impact so far

In Vietnam, the coalition has engaged collaboratively with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to promote the use of non-government data in SDG reporting and to inform planning and policy on SDG implementation. At least one member of the coalition was present at each of the formal consultations with civil society on Vietnam’s 2018 VNR, and data and case studies supplied by the coalition were also included in the VNR which boosted the representation of marginalised groups significantly.

Recommendations

Strengthen implementation of the Gender Equality Law and mechanisms for women, especially ethnic minority women, to participate meaningfully in local political life, including policy making, policy discussion, policy implementation and monitoring.
- Include more women, especially ethnic minority women, in state socio-economic development programs;
- Train local officials in gender sensitivity;
- Organise literacy activities and registration for ethnic minority women and women in mountainous areas.
Strengthen electoral processes by applying principles of self-determination and “universal, equal, direct, and secret ballot” in elections, including village head elections, to ensure the transparency and quality of elections.
Promote local cultural capital such as indigenous languages and cultures through policies and programs. Media information programs and elections should use both Vietnamese and local languages.
Increasingly target training activities related to economic development and production to the poor and to elderly people, both of whom can contribute significantly to poverty reduction. Provide vocational training for ethnic minority young people to provide them with opportunities to look for off-farm work.
Support people with disabilities to work after vocational training and promote the development of People with Disabilities Associations.
Strengthen communication on the SDGs, including formulating messages appropriate to differences in geography, culture and education.
Social organisations need to promote activities to attract people’s participation and support social integration, especially for women, poor people and people with disabilities.

Country Publications Targeted SDGs

Vietnam Ongoing Project

Vietnam Publications

Our Target SDGS in Vietnam

Click on the SDG to reveal more information

10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

The international community has made significant strides towards lifting people out of poverty. The most vulnerable nations – the least developed countries, the landlocked developing countries and the small island developing states – continue to make inroads into poverty reduction. However, inequality still persists and large disparities remain in access to health and education services and other assets.

Additionally, while income inequality between countries may have been reduced, inequality within countries has risen. There is growing consensus that economic growth is not sufﬁcient to reduce poverty if it is not inclusive and if it does not involve the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental.

To reduce inequality, policies should be universal in principle paying attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized populations.

Learn more from the UN here >>

Related Vietnam Targets

10.2

By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status