VietNamNet Bridge – The Government's Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs has recommended simplifying administrative procedures and investment management to help remote ethnic areas receive more international support for socio-economic development.

Nearly 90 per cent of the workforce in ethnic minority areas remains unskilled.—Photo laocai.gov.vn

"This is part of the committee's draft to strengthen international co-operation, to boost development in the areas where ethnic groups live," said head of the committee's International Co-operation Department Nguyen Quang Duc.

As part of the draft, the committee plans to set up a one-stop office which will provide information and support international donors, organisations or individuals who want to fund development projects in ethnic minority areas.

It will also study and suggest adjustments to the preparations, assessments and approval of projects in ethnic minority areas funded by international partners, so they can get off the ground as soon as possible, benefiting local communities, according to Duc.

He noted that at present, it usually took two or three years for overseas development aid initiatives to take effect.

"This slow disbursement reduces the efficiency, effectiveness and successes that the funding can achieve," he said.

Deputy minister and deputy chairman of Committee for Ethnic Affairs Hoang Xuan Luong said that for many years, international support, including official development assistance and donations from international organisations and non-Governmental organisations, had helped reduce poverty and improve ethnic peoples' livelihoods as well as their standard of living.

"Although Viet Nam recently became a middle-income country, sustainable poverty reduction is still a major challenge," he said, adding that international assistance including funding and technology transfers played a crucial role.

Areas that have a high concentration of ethnic groups make up three quarters of Viet Nam's land mass. It is home to over 12.5 million people or 14.27 per cent of the country's population.

However, most areas are still poor and underdeveloped because of geographical difficulties, poor infrastructures and a lack of public services, including roads, electricity, health care and access to education.

Poor households make up over 28 per cent of the total in the northwestern mountainous provinces, 17 per cent in the northeastern provinces, 15.5 per cent in the Central Highlands and 15 per cent in the north-central provinces. The number of remote and disadvantaged communes with poor households account for between 45 – 90 per cent of these communities.

Nearly 90 per cent of the workforce in ethnic minority areas remains unskilled. A survey of the life expectancies of 16 ethnic groups with populations of less than 10,000 people such as La Ha, La Hu, Pa Then and Chut reveals that their life expectancy is around 60 years, 12.8 years less than the country's average life span.

Over the last two decades, international partners have committed more than US$75 billion to Viet Nam, of which $34.5 billion have been disbursed. ODA accounts for 10 per cent of total development investment, or 3.5 per cent of the country's GDP. This includes funding for major projects to reduce poverty, develop infrastructures, create legislation and improve health care, education and environmental protection.

In addition, calls for more support from non-Governmental organisations have been made. Last year, about 900 NGOs were operating in Viet Nam, seven times higher than that in 1991.

Source: VNS