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United Nations Development Programme

Achieving MDGs through ICTExperiences and

Challenges in Viet Nam:

Ha Noi, December 2003

Achieving MDGs through ICT: Experiences and Challenges in Viet Nam

Ha Noi, December 2003


Foreword

Experiences andChallenges in Viet Nam

Jordan D. RyanUNDP Resident Representative

Ha Noi, Viet NamDecember 2003

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has, together with an increasingly globalised economy,transformed the world we live in. Information is today accessible at incredible speeds, communicationhappens almost instantaneously, while the cost of telecommunications and technology has fallen greatlymaking ICTs available to an increasingly large number of Governments, businesses and ordinary people.

For many countries these changes have opened up new economic development opportunities and employmentgeneration through the development of production sectors in software, hardware, and service industries,while other countries have harnessed ICT for socio-economic development.

Viet Nam has made impressive advances towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)and continued to move towards their achievement, but it is also recognized that further gains and the inclusionof excluded groups will need innovative approaches to ensure pressing challenges are overcome. The needfor a more efficient, transparent and better functioning economy, institutions and public services for allcitizens is essential for long-term equitable and sustainable development.

At the UNDP we see ICT as an essential enabler of human development and especially for creating greaterequity as well as increasing the possibilities for people and development. ICT must be harnessed for humanwell being and the MDGs for all. Indeed many argue that without the harnessing of ICTs, the MDGs mayremain out of reach for many sections of society even if aggregate figures show achievement of the goalsoverall. This report highlights these opportunities, from a Viet Nam perspective, identifying areas wereICTs have already been harnessed and areas where ICTs could be harnessed in the future.

Achieving the MDGs through ICTs will require substantial investment not only in the form of financialinvestment but also social and human investment. ICT adoption and acceptance will require a change inmindsets and greater openness to the new opportunities and possibilities that ICT contains. Moving towardsan information and knowledge society that harnesses ICT for development will mean people will have tochange to adopt these new tools and realize the opportunities they bring. Investment in the young will go along way to achieving this but senior government and business leaders must lead by example and move theprocess forward.

The time is now, for Viet Nam to move away from a growing digital divide and begin to creatively seize thedigital opportunities that can be harnessed for development and the knowledge economy. Viet Nam hasunique opportunities to close these gaps and we hope the analysis and practices captured in this report willsupport Viet Nam’s decision-makers in achieving the MDGs through ICTs.

United Nations Development Programme - Viet Nam

Acknowledgments

This Report was commissioned by UNDP Viet Nam and prepared by the National Centrefor Social Sciences and Humanities. Contributions were made by Vu Quoc Huy (Instituteof Economics), Dr Tran Ngoc Ca, and Nguyen Thanh Tung (NISTPASS), Richard Jones(UNDP), Vu Ngoc Uyen (NCSSH), Nguyen Trung Kien and Nguyen Do Anh Tuan (NEU),Pham Quang Dieu (ICARD/MARD), Hoang Duong Tung and Nguyen Van Thuy(MONRE). Special input was provided by Dr Tran Minh Tien and his colleagues at theNational Institute of Posts and Telematics Strategies (MPT).

The authors would also like to thank Dr Quach Tuan Ngoc, Truong Van Tung, Nguyen HuyHung, and other participants to a technical workshop held in August 2003 for their valuablecomments and advice.

From UNDP Viet Nam we would like to thank Phan Duc Thang and Le Le Lan for theirsupport, and Lars Bestle for his direction and assistance. In the later stages of the report anumber of staff assisted in ensuring this report made it to completion as well as givingcomment and advice, Robert Glofcheski, Juan Gomez and Vu Quoc Ngu for their contributionsvia the Millennium Development Report for 2003 as well as their comments, Vern Weitzel,Paul Insua-Cao (PARC) and Shane Sheils for comments, advice and examples, Dang HuuCu in finalizing the report, Shahid Akhtar (APDIP) who started the idea of this reportthrough a regional report on ICT for Human Development. Finally, thank you to Prof. DoHoai Nam (NCSSH), Jordan Ryan and Kanni Wignaraja (UNDP) for their comments,direction and continued support for ICT in the pursuit of the Millennium DevelopmentGoals.


Table of Contents

Summary and Overview ................................................................................................................. i

Summary of Millennium Development Goals .................................................................................. v

Chapter 1. Millennium Development Goals and ICT ...................................................................... 11.1. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 11.2. The Millennium Development Goals In Viet Nam ..................................................................... 21.3. Information and Communications Technology and the MDGs ................................................... 31.4. ICTs and Availability, Accessibility and Affordability ................................................................. 5

Chapter 2. ICT for the Millennium Development Goals in Viet Nam ............................................... 82.1. ICT for Poverty Eradication and Rural Development .................................................................. 82.2. ICT for Universal Primary Education and Learning ................................................................. 182.3. ICT for the Promotion of Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women ............................. 252.4. ICT for Reduced Child Mortality, Maternal Health and

the Combating of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases ....................................................... 312.5. ICT and Environmental Protection ....................................................................................... 36

Chapter 3. Using ICT for Development in Viet Nam: Current Issues and Constraints ...................... 42

Chapter 4. Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 52

References ...................................................................................................................................... 57

Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................. 59

List of Tables1 Viet Nam’s Human Development Index over time .................................................................... 12 Progress toward Millennium Development Goals in Viet Nam .................................................. 33 Access to ICT by region ..................................................................................................... 174 Share of households having different types of durable assets by urban/rural in 1997-98 ............ 175 Resource constraints and potential benefits of ICT-based education ........................................ 196 Women’s participation in decision making in some ICT related agencies ................................. 307 Government IT Policy Directives and Key Legislation ............................................................ 448 Infrastructure Indicators for Viet Nam ................................................................................... 499 Problems in the policy environment for ICT development ........................................................ 50

List of Figures1 Farmers Information Sources ............................................................................................... 112 DOI Strategic Framework for ICTs and Development ...............................................................423 Revenue created by National Telecom Companies ................................................................ 43

List of Boxes1 What is ICT? ...................................................................................................................... 42 Information Systems in Viet Nam .........................................................................................103 Telecentres and Ethnic Minorities in Lai Chau ....................................................................... 124 Information and Coffee in Dak Lak ........................................................................................ 135 Networking Agricultural Information ...................................................................................... 136 Online Pomelo .................................................................................................................. 14


United Nations Development Programme - Viet Nam

7 Vegetable Growers Trading Online ....................................................................................... 158 Strengthening Small and Medium sized Enterprises............................................................... 169 Pilot delivery of e-curricula in Chu Van An Lower-secondary School ........................................ 2010 Educational support on the Internet in Viet Nam .................................................................... 2111 The application of ICTs in Ngoi Sao Upper-secondary Private School ...................................... 2212 Training Programmes on Television (channel VTV2) ............................................................... 2213 Coca-Cola e-learning Centre in Viet Nam ............................................................................. 2314 EduNet Project .................................................................................................................. 2415 The e-commerce site for e-marketers in Chennai, India .......................................................... 2716 Tailors in Hoi An ................................................................................................................ 2817 Information dissemination tools for MMR and IMR ................................................................. 3318 Involving the young in HIV/AIDS discussions ........................................................................ 3519 Networking Environmental groups, email, a simple tool .......................................................... 3820 Using GIS for Environment Monitoring .................................................................................. 3921 ICT as tool for Environment Monitoring ................................................................................. 4022 Air Pollution Monitoring in Ho Chi Minh City ......................................................................... 4023 ICT for Local Environment Development in Ha Noi ...................................................................4124 PARC ............................................................................................................................... 4125 Draft ICT Strategy for Viet Nam ............................................................................................46


Summary and Overview

i


ICT and the Millennium Development Goals

Viet Nam continues to make significant progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. However,further gains towards theses goals will be increasingly difficult and significant development challenges arearising. The need for a more efficient, transparent and better functioning economy, institutions and publicservices for all citizens will be important for long-term equitable and sustainable development. Viet Nam iscurrently facing widening social and economic inequalities between remote/rural areas and urban areas,between ethnic minority groups and the majority Kinh; and especially those set to benefit from economicreforms, international integration, information access and those who may be negatively affected by theseprocesses.

There is an urgent need to focus on access to and quality of social services, especially in the poorer andmore isolated areas, in order to avoid increasing disparities in accessing education and health services.Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become an indispensable tool in the fight againstpoverty. ICT provides developing countries with an unprecedented opportunity to meet vital developmentgoals such as poverty reduction, basic healthcare, and education, far more effectively than before. Thosecountries that succeed in harnessing the potential of ICT can look forward to greatly expanded economicgrowth, dramatically improved human welfare and stronger forms of governance along with improved deliveryand access to public services.

Poverty Goals: ICT and Poverty Alleviation

Though there are several examples of the use of ICT for poverty alleviation and hunger eradication in VietNam these are not widespread and are the exception to the development project rule rather than mainstreamedwithin development activities. However, this practice is changing and the pace of introduction of suchexamples is increasing as Viet Nam and the development community as a whole recognizes the powerfulpotential of ICT tools to reduce poverty and to support the development process.

It is in poverty alleviation that ICT have are of a key importance and bring the largest possibilities forsupporting the goals of the MDGs. Two key aspects of ICT bring the most opportunities, the increasedaccess to knowledge that they bring and the support they give integration. Essential elements for developmentin the 21st Century.

ICT can give all, including the poor and rurally employed in Viet Nam greater access to market information,access to new and alternative markets as well as reduced transaction costs for both poor farmers andtraders alike. ICT can deliver useful information to farmers in the form of crop care and animal husbandry,fertilizer and feedstock input, drought mitigation, pest control, irrigation weather forecasting, seed sourcingand market prices. Timely access to market information via communications networks helps farmers makedecisions about which crops to plant and where to sell their produce and buy inputs.

In Viet Nam the key information sources have been found to be ICTs such as television and radio key toolsfor accessing information for many farmers. Access to these traditional ICT tools remains high in Viet Namwhile access newer tools such as computers, email, mobile phones and the internet remains in its infancythrough out Viet Nam but especially in rural areas.

ICT gives the burgeoning SME, private sectors and also SOE in Viet Nam a tool to increase efficiency andcompetitiveness as well as enabling them to access market information nationally, regionally and globally,strengthening a firms ability to operate in the global environment and ensure stronger growth. At the sametime ICT is increasingly assisting the Vietnamese government in providing public services and strongly supporting

United Nations Development Programme - Viet Namii

such programmes as Public Administration Programme. This is strengthening both the ability of governmentto provide services as well as ensuring increased access to government services for both the poor and firms.ICT is increasingly improving the ability of government and development agencies to assist, support andstrengthen poverty mapping, monitoring and evaluation in Viet Nam, further enhancing support to the poor.

Education Goals: Achieving Universal Primary Education

The Vietnamese Government has long recognized the importance of ICT in education and the strong supportingrole it can have in the development and training of the population. New and important educational programssuch as the “National Education for All Action Plan 2003-2015”, are to place ICT as an integral area in thedevelopment of education in Viet Nam. Viet Nam is already training its teachers to use ICT to teach not onlytechnical skills but also to support other areas of the curriculum such as Math and Science. However, thisagain is in its infancy and has a number of hurdles to overcome, though there is very strong use of traditionaltools such as television and radio within education.

ICT gives the Vietnamese education system the opportunity to increase the supply of teachers through ICTenhanced training and distance learning. Educational materials can have their quality and access substantiallyimproved while ICT can also assist in the delivery of educational programmes to those both demographicallyand geographically remote from the mainstream educational systems. Within the educational structure ICTcan also greatly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of education ministries and network departmentsand schools for improved service provision.

Gender Goals: Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women

There are number of opportunities for ICT to assist in the achievement of gender equality and empowermentof women, however as this report shows there remain a number of problems and constraints, primarily bothgender dimensions of ICT and policy making in Viet Nam as well cultural gender stereotypes which steerwomen away from ICT.

However, ICT is a strong and powerful tool which if harnessed can assist in overcoming gender barriersespecially in education by enabling the delivery of educational and literacy programmes specifically targetedto poor girls & women using appropriate technologies. It can also be used to strongly influence public opinionon gender equality through information/ communication programmes using a range of ICT.

Health Goals: Reduced Child Mortality, Maternal Health and Combating AIDS/HIV, Malariaand other Diseases

ICT in health care is one of the most promising areas. It is being used in developing countries to facilitateremote consultation, diagnosis and treatment. When applied to disease prevention and epidemic responseefforts, ICT can provide considerable benefits and capabilities. Public broadcast media such as radio andtelevision have a long history of effectively facilitating the dissemination of public health messages anddisease prevention techniques in developing countries. The Internet can also be utilized to improve diseaseprevention by enabling more effective monitoring and response mechanisms.

The use of ICT, including television and radio in Viet Nam gives a huge opportunity to support the achievementof the MDGs. The Ministry of Health already uses tools such as television, radio and loudspeakers todisseminate health information. They can further assist health agencies to create stringer information sharingnetworks and assist in reaching a wider audience for health messages, especially in programs combatingAIDS/HIV. They can also assist in the delivery of health services to remote areas, with the possibilities ofremote diagnosis and ever increasing possibility.

Within government institutions ICT can assist in the training of health professionals and the networking ofstakeholders and care-givers. Intra-government coordination and planning can be vastly improved andefficiency raised, while access to information and the improvement of health services can be developedthrough ICT use.

Achieving MDGs through ICT: Experiences and Challenges in Viet Nam iii

Environment Goals: Environmental Sustainability

ICT offers the opportunity to vastly improve effective environmental monitoring through tools such as remotesensing and the development of communication networks as well as improving resource management optionsand the mitigation of environmental risks. Viet Nam suffers perennially from environmental problems whichthe implementation of tools within programmes such as the disaster management program and increaseduse of ICTs such as radio and television to improve access to information such as weather changes, hasassisted in mitigating environmental problems.

Awareness of sustainable development issues and strategies can also be greatly improved using ICT inareas such as raising the awareness of sustainable development in agriculture, sanitation and watermanagement, mining etc. while transparency and monitoring can also be improved of environmental abusesand enforcement of environmental regulations. Again ICT can also strengthen information networks andassist the exchange of information amongst policy makers, practitioners and advocacy groups.

Challenges for the Use of ICT for the MDGs

Changes, movements and developments in both the ICT business atmosphere as well as the governmentsfocus on ICT have shown that there is a determination and commitment from the highest level of Vietnameseleadership (including that of the Party, the Government and the National Assembly) to develop ICT and useICT to reach not only the millennium development goals but also Viet Nam’s overall development goals.Chapter 2 revealed that ICT is being used for development and the MDGs, but that this remains in itsinfancy and that ICT opportunities are yet to be fully tapped for development. Equally the implementation ofICT for development faces a number of challenges as we have already discussed, many of which can onlybe overcome through the assistance of the government and enterprises in ICT.

Viet Nam is not standing still in ICT in all areas, policy and regulation, enterprise and industry, infrastructure,human resource development and the development of applications and internet content. Indeed everydayadvances are being made and changes are happening, as is bound to happen in an area such as ICT, whichis at the cutting edge of technology with changes occurring rapidly. This section will underline both thechanges and direction of ICT in Viet Nam in relation to ICT and the needs of ICT and the MDG as well asdetailing the challenges in the current situation the problems these challenges are causing for the furtherenhancement of ICT for the millennium development goals.

However substantial challenges can be seen in each area of the MDGs in accessing, availability andaffordability of ICT for all groups. If we use the Digital Opportunity Initiative (DOI) framework to analysethe current situation in Viet Nam we find a Policy and regulatory situation that is moving in a positivedirection but one which continues to look slightly incoherent and not yet operating to its best capacity.Equally a key user group, the government is yet to develop a uniform e-Government strategy and is movingin a number of different directions, though best practises such as “One Stop Shops” are increasingly beingtaken up throughout Viet Nam.

Human capacity is growing steadily, but capacity remains mainly within the ICT Industry (where qualitylevels are still questioned). The development of a knowledge society has yet to develop though a number ofgroups have began to ensure ICT is part of both the education system in curriculum support as well asensuring teachers are aware of these possibilities. However this is again in its infancy and issues of affordability,access and availability remain.

Infrastructure continues to improve, especially in urban areas, while access is increasingly becoming widespread. However universal access is a long way off though a backbone of access has developed within postoffices and cultural centres which could then be promoted. Enterprises are also yet to fully realise theopportunities that ICT gives them, though this is related very much to problems of capacity and awareness.This is slowly changing and groups such as VCCI are promoting these possibilities within enterprises as isthe pressure of increased integration in the world economy. Finally content and applications are continuously

United Nations Development Programme - Viet Namiv

developing in Viet Nam, whether in education, for enterprise use, banking, rural development and so on butwill have to develop quicker and content be assured to be relevant. Applications and content are servingcurrent users but also have the power to bring users to ICT, a fact which should not be forgotten.

Viet Nam’s ICT environment has moved along way in a relatively short pace of time. In recent years theincreased focus and assistance of the government and the growth in dynamic private enterprises in generalas well as in ICT, has substantially assisted and supported this change, Equally the Vietnamese populationhas shown it will not hesitate to take up ICT if it is accessible, affordable, available and appropriate. Howeveras in other aspects of Viet Nam’s development inequality is an increased problem and while we have arguedthat ICT can assist in bridging the economic and social divides in many areas we must also ensure that thegrowing digital divide does not continue to widen and ensure all are able to access the possibilities availablein ICT.

Achieving MDGs through ICT: Experiences and Challenges in Viet Nam v

Overview of Millennium Declaration andMillennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The Millennium Declaration was ratified by 189 heads of state at the United Nations Millennium Summitin September 2000. The Declaration sets the global agenda for the initial years of the 21st century sothat globalization becomes a positive force for all the world’s people. The Declaration includes eightimportant Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs represent a global commitment by allnations who signed the Declaration. The entire MDG framework is composed of eight broad goals,eighteen targets and forty-eight indicators.

The Millennium Development Goals

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hungerHalve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day, andthe proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary educationEnsure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course ofprimary schooling.

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower womenEliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and to all levels ofeducation no later than 2015.

Goal 4: Reduce child mortalityReduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.

Goal 5: Improve maternal healthReduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseasesHalt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases.

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainabilityIntegrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reversethe loss of environmental resources.

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for developmentDevelop further an open, rules-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system.Including a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction – both nationally andinternationally.

Achieving MDGs through ICT: Experiences and Challenges in Viet Nam 1


Chapter 1. Millennium Development Goals and ICT

1.1. Introduction

The last two decades have been an extraordinary period of time for the people of Viet Nam. The countryhas undergone a dramatic transformation, sparked by doi moi, a comprehensive reform process which hastransformed the country from a centrally planned economy to a socialist-oriented market economy. Bysignificantly unleashing the choices and opportunities of millions of ordinary people in Viet Nam, thesereforms have resulted in remarkable achievements and improvements in all aspects of their economic andsocial life. Major human development indices as a result have steadily improved.

Viet Nam’s human development 1 indicators have shown substantial improvements due to changes in theeconomic structure in Viet Nam that have seen large growth combined with substantial poverty alleviationover the last 20 years. This has in no small part been enabled by a strong open-door policy which has seenboth rapid and substantial foreign-direct investment growth and international trade underlined by a substantialincrease in the level of Viet Nam’s integration. This integration into the world economy is illustrated by theVietnamese government’s participation in both regional trade agreements such as the ASEAN Free TradeAgreement (AFTA) and Bilateral Trade Agreements (BTA) with the United States and Japan as well asmovements and changes in the economy directed at accession to the World Trade Organisation by 2005.

The 1990s, while also seeing substantial economic structural shifts, Viet Nam also saw a pivotal swing in notonly integration levels but also the means of integration and communication between countries and people.This was brought about by technical innovations in ICT as well as market reforms in telecommunicationsthat drove down the cost of services and pushed up the demand for ICT. Viet Nam has not been excludedfrom these changes in telecom developments, market structures and technical changes, nor from the knowledgeeconomy. The questions this report is concerned with are how are the developments in ICT are beingharnessed in Viet Nam, particularly in supporting achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, andwhere could ICT be used to support these goals, and indeed where can ICT be used to ensure these goalsare met. Finally the report asks why ICTs are not being harnessed to achieve these goals, looking at allaspects of what may be constraining ICT adoption and what may be missing in Viet Nam to ensure furtherICT adoption.

1 Viet Nam’s Human Development Report (2003) Further details of Viet Nam’s Human Development indices and movements

Table 1.1. Viet Nam’s Human Development Index over time

2002

(2000)

68.293.467

19960.688109

Human Development Indices

(Reference year)

Life expectancy at birth (years)Adult literacy (%)Combined enrolment rate (%)Real GDP per capita (PPP US$)Human Development Index (value)Human Development Index (rank)

2001

(1999)

67.893.167

18600.682101

2000

(1998)

67.892.963

1,6890.671108

1999

(1997)

67.491.962

1,6300.666110

1997

(1994)

66.09355

1,2080.634121

1995

(1992)

65.291.949

1,0100.611120

Source: UNDP(2002), NCSSH (2001)

United Nations Development Programme - Viet Nam2

This report has four sections. Firstly we will briefly review the current status of the MDGs in Viet Nam anddraw linkages between each of the MDGs and the role ICTs play in meeting these goals. Secondly we willlook at the current usage of ICT for each of the MDGs in Viet Nam, highlighting some best practices, areasof opportunity and innovative approaches in harnessing ICT that support the achievement of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals. Finally in this section we will review the constraints in ICT adoption in these areaswhich may be hindering the widespread adoption of ICTs. In chapter three we will review the recent directionthat ICT has taken in Viet Nam and whether the constraints being felt are being confronted. Finally we willconclude with some brief recommendations for the adoption of ICT in support of the MDGs in Viet Nam.

1.2. The Millennium Development Goals in Viet Nam

Viet Nam is often praised for achieving high human development levels with a low level of economicdevelopment, as measured by GDP per capita. In fact, many basic social indicators such as adult literacyrate, combined primary and secondary enrollment rates, infant and maternal mortality rates are relativelyhigh, given the low level of GDP per capita. In 2002, infant mortality rates in Viet Nam were 30-35 deathsper live births and maternal mortality rates were estimated to be 165 deaths per 100,000 live births. At thesame time, the Philippines with almost twice as much GDP per capita had the same infant mortality rate butalmost twice the maternal mortality rate. India, a country that has a marginally higher GDP per capita showsmuch poorer levels in both areas (95 for infant mortality rate and as much as 540 for the maternal mortality)(UNDP, 2001).

Government expenditure on education, healthcare and other basic social services, after initial reductions inthe first years of the reform, has climbed and accounts for 17 percent of total government spending (MOF,2001). Despite these achievements, there remains concerns that the burden of education and healthcarespending has now been shifted unequally to households, limiting access to education and basic social servicesto many (UNDP, 2002). Moreover, access to clean water and safe sanitation is still a problem with somelimited progress. All these efforts and achievement are truly remarkable and gives Viet Nam a very goodchance of achieving most of Millennium Development Goals before the deadlines committed to at theMillennium Summit in 1999.

The UNDP (2001) asserted that progress towards the MDGs has so far been impressive, but challengesremain enormous. The Report made assessments on the MDG progress based on a number of indicators.Amongst them, 1) the likelihood that a goal would be achieved and b) the state of the supportive policyenvironment.2 The results of the assessment show a positive trend in achieving the MDGs and a supportivepolicy environment for all MDGs. The most recent Millennium Development Goals report (November 2003)shows a similar positive trend though with a number of concerns being raised, which are especially highlightedin the revision of maternal mortality rates.

The goals within the MDG structure are in many ways not new to Viet Nam, indeed Viet Nam’s 10 yearsocio-economic development strategy 2001-2010 and the 5 year socio-economic development plan 2001-2005 include many goals and targets for 2010 that can ultimately lead to the achievement of the MDGs by2015. The Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS)3 also offers considerablepotential for helping Viet Nam achieve Viet Nam’s MDG and other development goals. Again the CPRGScontains many of the country’s development goals and movements towards the CPRGS would substantiallyassist Viet Nam in reaching the MDGs by 2015.

2 For each goal, the likelihood of achieving the target was as follows “probably”, “potentially’, ‘unlikely’ and ‘lack of data”.Similarly, the state of supportive policy environment for each goal was ranged from “strong”, “fair”. “weak but improving” and“weak”

3 The CPRGS was developed with assistance from the World Bank and UNDP as well as in consultation with the broaderdevelopment community.


1.3. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the MDGs

Viet Nam continues to make significant progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. However,further progress will be increasingly more challenging. The need for a more efficient, transparent and betterfunctioning economy, institutions and public services for all citizens will be important for long-term equitableand sustainable development. Viet Nam is currently facing widening social and economic inequalities betweenremote and rural areas and urban centers; between ethnic minority groups and the majority Kinh population;and especially those set to benefit from economic reforms, international integration, information access andthose who may be negatively affected by these processes. While, at the national level, as highlighted in theprevious section, most of the MDGs are within reach, there is a wide dispersion amongst provinces andmany of them may not be able to achieve the goals if looked on in isolation. A recently released UNDPreport indicated that Viet Nam had showed some possible setbacks, making distance to some MDGs greater,at least temporarily.

There are, however, many new opportunities that have emerged and can be effectively used to furtherenhance human development in Viet Nam as a whole and in further advancing towards the MillenniumDevelopment Goals. Globalisation, technological breakthroughs and innovation, embodied in ICT can bevery effective tools and means for achieving both improvements in human development and movementtowards the Millennium Development Goals. Indeed many argue that without the harnessing of ICT, theMDGs may remain out of reach for many sections of society even if aggregate figures show achievementof the goals overall.

It is important to note that rapid increases in external trade and increasing competition induced by deepeningintegration has an important implication for ICT development in the country. Firstly, a more open and favorabletrade regime provides a good opportunity for a better access to modern ICT technology that in turn leads tosignificant developments of the ICT sector itself. Secondly, opening up to the global market also puts pressureon Vietnamese producers to apply ICT in their business to gain competitiveness vis-à-vis their competitors.

Table 1.2. Progress toward Millennium Development Goals in Viet Nam

Goals

Goal 1:Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Goals 2 and 3:Achieve universal primary educationPromote gender equality and empower women

Goals 4, 5, 6:Reduce child mortalityImprove maternal healthCombat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Goal 7:Ensure environmental sustainability

Goal 8:Develop further an open, rules-based, predictable,non-discriminatory trading and financial system.Including a commitment to good governance,development, and poverty reduction – bothnationally and internationally.

Will a goal be achieved

Probably

Probably

Potentially

Potentially

Potentially

State of supportiveenvironment

Strong

Fair

Fair

Fair

Fair

Source: UNDP (2001)


The need for improving national competitiveness encourages improvements in efficiency and accessibilityof ICT technology to the business community.

Many may argue that the remarkable results in poverty reduction and gains in achieving key MDGs so farin Viet Nam have been achieved mainly through major innovative policy and institutional changes with littleassistance of modern information and communication technologies. However, it is also equally true that withstronger support of these technological innovations, the gains could be much greater and achievement andadvancement quicker International experience has convincingly shown that if properly used and managed,ICT can promote human development.

ICT can support human development and the achievement of the MDGs in a number of ways. Firstly, ICTwith all its diversified forms can enhance significantly human capabilities. Internet access for informationand communications has directly improved peoples health, nutrition, knowledge and living standards. Distancelearning and video conferencing are new tools that equip people with unprecedented means of learning andteaching. Remote diagnosis in the health sector and GIS for environment monitoring and protection haveprovided incredible results and opportunities.

Secondly, ICT can expand choices for people in their daily lives, whether seeking better education, decentand meaningful work and opportunities. Using computers not only expands individual capabilities in problemsolving and operation but provides new choices in management for public institutions and private business.Distance learning, CD-ROMs, on-line and television education programs provide different choices for learningto many people. In brief, with the development of ICT, people have numerous additional and more effectiveoptions in almost every area of their life from doing business, seeking new partners for trading to differentforms of education and healthcare.

Thirdly, ICT is one of the most powerful tools to empower people, increasing their ability to participatemore actively in the social, economic and political life of their community. By effectively changing the waybusiness and management is taking place, ICT can provide unprecedented opportunities for the voice ofcitizens and employees to be heard. Direct broadcasting of the National Assembly’s Questions section hasproved to be a powerful tool in providing the public with a much needed right to know in what is happeningin the National Assembly and in making government officials accountable to citizens. New internet toolshave also provided direct access to Government and help people access new information and knowledgethat in turn improves their confidence and awareness of their rights. In District One in Ho Chi Minh City,people are able to send requests and complaints to the Peoples Committee through via the internet as well asa number of other online services.

Finally, ICT has an important role in ensuring equitable development, though at the same time it may alsoaggravate already existing inequalities and disparities within society. Through ICT tools such as the internet,mobile phones, fax machines and television, distances have become less important in bringing knowledgeand information closer to people. A businessman in Ha Giang or Tra Vinh can make a deal with his partnersbased in Ha Noi or Da Nang and even overseas without the need to ever meet each other face to face. Afarmer in an isolated area of the Mekong Delta could learn how to grow new, high-yield varieties of rice

Box 1.1. What is ICT?

ICTs include technologies and tools or instruments that can be used for storing, managing, communicatingand sharing information. These tools can be either manual or computerized (digital). ICTs not only includehardware, i.e. PCs, radios and other wireless devices, telecommunications towers, and connections andother physical components. They also comprise software and software systems including managementinformation systems (MIS), as well as management methods and practices. Most importantly, they includeapplications that add value and justify the use and investment in ICTs.

Source: UNDP 2002


through television or the newspaper. Therefore, ICT offers excellent opportunities for remote regions andlocalities to catch up with more advanced regions. At the same time, there is also a danger that with rapiddevelopment and unequal access to new technology, a new generation of knowledge-poor and information-starved people may materialize, who are unable to take advantage of the great opportunities offered by ICTwho will then become further marginalised.

The “digital divide” has become a reality and Viet Nam is no exception. Bridging this digital divide andmaking the best use of ICT for human development and achieving MDGs represents a challenging task andrequires a coordinated effort and vision by all those involved not only in the development of ICT but also indevelopment and the achievement of the MDGs. Without a coordinated effort and focus these divides cannot be overcome and the possibilities that ICT encapsulates will not be harnessed.

1.4. ICT: Availability, Accessibility and Affordability

The table “ICTs for the MDGs” on page 6, illustrates the many ways ICT, when appropriately used can helpto achieve the MDGs. The list in this table does not exhaust all of the potentials that ICT can provide forhuman development and achievement of the MDGs. For maximum use of ICT for human development andachieving MDGs, however it is necessary to understand the mechanism by which these new tools of ICTcan translate information and knowledge potentials into new opportunities and capabilities. Both content andinfrastructure of ICT are important in this regard, but the real impact depends on how and to what extentthese new tools are Available, Accessible and Affordable for those who are in need.

Availability: ICT is information, communication and technology. Therefore ICT availability should apply tothese three components. Information availability perhaps is the most important thing, more important thantechnology availability in many ways. People need information to understand what is going on around them,what needs to be done and how things can be done. Those who are information-poor are as desperate asthose who are asset-poor or wealth-poor. Making information available to these groups therefore is crucialfactor for enhancing their capabilities and empowerment.

Accessibility: Information can come from a variety of sources. Sometimes it requires new efforts to collectnew information, in other cases it requires a change in regulations and the creation of conditions that allowpeople to have access to information and knowledge already available. Therefore, accessibility is thesecond prerequisite that makes ICT relevant and instrumental in promoting human development and achievingthe MDGs. Limited access to information and knowledge may be a result of a number of factors andaddressing this issue requires a comprehensive approach. In some cases, language barriers are more importantthan limited access to information and knowledge and therefore, need to be dealt with first. Khmer farmersin the Mekong River Delta need television programs and handbooks on extension services in their ownlanguage in order to learn and apply new technologies for cultivation. In other cases, technical and institutionalbarriers need to be overcome first so the flows of information and knowledge can reach people, especiallythe poor.

Affordability: Affordability is essential to ensure ICTs are brought to the people. Often, ICT is too expensivefor the majority of the poor, especially those in remote areas. Setting up a telephone line can cost six-monthsincome of an average rural household. Buying a computer is beyond the majority of the poor and even formany schools in poor communes and areas. In many communities, loud-speakers remain the only tool ofcommunication and knowledge dissemination for villagers. The high cost of internet connections and telephonecharges drive many SMEs away from using this new tool in their daily business, making them uncompetitivevis-à-vis bigger competitors. Addressing this issue and making the new tools and opportunities offered byICT affordable to the people, especially the poor through targeted programs, choosing appropriate technologies,further increasing efficiency and the outreach of the ICT sector is an urgent task.

In summary, Viet Nam has undergone a tremendous transformation since doi moi. Recent impressivedevelopments in ICT related sectors shows that Viet Nam can take advantage and make full use of its mostvaluable asset, its own people, to advance and improve the countries well-being. ICT has shown it is instrumental


ICTs for the Millennium Development Goals

GoalsGoal 1:Eradicate extreme poverty andhunger

Goals 2 and 3:Achieve universal primaryeducationPromote genderequality and empower women

Goals 4, 5, 6:Reduce child mortalityImprovematernal healthCombat HIV/AIDS, malaria and otherdiseases

Goal 7:Ensure environmentalsustainability

Goal 8:Develop further an open,rules-based, predictable,non-discriminatory trading andfinancial system. Including acommitment to goodgovernance, development,and poverty reduction – bothnationally and internationally.

Role of ICT

• Increase access to market information and lower transaction costsfor poor farmers and traders;

• Increase efficiency, competitiveness and market access of developingcountry firms;

• Enhance ability of developing countries to participate in globaleconomy and to exploit comparative advantage in factor costs(particularly skilled labour).

• Increase supply of trained teachers through ICT-enhanced anddistance training of teachers and networks that link teachers to theircolleagues;

• Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of education ministries andrelated bodies through strategic application of technologies and ICT-enabled skill development;

• Broaden availability of quality educational materials/resourcesthrough ICTs;

• Deliver educational and literacy programmes specifically targeted topoor girls & women using appropriate technologies;

• Influence public opinion on gender equality through information/communication programmes using a range of ICTs.

• Enhance delivery of basic and in-service training for health workers;• Increase monitoring and information-sharing on disease and famine;• Increase access of rural care-givers to specialist support and remote

diagnosis;• Increase access to reproductive health information, including

information on AIDS prevention, through locally-appropriate content inlocal languages.

• Remote sensing technologies and communications networks permitmore effective monitoring, resource management, mitigation ofenvironmental risks;

• Increase access to/awareness of sustainable development• strategies, in areas such as agriculture, sanitation and water

management, mining, etc.;• Greater transparency and monitoring of environmental abuses/

enforcement of environmental regulations;• Facilitate knowledge exchange and networking among policy makers,

practitioners and advocacy groups.

• Enable LDCs, landlocked countries and small islands to link up withthe global market to accelerate their integration into the worldeconomy.

• Distance working facilitated by ICT opens up opportunities to createservice-sector jobs such as call centres, data entry and processing,and software development;

• Telecentres do not only provide access to telecommunications, theyalso create direct employment for men and women;

• Improve youth learning skills, employability to meet the challenges ofthe knowledge-based global economy of the 21st century.

• Combine low and high technology to achieve relative ubiquity ofaccess to effective and affordable information and communicationtechnology tools;

• ·Promote digital literacy through e-learning;• Develop a critical mass of knowledge workers with the technical

capabilities to provide and maintain ICT infrastructure.

Source: DfID, 2002


for achieving the MDG goals. Addressing key issues that affect ICT’s availability, accessibility and affordabilityis crucial in making ICT work for the people.

The next section of this report will look at the current use of ICT for the MDGs, highlighting best practicesand detailing many of the problems, including availability, accessibility and affordability problems that are feltin adoption of ICT. Chapter 3 will then review the movements in ICT in the area of policy, regulation, humancapacity development, applications and content, enterprise adoption and usage and infrastructure, that areeither assisting or hindering the further implementation of ICT. We will conclude with a series of briefrecommendations that we feel should be taken up to assist the use of ICTs for achievement of the MDGs.



Chapter 2. ICT for the Millennium Development Goalsin Viet Nam

2.1. ICT for Poverty Eradication and Rural Development

2.1.1. The Role of ICT for Poverty Reduction and Rural Development

As we can see from the table above, ICTs can be used to assist in the reduction of poverty and thestrengthening of income making activities through a number of activities. Information is increasingly centralto people’s lives and decision making, especially in agricultural production and rural development and economicdevelopment in this area. ICTs can enable the development of alternative income producing activities andassist in the reduction of risk when production decisions are being made. Accessing information throughICTs enables the poor and rural populations to relate to markets more effectively, identify new markets, andanticipate market fluctuations and substantially reduce vulnerability.

Global integration is an increasing factor in income production throughout the world and is increasinglyimportant to rural populations within Viet Nam. With greater knowledge and access to timely information,farmers and those working in agriculture and rural areas, will have a wider range of choices, whether inproduction, markets, extension or crop care. The integration process and new technologies affects theagricultural sector and rural areas in various ways. On the one hand, applying new technology enablesproducers to link with internal and external markets more closely. In turn this greater integration seesgreater fluctuations in world markets transmitted more directly and with greater effect to the agriculturalsector and hence, creating more risk and vulnerability. ICT facilitates the integration process, which createsnew opportunities for the development of the agriculture sector.

With these problems and possibilities in mind this report presents some of the main examples of ICT beingused to give rural populations greater opportunities, an area which comprises of 75% of Viet Nam’s populationand 95% of the poor in Viet Nam. We detail areas where ICT is being harnessed to access product andextension information, integration assistance and competitiveness improvement as well market access bothglobally, regionally and nationally, as well as the use of ICTs to strengthen the development of SMEs, whichis increasingly recognized as central to employment generation in Viet Nam.

Goal:

To reduce the number of peoplein extreme poverty in 1990 by50%, by 2015

ICT Opportunities

• Increase access to market information; reducetransaction costs for poor farmers.

• Facilitate the development of alternative markets.• Alternative Strategies in times of crisis.• Increase efficiency, competitiveness and market access

of developing country firms.• Enhance the provision of public services and access to

government services.• Enhance access to information in local languages to

respond to respond to poor needs.


2.1.2. Poverty and Rural Development in Viet Nam

As we discussed in our review of the Millennium Development Goals earlier, Viet Nam made significantadvances in reducing poverty during the 1990’s, which is detailed in more depth in the Millennium DevelopmentGoals Report, 20034 as are details of all the MDGs. The latest poverty figures show poverty levels to havefallen to 29% of Viet Nam’s population, from 60% in 1990 and 32% in 2000. The country is well on track inmeeting its MDG commitments. If this poverty reduction trend continues then the goal of only 20% of thepopulation falling below the poverty line is within grasp by 2010.

Despite this continued decline, and the general opinion that Viet Nam is well on the way to reaching its MDGand Viet Nam Development Goal targets for poverty alleviation, a number of key problems have beenidentified. Though the 1997/98 Viet Nam Living Standard Survey (VLSS), showed a reduction in poverty, ashas initial analysis of the 2002 VHLSS, commodity prices in a number of key export crops have shownconsiderable declines, substantially reducing exports earnings and farmers incomes.5 Vietnamese farmersare becoming increasingly integrated within world markets and such declines have had increasingly negativeeffects on their incomes and therefore Viet Nam’s ability to meet the MDGs. At the same time groups suchas Vietnamese catfish farmers have found major restrictions imposed on them from major markets for theirproducts, in this case the United States, through trade disputes and accusations of dumping.

Secondly these surveys have shown an increase in inequality within Viet Nam with the poorest 20% of thepopulation accounting for a declining share in national expenditure, while the richest 20% have seen theirshare of national expenditure increase.6 Measures of the Gini coefficient for consumption expenditure showa continued increase indicating increased inequality within Viet Nam. Equally there are substantial povertydisparities between ethnic groups and the majority Kinh, with some 70% of ethnic minorities falling underthe poverty line in 2002 (down from 75% in 1998) while only 23% of Kinh fell under the poverty line.7

Greater access to information in support of the activities of the poor and rural populations will enable themto manage the risk associated with increased integration and also strengthen income making abilities andchoices reducing the level of inequality.

2.1.3. ICTs for Poverty Reduction and Rural Development in Viet Nam

This section outlines a number of examples of ICT usage in the area of information access, market accessand integration with markets and improved competition. Many of these areas overlap with some examplesshowing increased access to information bringing the opportunity to access new markets and new productionmethods which again may lead to increased levels of integration and often positive effects on competitiveness.

2.1.3.1. Information Access, Demand and Distribution

Before identifying the ICT usage in Viet Nam that has strengthened or enabled greater development for thepoor and rural producers and their access to information, it is useful to understand not only the currentsituation in information access for the poor and rural producers but also what information people may wantand how they would like information to be delivered. The problems we outline below are by no meanscomprehensive but do show some of the main constraints. It must also be remembered that even wheninformation is available problems of literacy, education and language may further cause constraints.

A lack of, or limited access to market information on agricultural products in many rural areas has resultedfrom either the distance to the local markets or poor infrastructure (especially in remote and mountainous

4 UNDP, 2003, MDGs: Closing the Millennium Gaps5 Coffee, rice and pepper are just three crops that have shown considerable declines and fluctuations since 2000.6 UNDP 8, 2002: “Bringing the MDGs Closer to the People”7 UNDP, 2003.


Box 2.2. Information Systems in Viet Nam

The media in Viet Nam, includes Viet Nam Television (VTV) with four central channels and branches inall 61 provinces of the country, the Voice of Viet Nam, 635 newspapers and journals with about 555million copies circulated per year, a wide local extension network of cable loudspeakers, billboards andposters etc.

Mass information systems are developing very quickly both in terms of technological infrastructure andcoverage as well as in terms of diversified content and the mode of delivery, increasingly reaching andmeeting the needs for information of social groups in difficulties such as mountainous and remote areas,illiterate people (of which 70% being female) and ethnic minorities.

Currently, 85% of communes in Viet Nam receive newspapers daily. (MARD-UNDP 2003). Broadcastsare increasingly made in a number of major ethnic languages such as Tay-Nung, Muong, Thai, H’mong(in the North), Bana, Giarai, Ede (in the Centre) and Cham, Khmer (in the South) and are expanding bothin coverage and time of broadcasting.

areas), which has limited poor households decision making possibilities. Research in Phu Tho provinceuncovered information constraints often very typical to rural areas and farm households which include:

• Lack of, or limited access to market information resulted in farm households not knowing themarket demand for their or other products.

• Lack of market information combined with poor infrastructure has led to a low level of marketintegration. Consequently, most markets remain locally bound.8

• As market integration is weak or does not exist farm households often sell products at low prices.This gives traders or middlemen the opportunity to squeeze farm households by lowering prices.

• Lack of market price information for inputs and output means farm households and small tradersfind it difficult to decide what crops, poultry and cattle should be invested in to gain the highest profitsand thus, leading to inefficiently in resource allocation.

• Lack of information may also lead to poor production practices and low levels of productivity.9

A Market Information System pilot model was established in Phu Tho, sponsored by Viet Nam-SwedenMountain Rural Development Programme (MRDP) which aimed to diffuse market information to farmersand small traders in a number of pilot areas. The ICT group involved in information dissemination encouragedboth the use of ICT tools such as telephones, fax, radio, television and an intranet and the internet to gatherinformation from groups such as extension agencies for distribution down to communes and farmers. Evidencefrom the project showed that after this project model was implemented farmers saw several benefits10:

• Farmers and traders now had access to updated market prices close to their homes. This enabled themto more effectively respond to the market trends.

• Market information enabled farmers to consider what crops, poultry and cattle would benefit them mostand influence their investment.

• The level of exploitation via wholesalers trying to squeeze farmers through lower prices was reduced.

b. Information Demand

Disparities in information access are often found to be due to differences in income levels, education levelsand infrastructure. The difference in the level of education often results in unequal access to ICT and

8 Oversupply due to a good harvest reduces prices in local areas, while in other areas, prices may remain high.9 ActionAid presentation, November 20031 0 Viet Nam- Sweden Mountain Rural Development Programme, 2001. Market Information Model.


information demand. A survey of Do Long and Vu Dung (2002) indicated that TV and radio are popularinformation sources for households living in rural areas. However, they further found that information demandsdepend on levels of education, with those with higher levels of education having a higher demand for information.

Other surveys, such as the recent Farmers Needs Survey by MARD and UNDP (2003) also looked closelyat how farmers currently access and how they view information. The figure above shows key informationsources found in the survey. ICTs in the form of loudspeakers and television programs as well as radio makeup a large proportion of access means. Unsurprisingly ICTs such as computers are not detailed, howeversurprisingly ICTs such as telephones are also not detailed, though these may be used by village heads toaccess information before distribution to farmers.

Statements on the information received by farmers went on to criticize some components of ICTs, such astelevisions, for being too broad in the information it distributed, giving information more suitable for largefarmers and not being regionally specific enough. At the same time farmers felt that Agricultural PublicService Providers and extension information providers should make greater use of local television and videoto provide information and give training. The view of farmers and the poor on what information is needed ishighly important for ICT use success. If information is provided in a top down manner or is too wide inapplication, as is often the case, then the information may be of little use to those who need it. Informationprovision, especially using ICTs must be in reaction to the needs and wants of those receiving it.

c. Appropriateness of Information and Content

As we can see information is in high demand, but care must be taken to ensure the appropriateness ofinformation supplied. While ICT content provision is expanding its supply in Viet Nam appears to be lessthan that demanded. While all the websites and ICT usage detailed here are in Vietnamese, it must beremembered that much of the information required by farmers and the poor in all areas is often alreadyavailable on the internet or from various sources. However, the majority of this information is available onlyin English. At the same time while an increasing amount of information is appearing in Vietnamese ontelevision, radio and the internet, very little is available in minority languages, further widening the informationaccess gap in Viet Nam to these marginalized groups.

VTV1

Newspapers and Magazines

VTV3

Neighbours

VTV2

Radio

Local agricutural TV programme

Village head diffussing information

Loudspeakers

2323

2525

3839

4144

5860

6264

7476

7677

7981

9080706050403020100

Base: N=1261

Availability of information

Usefulness

Figure 2.1. Farmers Information Sources

Source: UNDP/MARD 2003


Box 2.3. Telecentres and Ethnic Minorities in Lai Chau

ActionAid Viet Nam has been working in Lai Chau since 1999. In July 2003 and it established its firstScience and Technology Information Centre in Thanh Nua, equipped with a computer and monitor andtrained minority staff to use and access information. It is hoped this model will be further established in 5more communes. The aim of the project and the information centres is to give minority groups in Lai Chauaccess to information directly requested by the community and the 23 information interest groupsestablished in Dien Bien district. The centres also wish to supply seed and market information for farmersas well as locally appropriate solutions for community needs.

Information or the lack of information had the passed been shown to be one of the major obstacles thatminority groups in Lai Chau faced. Productivity was a factor of experience rather than access to informationand information was passed on mainly through word of mouth. Farming and animal husbandry practiceswere considered backwards and productivity was poor as was the populations knowledge of how toharness the natural advantages of the area. It is hope that the Science and Technology InformationCentres will help to overcome these problems.

Source: Presentation from ActionAid Viet Nam, November 2003

d. Improving Access to Information with ICT

The box below details a project in Dak Lak that aims to confront information access problems in coffeeproduction. This example is of key importance as a lack of market information, especially price, in the pasthas had huge effects on coffee production in Viet Nam and detrimental effects on the world coffee markets.Coffee is not alone in the importance of accurate and up to date price information to enable farmers andothers to make timely production and distribution decisions. The MARD/UNDP farmers needs survey11

found many farmers to be completely dependent upon middlemen for commodity price information, whichmay adversely effect their production and sales choices. This information is also greatly links to farmersintegration into global and regional markets and the benefits and effects of increased integration, an areadiscussed further on.

ICT can also help to improve resource management efficiency in terms of increasing labor productivity,reducing costs and so on. In addition to this, applying new technologies can help overcome the problem oftraditional methods such as inaccuracy, the lag in information sharing. In other words, new technologies canhelp user access information accurately and at a speed that will enable them to make relevant and crucialdecisions.

e. Strengthening Information Access with ICT

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), recognizes the importance of informationfor farmers and has developed a website and information management system to gather both market informationand disseminate important crop maintenance information to farmers and provincial Departments for Agricultureand Rural Development. Interestingly this pilot project moves beyond and is not limited by ICTs. MARD hasrecognized the constraints with ICTs and as a result has linked the information gathered and accessible viatheir website with print material, a medium often both more trusted and accessible to the majority of farmersand rural populations.

MARD is also due to further strengthening its information systems, with UNDP assistance, through thelinking of MARD to all provincial DARDs through a computer network. This will considerably strengthencommunication systems between the centre and provinces as well as between provinces, and will enable

11 MARD/UNDP 2003 “Farmers Needs Survey”


Box 2.4: Information and Coffee in Dak Lak

Mr. Sang, a coffee trader is provided with international coffee prices twice a day, at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. fromthe Information Center in Da Nang, which automatically sends price updates to his mobile. With this hecan decide to hold or sell his coffee stocks. Mr. Sang, a medium sized businessman in Dak Lak, begantrading in coffee in 1984 “Everything in Dak Lak has changed. Before no one considered prices. Since1999, coffee prices have dropped rapidly which forces all to calculate carefully. Information will decideeverything’

Business activities in coffee in Dak Lak have changed significantly since the middle of 1990s. In the past,only coffee export enterprises had access to Reuter’s information networks to get online information fromworld markets. Price news would move from large purchase agents to medium and small ones and thento coffee growers.

Dak Lak trading coffee information network today:

Since 1999, when coffee prices began dropping the fluctuation of coffee prices has adversely impactedsales or stocks of purchasing agents. Information became an important signal for production and busi-ness activities. Today in Dak Lak province, rather than only purchasing agents having access to this vitalinformation, the Information centre in Da Nang ensures a wider distribution. Though improvements ininformation dissemination can be seen, improving the position of many in the coffee chain, farmers stillrely on collectors for this information.

Exporters (Reuters)

Large Purchase Agents

Medium Purchase

Agent

Collectors

Farmers

Distributing Information Center

(Da Nang)

Box 2.5. Networking Agricultural Information

AgroViet: Lao Cai has developed rapidly and has become an increasingly important frontier gate andtrading area due to its proximity to China. In the past, information exchanged between Lao Cai and HaNoi was at best poor. Trading fluctuations were transmitted to the central government with a delay whichhindered the process of policy making and implementation. In 2000, a two-way model of informationexchange between the Information Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (ICARD) of MARD andLao Cai Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) was established.

Via the Internet, ICARD provides information of changing commodities prices in national and globalmarkets for the provincial departments, twice a week. Lao Cai DARD then sends price information onagro-forestry commodities such as export and import prices and also the retail prices in Vietnamese andChinese markets. This information is then published in a Bulletin and through VTV2 programmes as wellas the Agriculture Newspaper. Applying ICT has hugely assisted the facilitation of policy and informationprovision to provincial authorities and farmers.

This model has further been developed in other provinces, Again each province and the DARD involvedfeeds back important price information to ICARD who circulates the information between those provincesinvolved in the scheme. A number of provinces are also using printed media to further ensure informationis distributed to communes and leaders.

Source: ICARD, 2003. www.agroviet.gov.vn


quick and responsive communication and information sharing. Uniform reporting systems are to be developedwhich in turn will lead to an improved poverty coherence and more responsive policy. The developmentoutcomes and the effects on rural development and poverty are sure to be large as MARD and DARDcommunication becomes vastly improved, policy is stronger and therefore farmers receive a better qualityof service delivery improving their access to information, new and improved production techniques, increasedproduction levels and increased incomes as a result.

In another programme the Vietnamese Government currently provides information and communicationsystems to farmers in rural and remote areas through the establishment of Post and Cultural points incommunes. The number of Post and Culture Centers has now reached 5,714 nationwide out of the nearly9000 communes, bringing basic knowledge and up date information to farmers, especially in remote andmountainous areas. It is hoped that all communes will be reached by 2005. On top of this, 85% of communesnow have access to newspapers daily and 92.5% of communes now have access to the telephone network.This provides the poor and rural communities with an important information backbone, one which theenhancement of will greatly benefit information dissemination and the use of ICT for development.

A number of projects are looking at using this existing information and communication infrastructure in thePost Office Cultural Centers, to provide internet access and information. The Viet Nam Country Gatewayproject, a World Bank financed project, is looking to develop a network of internet access within culturalcenters. The project is currently being led by VDC and is looking at aspects of distance training for PostOffice staff to ensure information is accessed and also lower costs for internet connections, which will beessential to ensure access. Other donor groups such as UNDP Viet Nam are looking at regionally developedtelecentres that will provide information to rural populations in relation to their production needs and localityas well as improving rural public service delivery.

The Vietnamese Government has moved some of the information delivery focus to the use of the Internet/Web in supplying necessary information to farmers in rural areas as we can see with the MARD projectdetailed above. One programme is looking at combining website and radio programmes to deliver informationto farmers. In this project websites are being used with radio programmes in 4 communes in providinginformation of crops, agricultural prices, export market and fishery, all the feedback of local farmers will besent by post with the purpose of changing the content and developing the website according to their needs.

Box 2.6. Online Pomelo

Nam Roi pomelo’s reputation is famous throughout Viet Nam and increasingly sort after by Japaneseand French importers. Ms. Luu Nguyen Tra Giang, 22-year old, director of “Hoang Gia” Company graduatedfrom the Bioengineering Department of a Ho Chi Minh City University. She is using a 6000m2 farm togrow and process Nam Roi Pomelo. In May 2002, Ms. Giang registered the website www.5roi.com topromote here pomelo produce. “The website is still very sparse but it attracts the interest of internationalfruit and vegetable companies. The company has received a lot of orders from the United States, Canadaand Europe. In the near future, this website will be registered in US and Canada, and Hoang Gia Companywill improve it to provide more information”, she said.

Source: vnexpress.net. 2002 and http://Viet Namnews.vnagency.com.vn/2003-01/27/Stories/07.htm


2.1.3.2. ICT and Market Access

The boxes above and below are just a few examples where ICT has enabled producers of agricultural goodsto access both local and international markets, enabling producers to integrate not only in the internationalmarket but also locally as well as develop the quality of their products and develop their competitiveness.This integration of producers has also been seen in manufacturing areas, in a number of rural areas. Onefamous, and often sited example of such integration, is the Bat Trang12 pottery village. Again the use of ICTsin Bat Trang is only starting out, and could be described as haphazard and unplanned. The current use of andpossible potential of ICTs for the development of Bat Trang village has been recognized and was highlightedin a recent study of competitiveness in Bat Trang13. ICT and the internet in particular were highlighted as anessential tool to develop the Bat Trang brand and access markets overseas.14

2.1.3.3. Global Integration and Competitiveness

The improved market access that is detailed above and which ICTs can bring about is also strongly alignedto the integration of producers both into global and national markets. The examples here have producedincreased levels of integration as well as improved levels of competitiveness as producers react to consumersand markets demands and also their increased exposure to competitors from both Viet Nam and the rest ofthe world.

ICT has also helped enterprises in Viet Nam, such as those in Bat Trang, overcome distance, enhancemarket access and save costs and time. In the past, it was believed that ICT could only be used by largeenterprises, industrial or service companies or in urban areas. Increasingly evidence shows this is not thecase and ICT can be used productively by small producers and the rurally based. Individuals implementing

12 These websites illustrate some of the internet sites available for Bat Trang http://www.gomsubattrang.com/ and http://www.vvg-Viet Nam.com/battrang.htm. Some sites are set up directly by producers, some by ceramics associations and some have beendeveloped by wholesalers often claiming to be the producers themselves.

1 3 Viet Nam Competitiveness Initiative (VNCI), 2003,1 4 VNCI 21:2003 , “Developing a cluster website to represent all Bat Trang producers will further market the Bat Trang brand,

abroad and domestically. All marketing activities should refer the recipient to this website for further information.”

Box 2.7. Vegetable Growers Trading Online

Farmers in Tan Phu Trung commune (Cu Chi, Ho Chi Minh City) have not only taken the initiative inplanting fresh vegetables using organic methods, but are also now carrying out local and internationalvegetable sales online. Mr. Nguyen Hoang, vegetable trading leader and head of Tan Phu Trung RATvegetable production cooperative said that he now emails large wholesale companies in the city to markettheir vegetables. Though the financing required for a computer and internet connection was not small,around VND5 million, Mr. Hoang expects a return “If I find more customers I will get a return on investmentsoon”.

According Mr. Lieu Van Xinh the pioneer in planting RAT, “The main thing is that via the Internet we wantto get information about prices, new technologies and trading patterns to drive production”. RAT cooperativehas several customers ranging from supermarkets, restaurants and kindergartens. These customersorder over 10 kinds of vegetables totaling 3 tons per day. The management board of the cooperative wantsto expand its production which will require access to more customers and markets. Mr. Hoang explained,“Facts have shown that the way of finding customers via the Internet is the cheapest, most convenientand least time consuming’ method though competition for customers is expected to increase in thefuture. Farmers recognize the importance of marketing RAT and have agreed to give VND150 per kilogramto finance marketing, promotion, training and the salary of the management board.


ICT through their own initiative rather than through the projects or programmes of the government, ruralenterprises or farmers have achieved remarkable results as we have seen.

Within SMEs, which are increasingly recognized as a key generator of employment in Viet Nam, severalinitiatives are underway to harness ICT to improve SMEs market access, integration levels andcompetitiveness. Two such examples are detailed here with ICT being used to both strengthen the operationof SMEs and give enterprises wider access to markets and knowledge about these markets. However, itmust be remembered that while an increasing amount of information and assistance is being put online anddistributed via ICTs, the use of some ICTs, especially computers and the internet, within Vietnamese businessesremains limited, with only a few enterprises currently using rudimentary tools such as email and only a tinyamount have a web presence.

2.1.4. Challenges for using ICT for Poverty Alleviation

As detailed above, although ICT has created new opportunities for agriculture and rural development,experience shows that there are a number of obstacles in accessing ICT in rural areas if such examples arenot to remain isolated. Challenges include poor infrastructure, high telecommunication and access costs, lowlevels of education and low income.

2.1.4.1. ICT Access and Infrastructure

Though there is a strong demand for information, as we have discussed access to ICT and the existing ICTinfrastructure remains problematic in Viet Nam reducing the opportunities for ICT use for poverty alleviation.According to the VLSS, there is a distinct regional disparity in access to ICT tools such as fax, computer andtelevision. The percentage of people accessing ICT in highland and remote areas is much lower than theaverage for Viet Nam, with the gaps more pronounced for more advanced ICTs, such as computers. Inthese regions, the low level of socio-economic development, poor infrastructure and low levels of education,all below national averages, have a detrimental effect on access to ICTs.

Besides the disparity between regions, there is also disparity between urban and rural areas in accessingICTs. While there was no difference in ownership of radios and black-white televisions, for color TVs 74%of urban households had access while only 28% of rural households had access. A similar gap can be seenfor computers, with 3% of urban households owning computers while only 0.07% of rural households owncomputers.

On top of this urban residents have more opportunities to access PCs through offices, companies, schools,universities and internet cafes. A similar situation can be seen in telephone subscriptions, according to theHuman Development Report 2001, 39% of telephone subscribers were situated in Ha Noi and Ho Chi MinhCity, areas which have only 10% of the countries populations. The absence of telephone networks hinders

Box 2.8. Strengthening Small and Medium Sized Enterprises.

SME net (www.smenet.com.vn) was initially established by GTZ Viet Nam and was transferred to theViet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2003. The site aims to give key information and news toSMEs on how to establish themselves, access legal advice as well as detailing a variety of SME promotionopportunities and organizations. The site also gives business advice on Viet Nam to foreign enterpriseshoping to do business in Viet Nam.

Viet Nam Business Portal (http://www.vnemart.com.vn), established in 2003, enables Vietnameseenterprises that may not have internet and e-commerce capabilities or may also want to develop furthermarkets for their products, to showcase their products on the VCCI’s business site. International purchasersare able to view and purchase goods. Customer relationships are developed and trust is establishedenabling business to further integrate into the world market and learn about global customers needs.


Table 2.3. Access to ICT by region 1998

Northern MountainousRed River DeltaNorth CentralSouth CentralCentral HighlandsSouth EastMekong Delta

Total

Radio

19.319.418.136.621.743.330.0

26.3

Computer

0.10.60.30.60.03.40.3

0.9

TV

8.725.05.5

27.06.7

41.628.9

23.1

Source: GSO:VLSS93, VLSS98, VHLSS 2002

1993 2002

Radio

20.919.521.122.430.032.035.7

25.8

TV

60.173.161.768.161.681.468.2

69.1

1998

Radio

36.834.631.847.043.156.653.4

42.8

TV

46.961.840.553.040.372.458.6

56.3

Region

Table 2.4. Share of households having different types of durable assets by urban/rural in 1997-98

TotalVideo/ Cassette playerColor TVBlack and white TVStereo equipmentRadio/ CassetteRadio receiver, phonographComputer

Total

57.5819.8440.8216.825.95

43.892.120.88

Area

Urban

63.9147.3474.176.55

12.8649.691.243.09

Rural

57.489.68

28.5120.613.40

41.752.440.07

Source: VLSS 1993-98

rural populations from accessing up to date information, especially market information and may also hinderthe future development of ICTs in rural areas.

2.1.4.2. Income and Costs

The average GDP per person per year in Viet Nam in 2003 was around US$400.00. The vast majority of thepopulation does not have incomes enabling them to access many ICT tools. Income levels again show adisparity and inequality between urban and rural households as well as the higher and lower income levels ofthe population. This inequality as well as access and infrastructure concerns is fueling a digital divide withgrowing inequality in access. Though some schemes, such as the Viet Nam development Gateway, hopes tosecure reduced access for rural and poor users of their proposed information services, costs are still highand beyond many, especially the poorest in society.

2.1.4.3. Literacy, Language and Knowledge

Though literacy levels in Viet Nam are high, computer literacy remains in its infancy with many usersunaccustomed to ICTs and the potentials that ICT can bring. On top of this, even those who can access ICT,especially the Internet, must struggle with language issues as the majority of the content remains in English.However, content in Vietnamese is increasingly developing and is available. This expansion of Vietnamesesites is increasingly leaving minority groups behind with a few television and radio programs available inminority languages and internet availability still to develop.


Goal:

Achieve universal primaryeducation

2.2. ICT for Universal Primary Education and Learning

2.2.1. Role of ICT for Education and Learning

In the field of education, international experience has shown that broad and efficient use of ICTs as enablingtechnologies for education and learning have resulted in major transformations in both formal and informaleducation systems. The application of ICTs can create more flexible learning environments, facilitate interactivelearning (between teachers and learners, between computer-based software applications and learners, andamongst teachers and learner s themselves), which has now become a reality for many people in developingcountries. There is also a growing amount of experimentation with the use of ICTs in the classroom and tosupport ‘virtual’ or distance education systems in both developed and developing countries. For a newcomersuch as Viet Nam, those initiatives and models, both in terms successes and failures, will give a number ofvaluable lessons.

Although constraints, often resource related, are challenging most developing countries’ education systems,the application of ICTs can help to alleviate these constraints. As reflected in the table on page 19.

2.2.2. Primary Education and Learning in Viet Nam

Viet Nam’s most recent Millennium Development Goal report (2003) detailed the advances Viet Nam hasmade in universal primary education and learning in grater detail than we will go into here. In brief, Viet Namhas reached net enrollment rates of over 90%, with completion rates increasing to 77% for primary schooling.Enrollment rates for secondary education stood at 67%. Adult literacy levels currently stand at 91%. Thegovernment recognizes that reaching 99% primary education coverage by 2010 is a challenge and developeda new “Education for All” program in 2003. Improvements are also being made in improving the quality ofteaching, with teacher training a major focus of the government and the ministry of education.

Of major concern in education and an accepted need of focus if Viet Nam is to achieve this developmentgoal is the coverage of minority ethnic groups in education. Remoteness and poverty have a substantialeffect on enrollment rates and completion of primary education for this group. Though in general in genderthere is parity in enrollment for boys and girls throughout Viet Nam, this is not the case for ethnic groupswhere a substantial gender bias and lower enrollment and completion rates can be seen.

Education and training has been emphasized as a priority national policy for human resource development inorder to meet the requirements of industrialization and modernization in particular and social development ingeneral of Viet Nam. Much empirical evidence has shown that the quality of education and training in VietNam at present does not meet the country’s socio-economic development objectives. As a consequence, thegovernment has plans to implement educational reform with a view to improving the quality of teaching andlearning at all levels of education. This is a key concern in education and Viet Nam remains far behindinternational standards in educational quality. Funding for education remains a problem for educational

ICT Opportunities

• Increase supply of trained teachers through ICT-enhancedand distance training of teachers and networks that linkteachers to their colleagues;

• Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of education ministriesand related bodies through strategic application of technologiesand ICT-enabled skill development;

• Broaden availability of quality educational materials/resourcesthrough ICTs;

• Deliver educational and literacy programmes specificallytargeted to poor girls & women using appropriate technologies;


Table 2.5. Resource constraints and potential benefits of ICT-based education

Constraints

TimeTeaching and learning have to take part at aparticular time, repeated for different groups.

PlaceThe same teaching module has to be repeatedin several locations. Students have tocongregate in a designated space.

CostWell-presented, teacher-intensive education iscostly.

AgeMany educational process, structures andopportunities are age-related, favouring theyoung

DimensionMuch teaching is confined to the individual andthe teacher, with limited hands-on experienceand exposure to other information.

EnvironmentLearners are inhibited by many barriers: ethnic,cultural, linguistic, physical, etc.

AccessMuch information is inaccessible (in archives,remote locations, laboratories).

Creativity and Freedom of ExpressionConstraints on expression, endemic in manysocieties, can impair educational processes

Technological Solutions

Different forms of recording and storage permit accesson demand

Communication is made possible over considerabledistances. Learning can take place in many locations,including the home.

Although the claim is often exaggerated, the use ofcommunication technologies can lead to economies ofscale.

New technologies can provide learning opportunities forall ages

Technology can enhance visualization and sensoryperception.

Learning through new technologies can be customized,drawing on the best panning and resources and a widerange of illustration.

New technologies can increase accessibility by makinginformation available in user friendly settings and formats.

New technologies encourage creativity and freedom ofexpression, by exhibiting a variety of models and learningexperiences, and bypassing many frontiers which restrictthe circulation of ideas.

Source: Hancock (1997)-quoted from Mansell and Wehn (1998), p.68.

institutions and there is a reliance on community contributions. This is an area that ICT can greatly contributeto, especially in the distance training of teachers, a priority of the government. However as we will discussone indicator of educational quality, computer laboratories in schools, shows low access with only 13.4% ofprimary schools having such infrastructure.15

Viet Nam’s socio-economic development strategy has emphasized the strategic role of ICTs in acceleratingthe country’s transition to a knowledge economy and integration into the rapidly globalizing economy. For alatecomer like Viet Nam, in the perspective of its industrialization and modernization, there is an urgent needto rapidly change the way of thinking and workout feasible solutions for the efficient use of ICTs to achieveeducational goals in particular and socio-economic development objectives in general.

15 UNDP, 10:2003


2.2.3. ICTs and Primary Educations and Learning in Viet Nam

For Viet Nam, the potential of the application of ICT in education and learning is just beginning to berealised. This is partly the result of commendable efforts of several private schools to take the initiative inadopting ICT-based education and learning models and also due to recent changes and acknowledgments inthe education system. Government regulations have paved the way for enhancement of the efficient use ofICTs in support of education and learning at all level of education. The IT Master Plan for Education forthe period 2001-2005 and the Instruction 29 of Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) have particularlyemphasized the use of ICTs as a teaching and learning tool to promote innovative thinking, independentproblem-solving skills, and information searching and processing skills to facilitate lifelong learning for all.These legal documents include the development of an ambitious Educational Network project (EduNet)which is designed to link all universities, colleges, secondary schools and provincial departments for education.Once established, the EduNet will serve as a national coordinating centre for the network management ofeducation, learning, and organization.

So far, ICT application, as part of the program on computerization of administration and management, hasclaimed to have achieved partial success, contributing significantly to improvements in management operationsin the education sector (e.g. student enrollment, library management, accounting, human resourcemanagement, etc.). The use of ICTs as an important means to support teaching and learning activities is,however, still limited. Wide and efficient use of ICTs in education, both in terms of the scale and the intensity,will continue to improve the quality of education in Viet Nam.

The education and training system of Viet Nam shows great potential for adopting ICT-based education andlearning models. The country has a high degree of literacy (93% population are literate, the highest literaterate in Asia) and there is a relatively widespread network of educational institutions. There are an estimated20,000 public education institutions in Viet Nam that include 14,500 primary schools, 5,500 lower secondaryschools, 1,250 upper secondary schools, 400 vocational teacher education and training schools, and 900,000higher education students and an estimated enrollment of 23 million students throughout the Viet Nam.

Despite many difficulties, the use of ICTs in support of education and learning is being experimented with inalmost all educational sectors and levels, i.e. from primary, secondary to higher education.

2.2.3.1 Broadening the availability of quality Educational Curricula and Training materials

In a number of cases, the content of education curricula is delivered via radio or television, CD-ROMs ordiskettes, in other cases offline computer-aided education is being considered as a more cost-effective tooldue to the cost of web access, often unaffordable for most schools, universities as well as learners. Recently,the use of ICTs in a number of secondary schools have claimed partial successes. Significant attempts havebeen made by several national intermediaries and schools to introduce the use of ICTs to support educationcurricula. Some already suggest that, to some extent, private secondary schools are becoming more activein the adoption of ICT-based education models.

Box 2.9: Pilot delivery of E-curricula in Chu Van An Lower-secondary School

Recently, Chu Van An Lower Secondary School (in Ho Chi Minh City) successfully experimented with theuse of ICTs in the delivery of e-curriculum in geography for its grade 6 classes. Teaching and learninghave been conducted with the support of projectors, computers and 3D cameras. E-curriculumdemonstrations have substantially raised the interest of pupils as well as that of teachers.

ICT-based teaching and learning has significantly contributed to a more active interaction between teachersand learners. As a result, both the teachers and learners have been empowered, and are getting increasinglyinvolved in updating and managing the curriculum. In order to ensure a high quality of education andlearning, ICT activities have been supported by face-to-face activities, for instance, group discussionsand presentations.


Viet Nam began introducing computers in universities in the early 1990s. Some primary and secondaryschools were also equipped with computers in the mid-1990s. However, computer-aided teaching and learningat universities and schools is still limited by access to the facilities for both teachers and learners. Currently,CD-ROMs are used substantially to support learners at home.

Various CD-ROMs on different training subjects and levels of education (e.g. foreign language, math, physics,chemistry, art, etc.) are available on the marketplace, and are of a reasonable cost, though are often illegallycopied, raising other issues. These training packages are developed by many companies and educationinstitutions (e.g. School Net technology Co, Ltd., FPT Company, School Equipment and Text Book, AdcomCo., Ldt., Ministry of Education and Training, National University, etc.). Using ICT for education is notlimited to teaching ICT and linking with the Internet.

2.2.3.2 Increase the quality of trained teachers and supporting the curriculum through ICT

Experience has revealed that new training material, along with the use of ICT can provide a new kind oftrainer with well equipped training skills. The example below illustrates the benefits of a well developedteacher training programme. Traditional ICT tools, especially television, remain very important tools foreducation and learners in Viet Nam. Training programs delivered through television are now being accessedby a wider and wider range of young learners from a variety of backgrounds. This is perhaps the most cost-effective form of ICT-based education. The four State-owned Television channels along with some provincialchannels, often broadcast in local languages and supply a variety of educational programs. To meet thedemand of a large number of Vietnamese students, VTV2 offers several programs on relatively broad-based subjects

In order to provide learners in rural areas with more affordable opportunities to access national educationalservices, a WEB-TV service is being developed by Viet Nam Posts and Telecommunications Corporation(VNPT) with a view to making email and information from websites available for the country’s televisionviewers. VNPT also plans to expand rural access to educational services through satellite delivery in 2003when a national satellite (VINASAT) is expected to be launched.

To a lesser extent, computer-aided education is being experimented within a small number of primaryschools. In most cases, computers and support equipment have been used to support education and learningin basic computer practices (typing, drawing, coloring, word processing, etc.) and foreign languages.Educational software is developed and provided by national IT companies (FPT, VDC, etc.) through purchasingcontracts of computers and equipment. In primary education, ICT is generally an optional subject, which,

Box 2.10. Educational support on the Internet in Viet Nam

Truong Thi (www.truongthi.com.vn) is operated by the Ministry of Education and The Gioi Moi (NewWorld) Magazine. The site gives support for students in a number of areas, exam practice, direct lecturesand exam examples as well as discussions and support on a number of key academic subjects such asmath, literature and physics. The site also gives valuable information on jobs, career advice and how toapply for jobs as well giving students access to a knowledge library and a number of clubs.

Khoa Bang (www.khoabang.com.vn), which is ran by VNPT under VDC, offers similar services to TruongThi. Exam information and support is available online, as is curriculum support through online lectures,distant education programs, online testing and a knowledge library. The site also gives study consultanciesand support.

FPT and a number of other content and internet service providers are increasingly offering similar servicesand opportunities. FPT is currently offering an online English language course in cooperation with HarvardBusiness school and a number of other high profile international education institutions.(www.elearning.com.vn).


according to some experts, could impact adversely on the teaching & learning environment, not only in ICTsubject but also in the application of ICT in support of other subject.

2.2.3.3. International Assistance and educational networking

As with any other sectors of the economy, the involvement international assistance and greater integrationof the Vietnamese education system with the rest of the world, has brought significant impacts on thenational education system, especially in higher education levels. A number of joint university programsbetween foreign universities and national counterparts have developed to incorporate computer-mediatedtraining, distance learning and online resources.

Box 2.11. The Application of ICT in Ngoi Sao Upper-secondary Private School

a. Improving Basic knowledge and practical skillsIn 2000 Ngoi Sao school launched its ICT literacy campaign for all teachers. Training courses wereorganized at the weekend, which allow the teachers to study without interfering with teaching schedules.The costs involved in the training were subsidized by the school. All teachers were required to pass testsat the end of the courses. In the academic year 2002-2003, the school began its campaign on applicationof ICTs in education and training. Accordingly, application of ICTs in education and supporting activities isnow compulsory for all teachers and clerical staff:

Teaching staff were requested to develop E-curricula as well as delivering their teaching using technologyavailable, such as projectors, cameras, computers, scanners, television and video. Clerical staff wererequested to use ICTs in the management and organization of the school, such as recordkeeping, humanresource management and accounting.

b. Investment in infrastructure, equipment and education softwareIn 2003 the school invested in two modern audio-visual rooms, which enabling teachers to demonstratetheir E-curricula. The school has also been equipped with an advanced e-library to manage all databases,educational software and programs and the e-curricula of all subjects. These items are updated frequently,and can be shared on a commercial basis.

c. Initial resultsSince its establishment more than 650 lectures have been delivered with the application of ICTs. Thequality of education and learning has improved significantly, with the number of good learners increasingby half compared to the corresponding period in the previous year. Almost all teachers are able to useMicrosoft PowerPoint and other software in designing e-curricula. Many teachers can now use camerasto make films on scientific experiments which can be integrated into their e-curricula. Teachers are nowcapable of surfing the Internet efficiently, searching, selecting and evaluating relevant information for theirsubjects.

Learners are also motivated and interested in using ICTs to support learning activities. They are gettingmore active and creative, taking the initiative in learning. In some cases, advanced learners, through theuse of ICTs, are able to support their teachers in improving the education curricula. This, in turn, generatesmore motivation, inducing teachers to improve their teaching.

Box 2.12. Training Programmes on television (channel VTV2)

To meet the demand of a large number of Vietnamese students, VTV2 offers several training programmeson relatively broad-based subjects, such as foreign languages, Microsoft Office practice (Word, Excel,PowerPoint...), Web surfing, as well as scientific discovery programmes (physics, geography...). In thelast few years, exam training programmes have been made available (math, physics, chemistry literature...)for secondary and university entrance exam support, with the cooperation of university professors.According to many viewers, the combination of audio, video, dynamic features and curricula have madethe training programmes more attractive and effective.


The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (a foreign-owned private university) has opened a campus inHo Chi Minh City and offers an internationally recognized IT degree program based on an innovativeeducational model for teaching and learning with technology. The Ha Noi Open University is planning tooffer instruction online in the near future, and an ICT distance-learning program, Virtual Colombo Plan, isbeing planned by AusAID and the World Bank. Teacher training programmes are beginning to incorporateICT to enhance instructional practices and learning. One model is being piloted by MOET (with IBMsupport) in teacher training colleges in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Other opportunities such as online course material, have already been harnessed by learners in Viet Nam,with students increasingly looking to distance university courses for learning opportunities or to support theirexisting studies. One such example is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which has put all itscourse material (lecture notes and reading lists etc.) on line and open to all to access under its “MIT Opencourseware” project.16 This has enabled lecturers in Viet Nam to strengthen their university courses in arange of subjects and for students to further develop their learning and their learning opportunities.

In recent years considerable evidence has demonstrated the important role of international communities andforeign partners in ensuring that the use of ICTs in education do not create new social divisions, especiallyamongst school children. The Coca-Cola Corporation and the MOET has implemented an initiative which isdesigned to provide children with E-learning opportunities. Other private enterprises have also begunimplementing similar schemes such as ANZ Bank, who donated a number of computers to a Ho Chi MinhCity school, they hope to donate a further 80 computers for disadvantaged children. While IBM has alsoestablished a KidSmart programme throughout Viet Nam using computers to support a Kidsmart curriculum.

With the support of international organizations, a flagship project is being experimented with that may contributesubstantially to the achievement of the MDG for education. In order to accelerate the broad usage of ICTin the national education system, the Centre of Information Technology of the MOET are developing anambitious project to establish an Educational Network (EduNet), which is designed to link all universities,colleges, schools and educational departments. The central education portal, http://www.edu.net.vn/ , hasbeen developed by the Centre of Information Technology. A number of educational departments and schools,in collaboration with the Centre of Information Technology, are developing their own education portals in linewith the EduNet structure.

16 http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

Box 2.13. Coca-Cola E-learning centre in Viet Nam

In partnership with Viet Nam’s Ministry of Education and Training and the National Youth Union, fortyCoca-Cola Learning Centers have been set up in secondary schools and youth centers across thecountry to provide a dynamic environment in which Viet Nam’s young people can extend their learningand development opportunities through Information Technology access.

Staffed by teachers, the Learning Centers are equipped with computers providing Internet and e-mailaccess, as well as software, books, and air conditioners to create comfortable, exciting learning environ-ments, both during and after school hours. In many areas, the Learning Centers offer Vietnamese youngpeople their only opportunity to access computer study and research materials.

The programme also includes the annual “Young Leaders of the Future” contest. Devised by teachersfrom the Ministry of Education and Training and the National Youth Union, the contest covers a numberof academic disciplines and involves the 200 top students involved in the Learning Center program. ALearning Center Web site and intranet have also been set up to enable on-line communication anddialogue between all Centers and programme administrators.

Source: Coca-Cola Company, 2003: “E-Learning in Asia and Beyond”


Despite the high expectations of EduNet, there is growing public concern about the project’s feasibility. Theestimated cost of US$445 million is perhaps the biggest challenge, which will rely on a cost-sharing mechanismbetween public, private sector and international donors. Recently, MoET, NEV and MPT have signed amemorandum of understanding (MOU) for the joint development of EduNet, in which, MPT is to direct VietNam Post and Telecommunications Corporation to make Internet connections available to every schoolwhile the MoET will support the development of an E-curricula. VEC will contribute to the development ofinfrastructure and schools are responsible for building local area networks (LANs) and terminal devices.

2.2.5. Challenges in adopting ICT for Universal Education and Learning

2.2.5.1. ICT Access and Infrastructure

a. Lack of Computers and ICT-related Equipment

Insufficient hardware (computers & necessary ICT-related equipment, internet connection) is frequentlymentioned as the biggest challenge to the application of ICT in education and learning in Viet Nam. Althoughcomputers have been introduced into universities and schools during the early- and mid-1990s, they weremainly used as means for teaching ICT. At primary and secondary education levels this problem is particularlyexacerbated by a scarcity of budgets.

In higher education levels, the proportion of students to computers is slightly better. For instance, specializeddepartments of Ha Noi National University have one computer for every 15 students. In some primary andsecondary schools which have placed ICT as an important subject or tool in teaching, there is one computerfor every 50 pupils. MoET has plans to allocate USD2 million for ICT hardware investment in secondaryschools.

b. Inadequate Internet Access

Despite the establishment of dedicated computer facilities in a number of higher education institutions,accessibility, affordability and availability remain important challenges in education in many developingcountries. Although the number of Internet subscribers and users in Viet Nam has grown rapidly since the

Box 2.14. EduNet Project

Goal:

• Developing infrastructure & human resources.• Improving management & organization• Accelerating broad use of ICTs in education in

all subjects• Using EduNet as a mean for distance

education• Empowering teachers• Facilitating learners’ creativity and self-learning

Measure:

• Strengthening ICT awareness amongstakeholders in the educational sector

• Calling for cooperation in infrastructure andsoftware development.

• Create educational web sites for MOET,provincial departments, every school, college,university.

• Supplying educational software

Financial investment:

• General financial estimate: USD 445 millions.• Government budget will support key implementation projects. Educational institutions will allocate

3 to 5% of their own annual budget for IT application.• Share investment by community and parents.• Assistance from domestic and overseas organizations and donors.


Internet became available, access in educational institutions is still lower than expectations and requirements.In recent years, and especially in 2003, companies have substantially reduced the cost of Internet access inorder to encourage Internet usage. In 2000, the cost was around VND370 (approximately US$ 0.020) perminute. Now it averages VND80 to VND220 (approximately US$ 0.007 to US$ 0.014). Still, these connectioncosts are not affordable for the majority of low income populations and even education facilities.

Along with international donors support, the government has made several attempts to equip higher educationwith better infrastructure facilities for ICT, including computers and peripherals, broad and high-speed Internetaccess. At present, local area networks (LAN) have been set up in 40 universities, with about 10 universitieshaving dedicated lease lines and their own websites to facilitate administrative and educational services.Some sources estimated that amongst 44 Southern universities and colleges, only 36% are linked directly toInternet, 61% via local telephone network, with 2% having no link. Other high schools use traditional telephonelines with low rates of usage.

2.2.5.2. Human Resource Capacity

The promotion of wide and efficient use of ICT in education and learning will require a major effort toincrease computer literacy skills amongst teachers and students, especially in primary and secondary schools.In the past, attention was mainly paid to the development of ICT, especially for those teachers who taughtICT. Studies of several primary and secondary schools has shown that, except for ICT teachers, almost allteaching staff lack basic skills in ICT. In higher education the situation is slightly better. Within the formaleducation system, there is a great need for ICT education and training for all teaching staff.

Recently, along with the rapid growth in ICT educational institutions, ICT education has had an increasingfocus paid to it within a number of pedagogical universities and colleges. Ideally, this tendency will supplynew school teachers with ICT skills which will enable an acceleration of the use of ICTs in education as awhole. Next to general ICT knowledge and skills, English competency is another urgent matter to be addressed,especially if resources available via the Internet are to be harnessed to their full extent.

2.2.5.3. The Development of Educational Software and ICT Integration into Curricula

The selection of appropriate software as well as the development of E-curriculum are both equally importantfor successful application of ICTs in education. Currently, these issues are raising considerable controversybetween different groups of stakeholders on different aspects such as technological feasibility, financialviability, curriculum approaches, student monitoring systems, as well as the extent to which ICTs could beintegrated into the curricula and who should be allowed to develop such educational tools

2.3. ICT for the Promotion of Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

2.3.1. Role of ICT for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

International experience has shown that ICT can make a positive contribution to this MDG in respect togender issues in three respects: Deliver educational and literacy programmes specifically targeted to poorgirls & women using appropriate technologies, influence public opinion on gender equality through information/

Goal:

Promote gender equality andempower women

ICT Opportunities

• Deliver educational and literacy programmes specificallytargeted to poor girls & women using appropriate technologies;

• Influence public opinion on gender equality throughinformation/ communication programmes using a range ofICTs.


communication programmes using a range of ICTs and the provision of new economic opportunities forwomen.

International mechanisms such as GKP (Global Knowledge Partnership), WSIS and the ‘Talk to Her’ monthlong ICT for gender forum, have continuously emphasised the importance of ICT for purposes of genderdevelopment, including the empowerment of women and increasing opportunities for women. Issues raisedare related to several areas such as the confidence of women and their security in using ICT, educationalopportunities for women, participation of women-run SME and female entrepreneurship, rural anddisadvantaged groups of women (GKP, 2003) as well as female participation in the decision making process.Examples such as that of the Grameen bank and how female participants are now using mobile phones as anincome earning services as well as giving their female peers access to vital telecommunications services,are a vivid example of using ICT for the benefit of women. In fact, ICT could help to address both povertyand gender issues in many rural communities across Asia as the case of Southern Indian e-marketers,detailed below, reveals.

2.3.2. Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in Viet Nam

Women in Viet Nam enjoy greater gender equality than in many countries of the same economic developmentlevel. Viet Nam, which is ranked 130th globally in terms of GDP per capita, was 89th out of 146 countries byGender related Development Index (GDI, UNDP, 2003). Women share in all activities in economic andsocial life, though patriarchy remains the central cultural format in households and rural community operations.Vietnamese Law prohibits all forms of discrimination based on gender, ethnicity or religion. The NationalCommittee for the Advancement of Women (NCFAW) has a sub-committee (CFAW) network in allgovernment line ministries and 61 provinces. Between 1993 and 1999, women’s average income increasedfrom 67% of that of men to almost 80%, literacy levels for the female population under 40 years old improvedduring the 1990s and have reached 94.3%, close to the target of 95% by 2005 (UNDP, 2003), though rural/urban disparities exist as do disparities between ethnic groups.

Female participation in the National Assembly now accounts for 27.3% of members, which is the secondhighest level in the Asia Pacific Region. However, in executive decision-making bodies there is a vastlyreduced share of female participation. The new cabinet of 30 members contains only 3 women and at aprovincial level women account for only 6.4% of members. This number falls even lower at administrativelevels.

An increasingly important area of concern for gender equality and women’s empowerment in Viet Nam isthe issue of land use certificates (LUC) and the on going problem of gender based domestic violence. LUCsdo not normally have the names of both partners on them when they are issued and usually contain only thehusband or male partners name. Only 2.3% of LUCs have been found to have both husband and wivesnames on them17. This places women in a much weaker and unequal position to their husbands and partners,leaving them with less security and say in household decision making. ICT and the sytemisation of both thisprocedure and the naming of parties on LUCs could greatly improve this situation and the gender divisionsin LUCs.

Gender based domestic violence is increasingly being highlighted in Viet Nam and was discussed in the inthe most recent MDG report from the UN. Violence against women from their husbands is deemed by manyto be the responsibility of the family groups and only comes to the attention of those outside of this groupwhen the violence becomes very serious and systematic. While the reasons for gender based violence havebeen identified as varied, some feel the changing role and added responsibilities of women in the transitioneconomy may also be having an effect. While reasons for Gender based violence maybe changing the socialresponse to gender based violence still views it as a mostly private affair and acceptable in many families.Indeed some may see this as the responsibility of the women and her failure to maintain family harmony.

17 NCFAW, 2002, Statistics on Women and Men in Viet Nam


18 UNDP, 22:2003

ICT can offer women a safe environment to discuss these problems and highlight unacceptability of Genderbased violence18 within society, helping to change attitudes and support women’s equality and empowerment.

3.3.2. Using ICT for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in Viet Nam

The general mass information system in Viet Nam plays a key role in raising social awareness of genderequality, overcoming the resistance of patriarchal gender norms and values, and achieving a better statusfor women both in society and within the family. Information, education and communication (IEC) campaignshave been largely responsible for the remarkable increases in the share of female representatives elected tothe National Assembly from just 18.5% of all members in the term 1992-96, to 27.3% in the term 1997-02(NCFAW 2000).

The information, post and telecommunication sectors, which are largely state-owned, provide much betteremployment opportunities for women than other sectors of the Vietnamese economy. Nationwide, womenoccupy less than 17% of all wage employment (MOLISA 2003), but they share about half of the Post andTelecommunications labour force (Post & Communication Trade Union, 2000) and 42% of the staff of theCulture and Information sector (which includes the Ministry of Culture and Information (MOCI) and 99MOCI’s affiliated units). (MOCI CFAW 2000). In media agencies such as The Viet Nam News Agency(VNA) and The Voice of Viet Nam (VOV), 40% of all positions are held by women (VNA CFAW 2000;VOA CFAW 2000). This situation creates favourable conditions for mainstreaming gender equality in thesesectors and improve the sectors effectiveness as powerful instruments for gender equality activities in thecountry.

The newly developed ICT sector is dominated by men, but there has been some notable progress. In 1996,only 10% of all university computer graduates were female. But in 1998, 21.6% of all students enrolled inICT faculties were female (VWU 1999) ICT is the first Vietnamese tertiary education sector which hasever set up a scholarship programme for female students and professors. In 1998, the first scholarshipswere awarded to 15 students and 5 university teachers (Viet Nam News, 6/11/1998). Signs from the ICTtertiary sector promise that women’s participation in the ICT sector will grow in the coming years. Due tothe governments ‘computerisation programme’, the number of ICT professionals in line ministries at thecentral and provincial levels tripled between the period 1995-98, of which proportion of female ICT staffincreased from 12.6% to 16% (McDonald 1999).

Box 2.15. The e-commerce site for e-marketers in Chennai, India.

The purpose of the India Shop Website (http://www.xlweb.com/indiashop) is to help rural e-marketers tomarket handicraft products online and make sales online to customers. It helps those who often havedifficultly in accessing electronic trading. Participants are from rural or low income communities. E-marketers are recruited, trained, and work from home via a computer with Internet access. They earn10% of the sales they help to produce via the India Shop e-commerce website.

The project is aimed at unemployed and under-employed graduates. This is an opportunity to createemployment and generate income for young people, improve the quality of life for young families livingoutside Chennai. After the first 8 months in operation, the project involved 100 e-marketers comprising of22 to 30-year-olds who have just completed their college education. Women make up half of this total.They earned between 2,000 to 10,000 Indian Rupees a month.

Not all of them have their own facilities and some are sharing computers and Internet connections. As aresult of the India Shop activity, sales are of an average of US$2,000 per month at the India ShopWebsite. This website is funded by the Government of India which aims at promoting crafts and artisansfrom throughout India and is operated as a sister site of India Shop. In addition, the virtual supermarketconcept and a prototype CD-ROM for wider dissemination has been produced.


Box 2.16. Tailors in Hoi An

In Hoi An, a small town south of Da Nang, tailors, often predominantly women or that employ large femalework forces, are using the Internet to promote and provide their tailoring services. The numerous tailorshops in Hoi An, where thousands of foreign tourists visit each month, provide numerous tailoring servicesonline with ordering available via email.

The high quality of tailoring of clothes made in Hoi An combined with the speed of completion and the lowcost means customers continue to purchase clothes from Hoi An’s tailors even on their return home, thistime via email. Customers are then available to send in their measurements, requests for colour andmaterial type. Tailors are using the internet and email to receive designs and then scan images to sendto customers for approval. The product is then sent via ordinary mail, with prepaid payment.

In providing new training opportunities, overall, educational campaigns have placed women as one of theircentral target groups. This is the case in both traditional education and training as well as in ICT-basededucation, as we saw in the previous section. Similarly, in providing new business and economic opportunities,ICT has created a number of innovative means for women to diversify and earn their income, improve theirlives and change their social status. In other cases, rural based SME entrepreneurs in craft villages, such asthose in Bat Trang (traditional ceramics), Dong Ky (art wood products) or Van Phuc (silk products), whichare often ran by women, are increasingly using ICT (email, telephone, Internet, fax) for communicating withtheir clients all over the world, as the example below also details.

2.3.3. Challenges in using ICT for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

Ideally, ICT which reduces the importance of distance and time in communication, will also help to establisha more level playing field for men and women, opening up new opportunities for the empowerment ofwomen and mainstreaming them into the national economy and social development. Despite the abovecases and opportunities for using ICT for gender equality and empowerment, in practice their appears littleevidence for this positive usage so far in Viet Nam.

Gender gaps persist both in receiving employment opportunities within the ICT industry and in opportunitiesto generate economic benefits using ICT. In ICT education and training opportunities and the capability tomaster ICT facilities and networks are often less than equal between men and women. A minority ofwomen are currently involved in the current decision making structure, resulting in their voice and interestsoften being ignored in ICT development policies and decision making. This again re-enforces women’s lackof opportunities to gain benefits from new technology development and may limit considerations for genderequality within policy making.

2.3.3.1. Persistent Gender Patterns of Labour Division in the ICT Industry

In general, Vietnamese women face a number of specific barriers in entering the ICT profession and limitedopportunities in getting benefits from ICT, and which in turn are often much more limited and fragile thanthose of men. Moreover, current observations indicate that a number of gender gaps are widening, particularlythose related to the higher skilled segment of the ICT labour market.

Women account for only about 10% of IT professionals in Viet Nam. In contrast women make up 85% ofgraduates from vocational schools and secretary courses where word processing and accounting softwarecourses are taught (McDonald 1999). This may mean that overall in the ICT sector women generally workin lower skilled and lower paid positions than men. Many ICT companies do not hire women in professionalpositions. A survey of the top 30 private ICT companies in Viet Nam conducted in 1998 found that 1/3 onlyemploy male professional staff. Amongst female ICT professionals, 85% work as programmers and only15% are software designers. Fewer women work as hardware specialists (about 1% of all hardwarespecialists) (McDonald 1999).


Studies in the ICT sector have found that the ICT industry, which is fast changing, requires longer hours ofwork and greater effort and time from its professional workforce, especially in keeping up with newdevelopments in the Industry. Women in the ICT sector face difficulties in working overtime, participating intraining outside working hours and taking part in field work due to their household responsibilities. They alsofind it especially difficult to re-enter the ICT sector after a maternity break (McDonald 1999).Underlyingthis bias in the industry is a nationwide pattern of Vietnamese women spending an average of twice asmuch time as men do on housework (Desai, 2000). The traditional role of women as the family care personand a social attitude that expects this, is a major constraint for women, hindering their ability and the acceptanceof women to take part in and advance to higher skilled and competitive sectors such as ICT.

The barriers to women’s careers in the ICT sector are further reinforced by a gender prejudice which isstrong in technical issues. Men are often viewed as more technically competent than women in Vietnamesesociety and the ICT sector. Women are often hired for sales, marketing and administrative positions withinthe ICT industry, even when they bear the same qualifications as men in software, hardware and other ICTareas. The Post & Communications sector follows a similar job segregation by gender, regardless of thesignificant presence of women in the labour force (42%). Men dominate technical areas while womenmainly work in customer service positions, accounting or network administration.

Labour divisions and bias in gender is also very strong in computer and electronic assembly, where themajority of workers are female (in some enterprises 100%), whiles managers and technicians are male. Astudy by the Viet Nam-Canada Information Technology project (VCIT) in 1998 described the situation as“men enjoying stable jobs and handsome salaries while women had to work long hours for low incomes.Most men were university graduates while most of women hold only high school degrees.” (McDonald1998).

2.3.3.2. Women’s Attainment in Education and ICT Training

Education levels largely determine a person’s access to ICT and their ability to gain benefits from ICTapplications. Overall, the education gap between men and women in Viet Nam is reducing, but remains withvariations in higher and technical training and also between rural and urban areas, leading to differentpotential capabilities in ICT. The share of women in the total number of people having certification oftechnical or professional skills of various levels has increased, however, it remains much lower than men’s.Between 1993 and 1999, the proportion of women with technical or professional certification increasedfrom 22% to 27% of all skilled workers, from 37% to 42% of all higher education graduates and from 6% to24% of all post-graduate students (NCFAW 2000). A low proportion of ICT qualifications amongst womendoes, to a large extent explain why women remain in the minority (17%) in technical aspects of the ICTindustry, where the requirement for officially recognised technical or professional training qualifications iscommon. As one participant in the “Talk to Her” online discussion pointed out “The predominant obstacle totechnology use among my peers tends to be less of intimidation by technology or their male counterparts, butmore of access to the technology itself”..9

Underlying this trend in ICT educational achievement is a gender bias and structure that supports a genderdivision in education. The selection of courses and subject specialisation in Vietnamese universities andtechnical schools is strongly influenced by gender. Women are concentrated mostly in social disciplines,such as pedagogy and social sciences, and account for about 70 % of all students in these fields. Men areconcentrated mostly in technical and technological disciplines, such as engineering and electric technicians,and account for over 70% of all students in these fields (NCFAW 2000). The existing and continuedspecialisation of students by gender reduces the opportunities for women to work in ICT related sectors inparticular, and in natural science and technology in general. The limited option of specialisation equallyreduces the human development potential of men as they are equally capable in social sciences as women.

19 IPS News, November 2003, http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=21392


Gender stereotypes in school textbooks may encourage students to develop insufficient or even biasedunderstanding of the world, which may influence their attitude toward themselves and others and theirchoice of preferred subjects or future occupations, as well as their current and future behaviour in the familyand broader society (Van Anh and others, NCFAW, 2000). Current school teaching to a large extent reflectsexisting gender norms and social attitudes which work towards discouraging girls and their parents fromopting for ICT as a future specialisation and deepening the social beliefs in the myth that technology is ‘byits nature’ male area.

2.3.3.3. Representation of Women in Decision Making throughout the ICT Sector

Overall, women’s role in planning and policy making or management of the ICT sector at all levels is unclearcompared to men’s. Little attention so far has been paid to women’s participation and further empowermentin this sector. Moreover, a number of human resource developments and management policies are tending towork towards limiting women’s representation at a decision making level. For example, while the promotionalage ceiling for each management level is fixed, women’s retirement age is set 5 years lower than men’s. Inpractice, this policy excludes many women from promotional opportunities, especially when chief managementpositions of agencies are available. As a result, men often dominate decision making processes at allmanagement levels in the ICT sector and ICT related development areas.

At the provincial and program/project management level, men’s domination in decision making is even moremarked. For example, in all 61 provincial Department for Science, Technology and Environment (DOSTE)of the country, there are only 4-5 female directors and deputy directors (about 4%). Similarly, in 500 projectsunder MOSTE administration, female managers were found in 26 projects (5%). (VCEP, 1999) At acommunity level, important policies on development are drafted and decided by the Commune People’sCommittees (CPC). ICT training and network support through ODA projects and programmes, which arechanneled through CPC, are often the only window for rural communities to access and learn about ICT. Inthe whole country, women make up only 4.5% of the leaders of Commune Peoples’ Committees, 4.9% ofDistrict People’s Committees and 6.4% of the leaders of provincial People’s Committees (NCFAW, 2003).

The lack of female leadership could create an organisational culture which is more favourable to men. Inaddition, the prevailing lack of awareness and skills to address gender issues throughout agencies has resultedin gender issues in ICT receiving less attention and hence not being addressed in strategies or public servicesprovided by the sector.

2.3.3.4. Lack of Gender Awareness and Sensitivity in ICT Development

Although progress has been made in fostering gender equality and improving women’s status throughoutViet Nam, as well as some initial successes, there remains a lack of gender awareness and sensitivity of

20 Including institutes under MOSTE’s direct management21 Including 99 units under MOCI’s direct management

Table 2.6. Women’s participation in decision making in some ICT related agencies:

Minister, vice-ministersDirector, vice-directors of departmentsHead, vice-head of sectionsShare of total workforce

Viet NamNews Agency

-14.336.740

Viet NamTelevision

-2.720.740

MOCIsystem21

015.67.942

MOSTsystem20

016.416.433.3

Source: VCEP 1999, MOCI CFAW 2000, VTV CFAW 2000 and VNA CFAW 2000


decision makers, public service providers and professionals in the country in general and those responsiblefor technology development in particular. This may cause gender discrimination to be ignored or efforts toensure gender equality to be misleading.

Although the Vietnamese Labour Code of Viet Nam prohibits discriminative treatment of workers based ontheir sex, job advertising continues to display gender discrimination in the media. A review of all jobadvertisements in the Labour Newspaper in the first quarter of 2000 found that 27% of the job advertisementsopenly stated requirements for male candidates. These jobs were in technical areas such as construction,engineering, ICT, automation, oil and gas industry. Around 13% of the job advertisements asked for femalecandidates. Jobs for women included teachers, doctors, interpreters, secretaries, accountants, marketingagents, salespersons, and unskilled workers. Apart from a professional criteria, employers often includedadditional requirements such as young, good-looking, pleasant appearance or even height (NCFAW 2000).

So far social attitudes regarding gender roles, gender equality and labour divisions in Viet Nam remainbiased by traditional values and gender stereotypes. Women face more challenges than men in sharing theopportunities and benefits brought about by ICT. In addition to these social-cultural and conceptual concerns,issues similar to all other aspects of MDGs such as difficult access, high cost, lack of necessary knowledgeand right skills also have a gender dimension. Though ICT still presents a number of opportunities to overcomeand assist in gender equality and empowerment, there remains a number of deep rooted gender bias withVietnamese society, the ICT sector and the decision making process. These problems are not isolated withinthe ICT sector but throughout other sectors of Vietnamese society.

2.4. ICT for Reducing Child Mortality, Maternal Health and the Combating of HIV/AIDS,Malaria and other Diseases

2.4.1. Role of ICT for Reducing Child Mortality, Maternal Health and the Combating ofHIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases

ICT offers a powerful tool to improve people’s health. ICT contributes to health education, knowledgesharing, health monitoring, statistics, the delivery of care and in meeting internationally agreed health targets,with respect to a number of diseases. Many international efforts have been launched to use ICTs for healthissues in child mortality, maternal health and communicable diseases, such as Digital Opportunities Task(DOT) Force initiative for ICT for Health (Digital Opportunity Task Force, 2002) or UNDPs Coalition ofICTs against HIV/AIDS.

A survey carried out by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has identified three areaswhere ICT could be of most benefit in are of health, education for health care workers; preventive informationfor the general public (in particular HIV/AIDS but most recently in the global SARS out break) and publichealth information systems. Along these lines, and in tandem with achieving the MDGs, many initiativeshave been undertaken to serve the needs of people from the developing world in health care activities.However, depending on the specific context, capabilities and facilities of each economy, the focus on health

Goal:

Reduce child mortality

Improve maternal health

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria andother diseases

ICT Opportunities

• Enhance delivery of basic and in-service training for healthworkers;

• Enhance delivery of basic and in-service training for healthworkers;

• Increase access of rural care-givers to specialist support andremote diagnosis;

• Increase access to reproductive health information, includinginformation on AIDS prevention, through locally-appropriatecontent in local languages


care and the use of ICT could be different. In many cases, improving access and use of information incertain areas such as family planning or demographic and reproductive health is most popular, feasible, andhas the highest priority than other interventions such as telemedicine or remote diagnosis. In this context,findings suggested that communication should be of central concern, ICTs should compliment othercommunication work and be integrated into broader programmes (Exchange, 2001).

2.4.2. Current Status of Child Mortality, Maternal Health and the Combating of HIV/AIDSin Viet Nam

The data in relation to child mortality in infants and young children needs urgent improvement Underreporting in deaths due to the absence of a strong registration system for births and deaths severely effectsthe quality and reliability and therefore reported figures in this area22. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) inViet Nam is one of the lowest in the region and fell rapidly in the 1990s, from 44.4 deaths per 1000 live birthsin 1990 to 35-30 deaths in 2002 (UNDP, 2003). Similarly, the under-five mortality rate (U5MR) fell significantlyin the 1990s, from 58 deaths per 1000 births in 1990 to 40 deaths in 2002. However, the mortality rate amonginfant children (1 month after birth) is relatively high with figures in this area suffering from unreliability dueto a tendency not to register many births and subsequently infant deaths.

The infant mortality rates of groups such as ethnic minorities also shows higher and worrying trends as dodisparities between, urban and rural areas and different provinces. IMR of ethnic minorities are 64.3%,higher than that of Kinh groups, and similarly, U5MR of ethnic minority children is higher than Kinh groupsby 117%. IMR for children under one is 6 times as high in the weakest 12 provinces of Viet Nam comparedto the 12 strongest economic provinces and urban areas. Education also has a strong effect on both IMRand maternal health.

Infant health generally depends upon the mother’s education and rural infrastructure systems. In addition, arecent study by the National Committee on Population shows that IMR and U5MR in Viet Nam has a closerelationship with a mothers age, number of births and the intervals between births. IMR and U5MR amongst22-25 year-old mothers were found to be lower than those of other ages. Infants of first and fourth birthsand over are at a higher risk of mortality that those of second or third births. The shorter the intervalbetween births, the higher the mortality rate (for both IMR and U5MR). This implies the importance of aFamily Planning Programme for communicating ideal birth ages, also communicating the optimal number ofchildren and reasonable birth intervals will significantly reduce IMR and U5MR.

Maternal Mortality Rates (MMR) are relatively high at 165/100,000 births. Provincial MM rates can beas high as 10 times those of rural areas (UNDP, 2003) and also differs significantly between provinces.There are a number of specific reasons for maternal mortality (hemorrhage, 46%, infection 14%, eclampsia13%, tetanus 13%), while the level of attendance of skilled birth attendants has a significant effect, withurban areas having substantially higher levels of such services and lower MM rates. These figures showthat 70% of maternal mortality cases are due to obstetrical incidents and unsafe abortions and 35% ofmaternal mortality cases could have been prevented by prompt intervention from health services. Many ofthese cases are rooted in a simple lack of knowledge and information.

A lack of information and knowledge of contraception and abortion options amongst young people andcouples is leading to a worrying trend of unwanted pregnancies and longer terms before termination, leadingto complicated interventions and increasing risks to the mother’s. The rate of abortion complications is nothigh but is one of the reasons behind increases in MMR. Information, education and propaganda programmesshould emphasize the detrimental consequences of abortion on reproductive health, as well as greater educationand information being made available on modern, safe and available contraception methods.

22 UNDP, 24:2003


HIV/AIDS, during the 1990s, has become a major problem for Viet Nam’s youth. The majority of HIV/AIDS infections (95-98%) are found in people aged between 15-49, with the rate of HIV infected youngpeople increasing. In recent years, 70-80% HIV infections occur in the under 30s. Another worrying trendis the movement of HIV/AIDS concentration from mainly drug-injectors and sex workers and a previousconcentration in urban areas. There is increasing evidence that HIV/AIDS has spread to the ordinarycommunity and rural, remote, isolated and even ethnic minority areas. Hence, it is crucial to have communicationand education programmes on this disease, especially for young people and rural communities in remote andisolated areas. Official figures show Viet Nam to have 70,000 HIV/AIDS cases, in 2003 (UNDP, 2003),though the Ministry of Health estimates double the number of registered cases. However this is estimated tobe growing at 45 to 120 cases per day, or 23% a year, a very worrying trend.

2.4.3. ICT for Reducing Child Mortality, Maternal Health and the Combating of HIV/AIDSMalaria and other Diseases in Viet Nam

As we can see from the reproductive health indicators detailed above, as represented by IMR and MMR,there were significant improvements in the 1990s thanks to improvements in living conditions, health servicesand communication programs on population, reproductive health and family planning. Nevertheless, measuresaimed at improving reproductive health are still scattered, do not take into account particular needs ofspecific areas and subjects, especially the needs of HIV/AIDS. These measures, therefore, are no longerreally effective in helping Viet Nam to confront reproductive health problems and reduction goals as set bythe Millennium Development Goals. In concrete terms, the existing measures have the following weaknesseswhich ICTs could help to overcome:

• There is still a big gap in IMR, U5MR and MMR between urban and rural, upland and lowland areas,between Kinh people and ethnic minorities, partly due to lack of information. Therefore, effectiveinterventions are necessary at the community level.

• Special attention should be given to infant health, especially neonatal (under 1 month) and under-fivemalnutrition issue. In this area, communication and education programmes on reproductive healthfor mothers and improvement of sanitary-health conditions play a crucial role.

• Female Mortality Rate remains relatively high and one of the major reasons is abortion. Therefore,there needs to be solutions for diversifying contraceptive methods and improving quality andinformation of family planning alternatives, which are to be focused on juvenile, youth andyoung couples.

• HIV/AIDS is at high risk of spreading to remote and isolated areas, amongst the young; specificpropaganda and education programs for this target group, therefore, is essential.

2.4.3.1. ICT and Information Dissemination

The population, family planning programme has made a significant contribution to the reduction of populationgrowth rates and improvements in reproductive health in Viet Nam, including the reduction of IMR, MMR

Box 2.17. Information Dissemination tools for MMR and IMR

The population and family planning programme utilizes the following communication channels:• Mass Media: Population and family planning programs are broadcasted in VOV, VTV, major national

newspapers, 61 provincial radio and television stations, all provincial and city newspapers, the majority ofdistricts and communes with local radio system.

• Direct Propaganda Channels: Apart from the contingent specializing in population and family planning,the number of propagandists of mass organizations is increasing, such as reporters of local party units,mobile propaganda groups of Ministry of Culture and Information, propaganda units of ministries andsectors, propagandists of mass and social organizations.

• Traditional Channels: local traditional channels for information are also substantially used. Various formsof humorous performances, singing, and chantey, have an influence on people of different ages,occupations, social and religious groups.


and the dissemination of HIV/AIDS information and safe sex practices. The overall objective of this programmeas stated in the “Strategy of Communication and Education for Changing Behavior in population, reproductivehealth and family planning from 2001-2005” is:

“Facilitate the creation of a legal and social environment and favourable conditions for individuals,families and communities to have appropriate awareness and behaviors of population, reproductivehealth/family planning in order to successfully implement the target of steadily maintaining thetrend of birth reduction and improving population quality”.

In order to enhance the quality of communication and propaganda and increase the attractiveness andconvincingness of these messages, a provision of essential communication facilities at all levels has beenimplemented. Each commune is equipped with a cassette, a loudspeaker, an amplifier, a microphone and abattery. A district is similarly equipped with a video machine, a video camera, a camera and an automobile.In addition, 8 subordinate units under ministries, sectors and mass organizations at the central level who areresponsible for large-scale propaganda are also equipped with communication facilities. The provision ofcommunication facilities has effectively improved the quality of the dissemination of information.

Below are a number of the typical examples of how ICT and traditional technologies have been blended fordevelopment purposes. Communication programmes are designed for three purposes:

1. Popularizing the use of contraceptives2. Publicizing the benefits of a reasonable sized family3. Encouraging men to pay more attention to reproductive health/family planning and promote use of

male contraceptives towards gender equity.

Sources of information for people in population and family planning can be classified into eight categories:

According to findings of an NPC and UNFPA survey conducted in 2001, communication channels have hadremarkable effects on improving people’s awareness of population and family planning, especially informationfrom the media, demographic and health cadres. The fact that 73% of respondents said they got populationand family planning information from relatives shows a relatively high degree of socialization of populationand family planning information. A similar survey found that over 75% of people (a high level in the world)in the age group between 15-49 have knowledge of HIV/AIDS and HIV/AIDS preventative measures.(National AIDS Committee of Viet Nam, 1999)

Mass media such as television, radio and printed matters can convey lots of information to people, especiallysince radio and television has provided nation-wide coverage. Spoken, written and visual media becomeirreplaceable information sources for people. One of the features of this communication channel is that thehigher the education level, the higher the capacity of absorbing information from mass media.

2.4.3.2. ICT and Healthcare Management

The Ministry of Health is responsible for the management of healthcare. The largest hospitals are found inlarge cities and are quite developed ICT users. These hospitals utilize ICT both as an operative tool integratingmedical treatment systems and as an administrative tool. According to available information from the Ministryof Healthcare up to 90% of “larger” hospitals use computerized enrolment registers. The Ministry collectspatient files (both on magnetic media and as paper files) on a regular basis, but no compilation and consolidation

• Mass media, such as television, radio,printed matters

• Posters and bills• Party and government cadres• Demographic cadres

• Mass media, such as television, radio,printed matters

• Posters and bills• Party and government cadres• Demographic cadres


Box 2.18. Involving the Young in HIV/AIDS discussions

An innovative website, “Tam Su Ban Tre” or “Confide with Youth”, aimed at young people, a key group thatneeds to be informed about HIV/AIDS, has recently been developed and has seen over 40,000 visitorssince its launch in mid 2003.

The site aims to inform and develop young peoples knowledge of their own sexuality and sexual awareness,HIV/AIDS issues throughout Viet Nam as well as encouraging them to discuss these issues together ona secure discussion forum. The site has news and information on sexuality, reproductive health issuesand HIV/AIDS information, counseling services on sexuality and HIV/AIDS as well as publishing experiencesand stories from users. The fact that it is online means young people can overcome cultural hindrancesand embarrassments.

of the collected data is undertaken. There are also computerized services for internal information disseminationand exchange. Email is used on occasion, with access provided by public ISPs.

Management Information Systems (MIS) specializing in population and family planning consist of 4 levels,central, provincial/city, district and commune/ward. Management information systems (MIS) gather informationfrom cooperators who directly monitor households in residential areas and also helps to avoid incorrectestimations or calculations, at the same time this system allows monitoring and evaluation of programmeactivities.

Basic networking infrastructures, such as Local Area Network (LAN) within different locations and WideArea Network (WAN) for communication between locations, is limited. The first attempts of computerizationof management in the Ministry of Health (www.moh.gov.vn), has recently been undertaken with 100 LANbeing created in hospitals and medical schools and eight WAN being put into operation. Health insurancesystems have also been computerised to a certain extent. A small pilot telemedicine project is also beginningto explore new areas of using ICT.

2.4.4. Challenges

Despite certain achievements, the use of ICT (mainly communication components) in the communication ofpopulation and family planning, still encounters many problems that need to be overcome so that Viet Namcan achieve its MDG targets. Many of the challenges faced were discussed in other MDGs. They revolvearound issues of accessibility, affordability and availability. Health information is generally much more availablein urban, rather than rural areas, and has a language bias towards Vietnamese, though language choices areexpanding, making it difficult for minority groups to access information. Equally the poor find it difficult toaccess many ICT tools, even television and radio.

Education levels have a marked effect on the demand and use of information and the effectiveness ofcertain information dissemination tools. Equally information target programmes often miss out key groups,such as the youth. Young people increasingly use ICTs to access information and are the key group that usesICT for information. Youth groups get the least information from population and health cadres as comparedto other groups, therefore it is difficult to expect that they have a strong attitude and behavior towardspopulation and reproductive health. Equally information from government agencies and government campaignsoften focuses in family planning rather than reproductive health issues.

Despite a relatively good training from central to district levels the capacity of those involved in governmentprogrammes in information dissemination remains inadequate and they often lack an appropriate level ofcompetence in such issues as population and development, family welfare, reproductive health, communicationskills and population and family planning programme management skills.

Infrastructure and facilities, as in other areas, is also of concern and can adversely affect the quality ofpopulation and family planning communication at local levels, especially hindering access to information of


people in remote and isolated areas, low-educated groups and ethnic minorities. Although MIS in the populationand family planning sector has been unified, new information technologies such as LAN and WAN have notbeen used intensively. This also hinders a close coordination between population and health sectors, resultingin mismatching when providing family planning services to clients and adversely affecting the reputation ofpopulation cadres. In addition, lack of application of new information technologies reduces the capability ofcommunication, consultancy and education for people in remote and isolated areas.

ICT for the training of health workers, and for the benefit of reproduction health shows high levels ofactivity. However, not much have been done to harness ICT for other gains such as monitoring and sharingof information on diseases, or remote diagnosis as well as other healthcare activities. Plans for using moreICT in healthcare such as connecting all district hospitals, have been drafted but have also been delayed dueto some resource and design difficulties. In short, most of the initiatives in using ICT for healthcare are justthe first steps in Viet Nam, with limited successes so far.

2.5. ICT and Environmental Protection

2.5.1. Role of ICT for the Environment Protection

Changes and achievements in ICT have had important impacts on the environment and will continue to doso. ICT will play an increasingly important role in advancing the goal of environment protection. Concernsfor the environment would not be meaningful, while proposed environmental protection actions would notachieve the desired results without an understanding of the state and possible changes to the environment,as well as the likely environmental consequences of development activities. This understanding must bebased on up-dated, accurate and relevant information. A lack of accurate and reliable information hasalways been an obstacle to environmental management and protection. ICT strengthens environmentalprotection processes by acting as a means and a tool to collect, store, process and disseminate environmentalinformation As well as enabling the collection of reliable information on environmental issues such asenvironmental pollution, climate change and bio-diversity degradation. Information networks are a means toshare and exchange information and data amongst organisations and individuals.

In addition to being applied in environmental pollution monitoring and supervising systems, ICT also plays animportant role in reducing environmental pollution not only providing information and data but also by enablingpopulation de-concentration and wide-scope telecommunications. Moreover, with the aid of ICT, transportationneeds will decrease, thereby reducing energy consumption and environmental pollution. Even the exchangeof documents via computers and the supply and use of information via the Internet will lower demands forpaper, reducing pressures on forest resource exploitation.

Recent studies, in particular those by the OECD, have put emphasis on the fact that users of environmentalinformation include not only environmental researchers and management communities (with increasingdemands for a high quality of provided information), but also other users (state organisations in areas otherthan environment, businesses, NGOs) and the general public. In general, meeting the continuing and expanding

Goal:

Ensure environmentalsustainability

ICT Opportunities

• Remote sensing technologies and communications networkspermit more effective monitoring, resource management,

• Increase access to/awareness of sustainable developmentstrategies, in areas such as agriculture, sanitation and watermanagement, mining, etc.;

• Greater transparency and monitoring of environmental abuses/enforcement of environmental regulations;

• Facilitate knowledge exchange and networking among policymakers, practitioners and advocacy groups.


demands for environmental information needed for the creation, implementation and assessment ofenvironment and development policies must combine with the demand for environmental information used incommunication (exchange of information between individuals through a common system of signs and symbols).Therefore environmental information today needs to ensure the following functions:

• First, environmental information is an enormous tool in creating, implementing and assessing policieson environment, and on development in general.

• Second, environmental information must be a crucial tool in ensuring that all members of society,individuals and entities alike, are aware of environmental conditions and take an active part in environmentalprotection, as well as in enhancing the responsibilities of agencies in charge of environmental protection.

Experiences from around the world provide a good background of how ICTs have been applied forenvironmental protection. These projects range from GIS to initiatives including Eco-portals, environmentalinformation systems, to e-waste and ICT for water resource management, to global e-sustainability initiative(UNEP, 2002).

2.5.2. Environmental Protection in Viet Nam

The most recent Millennium Development Goals Report for Viet Nam (UNDP, 2003), identified a number ofimportant improvements in Viet Nam’s environmental situation, but also a number of areas of concern thathave been slow to show improvements or have declined. In general there has been some movement to placeenvironmental concerns and sustainable development issues within policies and programmes. However, thisissue must “compete” with the needs a poor society and rapid economic growth as well as a growingpopulation and migration. Along with this Viet Nam is prone to numerous natural disasters such as typhoons,floods and drought. However it is here that ICT has been most effective.

Forest cover has suffered substantial degradation in the last 50 years in Viet Nam as has Viet Nam’sbiodiversity. However, under a number of government projects and the expansion of protected areas forestcover is now expanding again, though the quality is argued to have weakened.23 In water supply, thoughabundant in many areas, it is a sparse commodity in others, especially in areas where over farming has takenits toll through irrigation. Water sanitation has shown improvements in many urban areas, though 70% ofViet Nam’s population still does not have access to hygienic sanitation facilities. It is estimated that between48-56% of households have long term access to clean water, while 64% of water and air monitoring stationshave reported improvements above a baseline measure of pollution.24 There remains a huge disparity betweenurban and rural areas in access to clean water. Air and water pollution has shown a considerable degradationin recent years. Dust contamination in the air has increased while water pollution continues to be seen inurban areas where 90% enterprises discharge water without treatment.

2.5.3. Role of ICT for Environmental Protection in Viet Nam

For the last 20 years, ICT has been increasingly integrated in environmental protection and has becomeincreasingly important for environmental protection in Viet Nam, though its true potential is yet to be fullyrealized. Initial steps have seen the collection, storage, processing and analysis of environmental informationfor use by the state and other groups for environmental protection and management, as well as assisting inthe formulation of socio-economic development decisions at central, departmental and local levels. ICT hasalso assisted and contributed to the raising of public awareness about environmental responsibilities andappropriate use of the country’s natural resources, as well as for scientific research. We can see here thatICT has been used not only as a product or system that performs the exchange, storage and processing ofinformation it is also a valuable tool for information dissemination on the environment which has in turncontributed to the millennium development goal for environmental protection in several areas.

23 UNDP, 45:200324 UNDP, 46:2003


Box 2.19. Networking Environmental groups. Email, a simple tool

Email discussion lists have increasingly become an important tool networking environmental groups andindividuals involved in environmental protection. UNDP Viet Nam facilitates a number of these groups withover 300 people on a general environment discussion list, from both Viet Nam and Internationally. Otherdiscussion groups focus on more specific areas of Environmental protection such as wildlife trafficking,environmental toxins and conservation education.

These groups offer an opportunity for individuals and professionals, often separated by large distancesand operating in a variety of different but often interrelated areas to communicate ideas and problems,discuss activities and movements in environmental protection in Viet Nam. It is also a powerful tool formaking environmental protection transparent and highlighting major areas of concern.

2.5.3.1. Facilitate Knowledge Exchange and Networking in Environmental Protection

By using ICT, the government can improve the quality and responsiveness of public services, as well asreinforce and expand the public’s capacity to approach and exploit these services. Beyond geographicalborders ICT gives individuals and communities access to information on natural resources and the environment,and enhances wide popularisation of this information. ICT can make great contributions to environmentalmanagement through helping to improve the quality and effectiveness of environmental information andmonitoring system, and facilitating environmental protection activities.

In 1993, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment was established, and soon after a Statemanagement system for environment protection was developed which brought groups from the centre,cities and provinces together. Activities in collecting, storing, processing and providing environmentalinformation through an environmental management system have also been gradually developed. Systemsand networks to monitor, oversee and follow the development of national environmental conditions havebeen set up and developed with the (old) Environment Agency acting as the management headquarters ofthe network system. In 2002, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) was foundedand a system of management agencies in natural resources and environmental protection are now also information and development both at central and local levels.

Early in the formation of the Vietnamese environment protection and management system, the need tocreate an environmental information system was already being considered. Over the last few years, parallelto the formation and development of a comprehensive environmental protection and management systemboth at central and local levels, an ICT infrastructure system of these agencies has also been establishedand developed.

In order to enhance the application of modern technology in environmental protection, the EnvironmentProtection Agency and MONRE has constructed a strong information technology infrastructure, LAN’sand WAN’s with powerful servers and services that enable remote access. The Agency also set up anetwork with provinces, through fixed telephone lines. This powerful information system has facilitatedenvironmental data and information exchange with domestic agencies as well as with internationalorganisations. Moreover, the Agency has applied modern information technology, such as a CISCO network,SQL data management and ESRI’s GIS technologies, to set up a system of environmental databases thatprovides data and information to decision-makers, scientists, the community and local environment managementbodies.

To date, ICT has been applied in a number of different activities of the Environment Protection Agency,such as planning and establishing the environmental monitoring system, creating environmental databasesand others. All provincial environmental protection and management bodies have applied information technologyin their activities with varied degrees of intensity, such as setting up computer networks, the application ofsoftware, accessing the Internet and creating web-sites that help disseminate environmental information.


Box 2.20. Using GIS for Environment Monitoring

From 1995 to 1998, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (now the Ministry of Scienceand Technology) built a “Geographic information system for natural resources monitoring and environmentalprotection.” This was the first large project to apply modern information technology, in this case GIS, forthe collection of data and the establishment of a system of geographic information for Viet Nam’senvironment and natural resources.

Data was collected in a number of areas, forestry, land, agriculture, and so on. The project was technicallyand financially supported in nearly 40 provinces, where geographic information systems were used tomonitor individual provinces’ own environments and natural resources. This GIS project achieved the firststep in encouraging ICT applications in environmental management and environmental protection. Anumber of provinces continued to invest in or gained support from other projects for the development ofgeographic information systems for their own natural resources and environments.

The Institute for Forest Planning and Investigation (belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment) has used remote sensing images to follow the development of forest cover in Viet Nam,and create forest maps of different scales. Many agencies have used remote sensing images to studyforest changes in specific regions. The Ministry of Geography has used Landsat TM multi-temporalimages to study the changes of natural forests in Tanh Linh, Binh Thuan province. While the Agency ofthe Environment used remote sensing images for national mangroves in 1990 and 1995. Remote sensingimages have also been used to create Coastal oil-spill sensitivity maps (1995): the (former) Ministry ofScience, Technology and Environment, with sponsorship by the Swedish government, used SPOT satelliteimages to create oil-spill sensitivity maps at the scale 1: 100 000 for the entire coast of Viet Nam.

Other applications of remote sensing include investigations and the study of coastal wetlands; to study,investigate and plan nature conservation areas; and to study natural disaster prevention: NOOA, GMSsatellite images have been used for weather and storm study and prediction. Moreover, the Centre ofGEOMATICS of the Geology Institute has used RADAR images to study Hong Delta river floods, usedremote sensing and GIS to study the state and changes of the environment in Ninh Thuan, and usedNOOA images to monitor and create maps of Mekong river floods.

More than half of provincial environment agencies have web-sites. Many cities and provinces have vigorouslyused ICT applications in their environmental protection activities, as have Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, HaNoi, Nghe An, Thai Nguyen, with the principal applications being built to monitor and calculate databases inenvironmental analysis, and to create web-sites that help disseminate environmental information.

2.5.3.2. Remote Sensing Technologies and Communication Networks

Globally remote sensing technology has been applied in environmental and natural resource protection formore than 30 years. Remote sensing is a high technology activity, with the collection and processing ofremote sensing materials primarily based on ICT technology. In Viet Nam, remote sensing was introducedin the early 1990s. Data is now being collected in increasingly large amounts, including biological, physical,chemical and geological data, or socio-economic data describing the state and trend of the environmentthrough remote sensing technology such as GIS. Information technologies, such as GIS and other remotesensing technology, database management technology and programming languages, have been applied byenvironmental agencies in collecting, storing and managing databases.

2.5.3.3. Awareness of Sustainable Development Strategies

ICT can mobilise communities to actively participate in environmental protection, disseminate informationon environmental protection, introduce government policies on environmental protection to citizens, as wellas respond and report to decision-makers about a community opinions. It can also act as a strong tool fortransparency and reporting on activities not only in environmental protection but also in degradation andenables a wide range of stakeholders, who are often widely dispersed, to participate in discussions onenvironmental protection, policy and degradation.


With the aid of ICT, environmental information can be publicised widely, for all citizens to access and utilize,despite their distance to their areas of interest. The Agency of Environmental Protection has created a web-site on the environment to provide environmental data, legal documents and policies and information forcommunities, leaders, scientists and businesses. The internet is a powerful tool for the dissemination ofenvironmental data as well as being a powerful tool to raise public awareness. The Agency of EnvironmentalProtection has also created a number of CD-ROMs on the environment to provide information to communities,such as the environmental Atlas of Vietnamese regions and Green Viet Nam. Numerous organisations and(former) Department of Science, Technology and Environment of provinces have created web-sites onenvironment and natural resources in order to provide data and information to all.

2.5.3.4. Monitoring of Environmental Abuses and Transparency

In calculating and processing environmental data, a large amount of data often has to be analysed, often ina of a variety of formats. In this field, IT has been fully applied as a calculation tool and simulative model fordata processing, assessing the state of the environment and making environmental predictions. SomeVietnamese environmental agencies have studied and created software for calculating air and water quality,such as modeling software for calculating the variations in dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations whenstudying the impacts of waste water from sugar companies.

Others have developed software to calculate the spread of air pollution based on the concentration of eachpolluting substance separately as well as on the collective pollution index, programs that enable the calculationand creation of pollution maps over a wide area, with the number of discharging sources reaching somehundreds, simultaneously active and releasing various contaminating substances. This allows identificationof areas that suffer dust and air pollution caused by industrial production both day and night, as well asidentifying the industrial establishments whose discharging sources play a key role in causing pollution. Thisenables mapping and the development of plans to control and minimise pollution.

Box 2.21. ICT as tool for Environmental Monitoring

The Institute for Applied Mechanics, belonging to the National Centre of Natural Science and Technology,has, as an initial step, built a number of models to calculate the dispersion of polluting agents in surfacewater and the air. It has also set up an “information system that supports the management, planning andassessment of environmental impacts”, the goal being to create an ICT tool that enables co-ordinationwith metric systems in collecting and recording data on the state of the air and water environments ofcertain areas.

They have also studied the construction of supportive software for the management of air and surfacewater, and have created ICT tools for the management of environmental monitoring data (applied in AnGiang province). The Institute has also created modeling software for calculating the spread of oil-spillson the sea in order to facilitate reactions and solutions to oil-spills.

Box 2.22. Air Pollution Monitoring in Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City is currently carrying out a project, constructing an automatic air monitoring systemthat will provide information on air quality to the community. Automatic air-quality monitoring stations arelocated in a number of areas around the city and measurement results are constantly transferred to adata processing center.

After processing and analysis, data on the city’s air quality is transferred directly to electronic boardssituated in public areas or main traffic axis. This entire system is constructed based on modern ICT.Therefore, information on air quality will be promptly and accurately accessible by everyone. In this way,people do not have to obtain information on air quality through any intermediate agent.


Box 2.23. ICT for Local Environment Development in Ha Noi

Ha Noi is designing an automatic waste water monitoring system for the city. The acquired data of thismonitoring system will be provided to the city’s decision-makers as well as the community. Theenvironmental information is to be expansively provided, shared and publicised and will enhance thesense of responsibility of all parties, authorities, businesses and communities for protecting the waterenvironment in Ha Noi.

The examples detailed here focus mainly on environmental monitoring, but all also have a strong reportingelements, sending environmental information from the project down to interested groups, whether government,enterprise, citizen or environmental monitors and protection agencies. This has a strong transparency elementas information on changes and movements in environmental degradation and in many cases details of theparties responsible will be available freely. While giving information to parties on one hand, this will alsoprovide some pressure for polluters to reduce and consider the effects of their actions. The PARC projectdetailed here combines this transparency element, information sharing with email networking tools to stronglyenhance ICT for the benefit of environmental protection and the reaching of this millennium developmentgoal.

2.5.4. Challenges

The system of collecting, storing and processing environmental information still lacks systematisation, timelinessand accuracy. Information and communication technology has not been applied vigorously in environmentalprotection in Viet Nam, hence data and information has not been disseminated expansively, which has givenrise to a level of information localisation.

Public access to environmental information is still limited both in scope and in detail. Public access toenvironmental information has only been enabled in a one-way direction, from the agencies in charge to thegeneral public through the mass media, with the goal of educating and informing citizens and raising theirawareness of environmental protection issues. Little has been done to ensure citizens and groups have anopportunity to actively ask for information, put forth their own opinions, and effectively involve themselvesin environmental protection activities. Other problems common in other areas include the cost of access, thelack of the right knowledge and skills and the level of English proficiency is also a problem. Insufficienttraining for environmental management staff, especially for those using ICT for the environment is alsonotable.

Box 2.24. PARC Project

PARC project is an integrated nature conservation and rural development project that works in andaround three protected areas in Viet Nam. The integrated approach that the project has been pursuing isnew and innovative for Viet Nam and one of the project’s objectives is to promote the successful lessonslearned from the project. The PARC Project website is a key tool for disseminating the important projectreports and results and implementing the project’s communication strategy, and will serve as an accessibledocumentation archive once the project ends in 2004. In parallel with the website, an e-list from UNDPViet Nam is used to inform the environment community of latest additions to the website.

The website has provided PARC Project with an immediate and easily accessible public face. It allowsother researchers and protected area managers access to PARC reports and raises the profile of theproject. However pitfalls of such an open face to the world have been encountered. Where the websitewas not updated with important information, the project had drawn criticism for not addressing high-profile issues. Since then more attention has been given to keeping the on-line face of the project up todate and accurate. The PARC Project website can be accessed at: www.undp.org.vn/projects/parc.


Chapter 3. Using ICT for Development in Viet Nam: CurrentIssues and Constraints


Changes, movements and developments in both the ICT business atmosphere as well as the governmentsfocus on ICT have shown that there is a determination and commitment from the highest level of Vietnameseleadership (including that of the Party, the Government and the National Assembly) to develop ICT and useICT to reach not only the millennium development goals but also Viet Nam’s overall development goals.Chapter two revealed that ICT is being used for development and the MDGs, but that this remains in itsinfancy and that ICT opportunities are yet to be fully tapped for development. Equally the implementation ofICT for development faces a number of challenges as we have already discussed, many of which can onlybe overcome through the assistance of the government and enterprises and the support of users, in ICT.

The framework above was developed through the Digital Opportunity Initiative (DOI), which looked at theopportunities ICT presents as an enabler of development and the benefits and problems associated withdeveloping strategies with a single focus on areas such as the ICT Industry. The above Strategic Compactis similar to the four pillars used under MPTs draft ICT strategy for Viet Nam and focuses on the developmentof an enabling Policy and Regulatory atmosphere for ICT, The development of content and applications thatare relevant for society, the strengthening of enterprise use of ICTs and enterprises involved in ICT, theneed for universal access and a strong infrastructural base as well as the development of Human Capacity.In looking at the movements in ICT in Viet Nam we have used this compact and analyse changes andhindrances in relation to these areas.

Viet Nam is not standing still in ICT in all areas, policy and regulation, enterprise and industry, infrastructure,human resource development and the development of applications and internet content. Indeed everydayadvances are being made and changes are happening, as is bound to happen in an area such as ICT, whichis at the cutting edge of technology with changes occurring rapidly. This section will underline both thechanges and direction of ICT in Viet Nam in relation to ICT and the needs of ICT and the MDG as well as

Strategic Compact

Infrastructure

Enterprise Contents &Applications

Policy

Human Capacity

Strategic CompactNew Collaborative

PartnershipsVision and Leadership

Strategic AlignmentCoordinated Action

PolicyTransparency and Inclusion

Regulatory FrameworkInstitutional Capacity

Content & ApplicationRelevance and UsabilityLanguage Compatibility

AffordabilityDevelopment Applications

Human CapacityKnowledge Workers

Intermediaries and Technology UsersEntrepreneurs

InfrastructureRelative Ubiquity

Strategically Focused Capacity

EnterpriseFinance and Credit

Property Rights and Commercial LawFair Tax Regime

Access to Global and Local MarketsEfficiency and Reach of Local Busines

Demand Stimulus

Figure 3.2. DOI Strategic Framework for ICTs and Development


detailing the challenges in the current situation the problems these challenges are causing for the furtherenhancement of ICT for the millennium development goals.

3.1. Policy, Regulatory and Market Environment

3.1.1. Telecommunication Policy and Market Changes

There has been an increased movement towards greater liberalisation of both telecom and internet servicesrecently, by allowing more service providers to enter the market as well as allowing an increasingly liberalisedpricing system for new market entrants. The cost of telecommunications services is highly important in theinformation age and within information societies. Though many ICT tools operate separate totelecommunication needs, they often become most useful when they are connected to the telecoms network.The Internet and email are key information and networking tools with are heavily reliant upon telecomservices, in turn their usage and take up by users is a factor of cost and the price of these telecom services.As we have discussed above in many cases the cost of the internet connections is a key challenge to thefurther take up of ICT for achieving each MDG in Viet Nam.

Despite this the telecom and internet service provision market remains dominated by VNPT25 a state-ownedenterprise. VNPT was formally established in 1995 along with the DGPT (now the Ministry of Posts andTelematics), when the Government moved to separate operational activities from policy and regulatoryactivities in the telecommunications sector. The company is active in all aspects of telecommunications,including infrastructure ownership and operation and provision of telecommunications services.

The structure of the Viet Nam telecommunications sector is currently undergoing major changes with anumber of new operators entering the market and existing operators increasing the scope of their businessactivities. After VNPT, there are a number of other groups competing in the telecommunications sector,though again the state retains a predominant role in these competitors also, these include the Military, theMinistry of Industry, local government, and VNPT who has a share in a number of operators (VNPTcompetes with itself in the mobile market through a full ownership of VinaPhone, and a joint venture inMobiPhone, with a Swedish partner).

25 www.vnpt.com.vn

Figure 3.3. Revenue created by National Telecom Companies

Vietel4%

SPT3%

ETC2%

VNPT91%

Vishipel0% Ha Noi Telecom

0%


One of the largest issues here is the continued blurring of the relationship between VNPT and MPT and itsinfluencing impact. VNPT and MPT have been criticized in the past for this close relationship and theinfluence that VNPT may have in MPT and licensing and pricing systems and an impact on potential rivals.This was recently the case for new mobile operator, S-fone. However, in October 2003, these criticismswere quelled by allowing new mobile and fixed line operators to set their own service rates and chargingstructures in a number of service areas. Operators with a majority share in the market, we would surmisethis is VNPT, need government approval before they reduce service prices. 26 However, the line not onlybetween private and state operators as well as the connection of state interests with enterprises remainsvery blurred, blurring also the effects of such policy changes.

26 Viet Nam Investment Review, Nov 2003. This article detailed the Prime Ministers Decision 217/2003 QD-TTg.

Table 3.7. Government IT Policy Directives and Key Legislation

• PM Decision #54 (1998): establishes Techno-Economic Program on IT in Ministry of Science andTechnology (MOSTE)

• E-ASEAN Framework Agreement (April 2000): establishes policy to promote harmonization ofe-commerce and e-governance goals to support regional trade

• Resolution #7 (June 2000): Establishes policy to preferentially support the software industry as amajor contributor to GNP.

• Communist Party Policy Directive #58 (October 2000): Establishes policy on the use anddevelopment of IT to promote modernization for period 2001-2010

• PM Decision #128 (November 2000): Specifies incentives and tax benefits to support investmentin the software industry

• PM Decision #19 (2001): Specifies incentives and tax benefits to support investment in the hardwareindustry (PCs and peripherals)

• Prime Minister Decision # 81 (May 2001): Establishes national IT targets in four program areasfor 2001-2010 to implement Party Directive #58

• PM Decision #112 (July 2001): Guidelines and targets for the computerization and automation ofgovernment management and administration to improve public service delivery.

• Decree #55 (August 2001): Establishes policy on the management, provision and use of Internet,allowing for the first time private sector participation in ISP service delivery.

• PM Decision #136 (September 2001): Establishes policy for Public Administrative Reform tomodernize state administrative management; includes IT component.

• PM Decision #158 (October 2001): Establishes DGPT’s Telecommunications Master Plan through2010 and includes measure to dismantle VDC’s status as sole IXP.

• Decree #175 (November 2001): Establishes National IT Steering Committee and Secretariatbased in MOSTE.

• PM Decision #33 (February 2002): approves Internet Development Plan for 2001-2005 and providesbudget byline.

• National IT Master Plan for the Period 2002- 2005 (August 2002): Approved by the NationalAssembly

Changes in the telecoms market and ICT are directed by government policy over market mechanisms. Inthis context, business preferences and biases are unavoidable, and decisions made in telecoms area seem tobe a mixture of business, social policy directions and political will. Within the existing regulatory framework,MPT exercises regulatory control by issuing operator licenses and monitoring of license conditions.


In our discussion on the role of ICT for the MDG, affordability and access is often a major problem for thefurther implementation of ICT. The question of market structure for telecom markets has been subject tomuch debate over the last 20 years, with many developing and developed countries opting for liberalizedmarkets and competition. Movements towards this are happening in Viet Nam and competition is increasingwhile prices are falling. However though this may improve affordability, others argue that a monopolysituation or an element of government direction, must be retained for some time more in order to ensureuniversal access to telecom services.

Indeed in some ways the close relationship between MPT, VNPT and the government is advantageous forthe MDG as pressure and policy can be applied that ensures both access and lower priced service delivery.There have been a number of examples of VNPT and its subsidiaries providing government organizationssuch as the Ministry of Education with lower priced services to aid internet access for students.

3.1.2. Draft ICT Strategy for Viet Nam, 2003

The Ministry of Posts and Telematics is currently in the process of drafting a new ICT strategy for VietNam. This new strategy has moved the previous IT Master Plan to the status of a vision for ICT in VietNam, though much of the content and goals contained within drafts seen have their basis in the old ITMaster Plan. The new strategy focuses on four “pillars of ICT”, ICT Industry, ICT Infrastructure, HumanResource Development and Applications and Content, and underlines the role of three groups, users,government and enterprises in reaching the goals laid out under the strategy. The box below details in briefthe aims of the strategy to be finalized in 2004.

3.1.3. Internet Service Provision (ISP) Policy

Related to the issues discussed above and again in relation to internet use and take up of internet services,ISP policy is of key importance especially for take up of the internet for development purposes. Viet NamInternet Network Information Center (VNNIC) regulates and overlooks the internet in Viet Nam. Againthis is linked to MPT. It carries out the functions of managing, allocating, supervising and promoting the useof Internet, domain names, and addresses in Viet Nam, providing Internet-related guidance, statistics; andother international activities on the Internet.

3.2. ICT Industry and Enterprise Use

Officially, as can be seen in documents such as the previous IT Master Plan as well as the new draftstrategy on the ICT Industry, this area has been strongly encouraged to develop, in all areas hardware,software, services and content. In particular, the production of locally made and assembled computers (nowreaching 80% of machines in Viet Nam) and the domestic manufacture of other equipment, is stronglyfavoured by policy makers. However, AFTA poses a number of challenges for the hardware and electronicsindustry, especially for the domestic market competition as import duties in many areas are due to belowered. This competition will again have beneficial effects for development, hopefully driving down pricesfor computers and their parts. However it is doubtful whether computers will fall into an acceptable pricecategory for the majority of Viet Nam’s population any time soon. However cheaper prices do give theopportunity for computer sharing systems, such as internet cafes and tele-centres.

Though a computer that falls under a US$200 benchmark is far off, experience from the Asian region hasseen the achievement of this price goal but often only with state interventions (as we saw in Thailand) ordonor interventions. Second hand donated computers are often an option, though the quality of these computersand their hardware is often questioned as is the effect of such programs on the domestic computer market.Even if a cheap computer is made available to individuals or groups, via either direct purchasing orsubsidisation, it be remembered that the cost of software such as proprietary operating systems, officesuites and other tools, can substantially drive the price of a computer up.


Box 3.25. Draft ICT Strategy for Viet Nam

ICT InfrastructureRecent versions of the Infrastructure strategy called for a substantial expansion of access to ICT. Thestrategy calls for 1 in 8 people to have access to either fixed or mobile telephones by 2005 and 1 in 4 by2010. It also calls for a substantial increase in internet subscriptions and speed with 1 in 64 people tohave access by 2005 and 1 in 12 people to have access by 2010, meaning more than a quarter of thepopulation will be using the internet. At the same time it calls for a large increase and move towardsbroadband connections throughout Viet Nam and substantial take up and use of the internet in governmentoffices, schools and universities.

ICT IndustryThe possibilities of the software sector for the Vietnamese economy has long been recognized by theVietnamese Government, and is again underlined in the draft ICT strategy for Viet Nam. Even underpessimistic growth forecasts the strategy calls for continued growth in both domestic ICT industryproduction and exports, though these figures have been substantially revised from the previous ICTmaster plan. By 2010 the ICT industry is hoped to provide a turnover of US$1.2 to 2.0 billion and to be aninternational competitor by 2020.

Applications and ContentAgain the strategy calls for a substantial increase in Viet Nam’s position in comparison to other ASEANcountries in the period up to 2020. A strong emphasis is placed on government agencies and enterprisesfor the take up of ICT and ICT applications. Public service availability is called on to be increasinglyavailable on the internet while the level of ICT usage by enterprises is also called on to improve, ensuring100% of enterprises are using ICT by 2010. In order to see the increased level of services available on theinternet and in electronic formats both urban and rural populations are called upon to increase theirusage of ICT, with 100% of urban working populations using the internet by 2010 and 50-70% of ruralpopulations.

Human Resource DevelopmentThe Strategy for human resource development takes a double approach to human resource development.On the one hand it calls for an increase in trained ICT experts to support ICT development, especially inthe ICT Industry, while on the other hand it calls for an increased level of understanding throughoutsociety of ICT opportunities through the increase in use of ICT in al aspects of education. The number ofICT experts is to increase to 50,000 by 2005 and 100,000 by 2010. Supporting this will be a vastlyimproved university and college training system that will ensure the quality of graduates and coursestaught. To support and strengthen the development of a knowledge society familiar with ICT, the educationsector is called on to ensure ICT is used throughout education and training and not just in the teachingof ICT itself.

3.3. Content and Applications

3.3.1. Viet Nam’s Software Industry

The software industry in Viet Nam was set a target of US$500 million in exports by 2005 under the previousIT Master Plan, a goal which many agree will not be meet, with US$200 million considered a more realistictarget27. Software production is now increasingly serving the domestic market. In 2003, a private company,with state support, developed a Vietnamese version of the open source operating system, Linux, as well asVietnamese language version of a number of open source software products, including an office suite. Anumber of computer retail companies have now included this OSS operating system and software on theircomputers enabling them to push prices down and for domestic customers and also supply these substantialcheaper computers to schools and other groups who previously may not have been able to afford the moreexpensive licensed proprietary software.

27 For example, the review of implementation of 58 Resolution has indicated the figure of total US$200 million of turnover, ofwhich only US$50 million is for export by 2005.


Related to the issues detailed here is the level of the service and content industry in Viet Nam which manyconsider to be weak. The domestic market for this is imperfect and may be unable to support Vietnamesebased web content development.

3.3.2. e-Government

The computerization of the state management system has been touched on under a number of projects,especially under the previous National IT programme, and has seen some achievements. Project 112, or theProject on State Administrative Management Computerization for the 2001-2005 period expanded a numberof objectives already stated in the Politbureau’s Directive No. 58-CT/TW. Specifically, by the year 2005, thecountry should have built up and put into operation the Party’s and the Government’s electronic informationsystem so as to raise the effectiveness and efficiency of the administration of the Government, the PrimeMinister, leaders of Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, agencies attached to the Government and localadministration at all levels.

To date there have been a number of successful cases in using ICT for state management such as on-linebusiness registration and licensing in Ho Chi Minh City, custom declarations in Dong Nai province, orelectronic forestry monitoring in Dak Lak. UNDP has also assisted in the development and strengthening ofa “One Stop System” in both Ho Chi Minh City and Quang Binh province, to improve the efficiency of publicservice delivery. This has subsequently been assisted by a number of donors in other areas.28 OSS servicecenters are now available in 35/61 provinces, 196/1281 (15.30%) provincial departments, 160/613 (25.36%)districts, 905/10,594 (8.55) communes and have seen support from the Prime Minister in September 2003.29

To assist this process, UNDP and five donors through the PAR Support Facility (PSF) built under Project“Support to Implementation of the PAR Master Programme” is providing support to opening of 64 OSSs in16 poor provinces.

Services provided through the “One Stop Shop” mechanism include business registration, cultural activitieslicenses, construction permits, land administration and is substantially changing the social affairs, notarizationsand confirmations, public information administrative culture & staff attitudes in public service delivery (fromcontrol toward service) as well as putting into practice the principles of good governance: transparency,accessibility, accountability, equity, anti-corruption, Enhancing government - public relations and promotingfurther reforms (amendment of laws and policies) and decentralisation (central – local responsibility).

Programs such as these are argued to substantially raise the transparency and efficiency of governmentservices. However, these projects have often been successful as they are part of other reform process. The112 Project will only move ahead with more rigorous reforms in public administration and developments inmore traditional non-electronic management modes. Moreover, the suitability in the format of contentexchanged over the net within this system is another issue to be addressed as is the question on the uniformityand compatibility of implemented systems. At present these systems contain a number of problems withusers either from provinces or from central organizations continuing to have difficulties in exchanging theircontent or files for management purposes.

Other central government organizations such as Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Planning and Investment areto follow suit in providing information about current legal documents, regulations, etc. on their websites. Thesites are updated regularly to make sure visitors can get the latest information about new regulations, andrelevant matters to their business.

Within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), UNDP is to move to phase two of theICT element of its public administration reform programme (PAR) which will see the development of aPersonnel Management Information System (PMIS). The PMIS is a computerized database of all staff,

2 8 SDC in Quang Binh, SIDA in Quang Tri, Norway in Ninh Binh2 9 Decision No. 181/2003/QD-TTg on the Regulation of the implementation of the “One Stop Shop”(OSS) Mechanism in

administrative offices of local authorities.


their details, skills and work experience. While at first glance this looks like an administrative tool for personnelmanagement, it will ensure a wide range of effects in a number of other areas. Two such benefits of thesystem are to be its gender dimensions and the improvement of gender equality and monitoring with MARDas well as a more transparent and skills based recruitment system. The PMIS system will enable MARD tomonitor the gender dimensions of its staff, ensure the mainstreaming of gender equality throughout MARDand enable more gender sensitive budgeting. In turn the development effects will be a broader impactthroughout MARD and DARD nationally for gender. The second benefit is a system that will enable themore efficient and transparent recruitment ensuring skills and jobs are matched.

In another project UNDP is to further assist Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in strengthen its operations.Throughout Viet Nam there is a need to strengthen the implementation of policy and strategy. Ho Chi MinhCity equally faces challenges in ensuring that its policy and strategy intentions are implemented properly. Itis often the case that the decisions of the City at all levels fail to be implemented adequately or sometimes atall. This is due to the lack of a managing and monitoring mechanism between policy decisions andimplementation. Therefore, the development of a Performance Management System (PMS) is seen as a toppriority in the next 5 years to allow HCMC to meet its development and PAR goals.

In many areas of using ICT for the MDG, such as education and health, human capacity and the knowledgenot just of ICT but the possibilities, is a key constraint in accessing ICT tools. With e-Government this hasalso been proved to be a problem. A recent review of a UNDP project in one Ministry, that sort to raisehuman capacity of bureaucrats, found that users were only now developing simple skills such as using emailfor communication and attaching documents to emails. A review of many government websites finds severalnot updated frequently or even uncompleted in many areas. At the same time, even where services aremade available online or in electronic format, users may lack a capacity to use ICT and therefore use theseservices.

3.3.3. e-commerce and Business Enterprises

The draft Ordinance (Decree-Law) on e-commerce is prepared by the Ministry of Trade and was plannedto be approved by the National Assembly at the end of 2003. This ordinance aims to set up the legalframework for electronic commerce. However, the development and application of e-commerce is not onlydependent on this legal framework. Business has been slow in Viet Nam to take up ICT tools and appreciatethe possibilities available through them. Even now, after a number of years of experimenting with e-commerce,(as detailed in chapter 2) there is still no clear direction or priority setting from concerned organizations orbeneficiary enterprises themselves. International commitments such as the e-ASEAN framework are not inharmony with domestic activities, and appear much slower and more hesitant.

In practice, without waiting for the legal framework to be introduced, e-commerce activities have beenundertaken gradually by firms. Even firms in rural areas are gradually taking up e-commerce for theirproduction, marketing and export, to different extents. Bat Trang village is a classic example of how craftvillagers use and adapt ICT for their business needs, as we have discussed in earlier in this report.

A number of studies have looked at this problem. One of the latest surveys of firms’ e-readiness30 revealedthat the majority of firms (nearly 100% in the survey) are aware of the importance of e-commerce for theirbusiness and would like to take on this activity. However, not all are ready to embark on e-commerce. Mostcases revealed that larger enterprises tended to be readier to deploy e-commerce than smaller ones.31 Manyfirms complained they did not have the specialized staff required for e-commerce. Data from other sourcesreveals a similar weak take up of e-commerce by companies32. The majority of firms (76%) intend to use e-commerce in a Business to Business (B2B) format.

3 0 Survey of e-readiness of SME for e-commerce in Viet Nam. Report of the project on Policy environment factors for e-commercedevelopment in Viet Nam. Ministry of Science and Technology and IDRC. Ha Noi. 2003.

3 1 Preliminary data from survey report. MOST and IDRC. 20033 2 Survey of VDC National portal project on Viet Nam’s e-readiness, with focus on companies’ participation in ICT and e-

commerce business.


For Viet Nam’s development it appears a lack of awareness of ICT as a tool for business is not the problem,it is human capacity and an understanding of the extent of the benefits that could be made available usingICT. This negative aspect and the relationship between enterprises and ICT is of major concern, especiallyas the number of registered enterprises, and SMEs, grows and the level of integration of firms increases. Amajor opportunity for development and poverty alleviation is being overlooked by private sector firms whichmay increasingly need the further intervention of groups such as the VCCI to push this area forward andensure ICT for enterprises is harnessed.

3.4. Human Capacity

A focus on human needs in ICT does not only mean ICT training, as we have discussed earlier, peoplesneed for information must be satisfied to ensure they are empowered, their capabilities are enhanced,choices and options are widened. Two things are clear from the discussion above on ICT and the MDG, onthe one hand people need to be introduced to ICT and have an understanding of what ICT offers their livesand on the other ICT proponents, policy makers and so on must ensure that the information supplied is whatpeople want and need to enrich their lives. The examples of how ICT has been used for development inChapter two are vivid illustration for this.

The challenges in each MDG underline these problems. The Vietnamese population, despite largedevelopments in ICT and increases in trained ICT experts or exposure to ICT, is still on the whole unfamiliarwith ICT and still needs to be introduced to the possibilities they contain. Key groups such as teachers,health workers, or government officials and bureaucrats due to their numbers and status could and shouldact as a vanguard, if a Knowledge society is a true goal of Vietnamese society. Equally information suppliedshould be looked at closely as this could bring people to ICT rather than bringing people to ICT, only for themto then find limited appropriateness.

3.5. Infrastructure

ICT Infrastructure in Viet Nam has made a number of strong developments in recent years and growth ishigh. The number of fixed lines, as detailed below, is growing at 32.5% per year, while mobile phonesubscription rates are one of the highest in the region, at 87.3%. Despite this high growth, the generalinfrastructure level remains at a poor level.

A number of problems in infrastructure are said to exist.33 Productivity levels of the telecommunicationssector are lower than neighboring countries and are in need of improvement while general coverage oftelecommunications was seen as less than ideal, though 92.5% of communes do now have access totelephones. However the proportion of fixed lines in rural areas is below 2%.

33 Ministry of Posts and Telematics, 2003, Draft ICT Infrastructure Strategy

Table 3.8. Infrastructure Indicators for Viet Nam

Fixed telephonesMobile phonesInternet usersPCs

Density(Units/100 people)

4.512.341.840.98

Ranking in theASEAN+3 region

8101010

Average density inthe region

17.718.78.1213.39


Similar problems are seen in internet access with few provinces having access to direct high speed internetaccess and an uneven distribution of access mainly focused on urban areas. Equally, the quality of internetaccess was felt to be a problem. The low level of infrastructure and quality in rural areas as we have seencauses a number of constraints for the development of ICT for the MDGs.

3.6. Concerns in ICT Development

3.6.1. Policy structure

According to some studies34 there are a number of issues in Viet Nam’s policy environment for ICT in VietNam, summarised briefly in the table below, which must be confronted. With a continuation of these problemsand little being done to address them, ICT development and ICT for the MDGs will continue to be hindered.The notion of ICT as enabler is not yet widely perceived by stakeholders in society. A more radical changeof attitude at all levels and layers of society is desirable to shift the ICT landscape of Viet Nam towards amore open and transparent and impartial ICT friendly society.

3.6.2. Policy and Regulatory Decision Making Structure

Despite a number of efforts to encourage more competition, a monopoly effectively continues in telecomand ICT services in Viet Nam in the form of VNPT. In the context of negotiations to join WTO, Viet Namwill have to face up the challenges of foreign players demanding a more open domestic market for telecomservices.

Recent changes in the organizational structure for the state management of ICT raises a number of otherconcerns. Although the change in structure, in the form of MPT, is an attempt to create a new and separategovernment body responsible for ICT, its practical implementation seems to raise more concerns. Ratherthan creating a ministry or agencies impartial in interest, responsibility and capable of dealing with thecomplexity of ICT, MPT continues to have a vested interest in telecom businesses.

3 4 Assessing policy environment factors for e-commerce development in Viet Nam. Project report of MOST and IDRC. Ha Noi.2003.

Table 3.9. Problems in the Policy Environment for ICT Development

Issues of the general policy environment

Integration and interaction of policy environmentfactors

The relativeness of some central policies: differencesin importance and specific measures

Coordination and monitoring between policy makingorganisations, between policy making and policyimplementation: narrowing policy impact

Dialogue between policy makers and thoseinfluenced by policies (such as enterprises): lackof dialogue, information

The suitability of policy with practical demand ofenterprises: old mentality

Issues of the general policy environment

Integration and interaction of policy environmentfactors

The relativeness of some central policies:differences in importance and specific measures

Coordination and monitoring between policy makingorganisations, between policy making and policyimplementation: narrowing policy impact

Dialogue between policy makers and thoseinfluenced by policies (such as enterprises): lackof dialogue, information

The suitability of policy with practical demand ofenterprises: old mentality

Source: Tran Ngoc Ca (2003) Assessing policy environment for E-commerce development in Viet Nam. Project report for MOSTand IDRC.


Through the creation of MPT, it was also hoped to overcome the problems of fragmentation and weakleadership in ICT development in Viet Nam. However, it remains unclear where MPTs responsibilities beginand end with ICT. A number of ICT activities remain under other ministries such as the Office of Government(for 112 project), Ministry of Trade (for e-commerce), Ministry of Industry (for production of computers),MOST (for organising R&D and other technology development programmes), MOET (for education andtraining in ICT). It is unclear therefore if MPT is to take over all ICT related activities or whether this isappropriate.

This blurred line of responsibility again limits ICT possibilities for development. For instance in the case ofopen source software, a substantial level of interest and debate has undertaken recently around the opportunitiesOSS presents for development. Indeed a number of governments worldwide are turning there backs onproprietary software and are turning to OSS to save valuable resources and retain some control over therecomputer operating systems. Viet Nam has also been part of this debate and substantial progress has beenmade in developing and implementing OSS applications. However responsibility for this lies within the Ministryof Science and Technology, and though the issues are known to MPT, they have no responsibility in thisarea. As a result a focus or discussion on ICT is missing from many elements of ICT discussions andstrategies coming out of MPT. As increasingly MPT are the partner of choice for ICT related developmentprojects this may prove to be an increasingly worrying gap.

Eventually, all activities come back to the demand for a more comprehensive legal framework. So far,attempts to introduce various forms of legal background for ICT development rested with differentorganisations. The mentioned Ordinance on e-commerce is taken care of by the Ministry of Trade, MPT ispreparing a number of others, while several agencies such as Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Culture andInformation, Ministry of Science and Technology, are investigating possibility to introduce different regulationsin their own relevant areas. This situation is understandable but could lead to fragmentation and evencontradiction of policy measures. There is required a strong coordination among law makers and this couldbe an area for policy assistance. A general and comprehensive cyber law maybe needed instead of fragmentedlaws and regulations by various agencies. Though this is yet to exist, MPT maybe looking more closely atthis in 2004.



Chapter 4. Conclusion

4.1. Conclusion

As we discussed in Chapter One, the use of ICT could bring unprecedented benefits to development in VietNam and essential support for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The application ofICT in development would lead to the enhancement of human capacity, expansion of peoples choices andoptions for development and greater empowerment of people. Eventually it could lead to or at least contributeto more equitable levels of development. In fact, evidence from around the developing world has revealedthat ICT is a substantially powerful tool for achieving the MDGs, human development and supporting economicgrowth of developing economies.

Examples detailed in this report have also shown the opportunities available through ICT. Chapter Twodetailed a variety of areas of use throughout Viet Nam, either in poverty alleviation, education and learningor for the cause of gender equality, healthcare and environmental protection. However, the experiencesprovided in this report have also highlighted a number of challenges that may prevent a more widespread,efficient and effective use of ICT for development in Viet Nam. Problems, raised in Chapter Two, wererelated not only to technological issues, but concerned social, economic and cultural dimensions of developmentand the take up of ICT in Viet Nam. Policy, legal and other institutional constraints reviewed in ChapterThree, specifically, the policy and legal framework and institutional responsibility for ICT in Viet Namremain blurred and uncoordinated.

One key recommendation of this report would therefore be that these positive movements are some howaccelerated and supported, especially in relation to development issues and the MDGs. In support of this afurther recommendation would be to ensure a focus on ICT as an enabler of development in Viet Nam. Thisdoes not mean a move away from ICT as an Industry, but for policy makers to first consider the implicationsof ICT policy changes on the use of ICT for development and secondly to ensure that ICT is consideredthroughout Viet Nam’s development.

4.2. Confronting the challenges and furthering the use of ICT for the MillenniumDevelopment Goals

In line with the chapter three we have structured our recommendations around the DOI strategic compact,placing recommendations in policy and regulation, content and applications, enterprise, infrastructure andhuman capacity.

4.2.1. Policy, Regulatory and Market environment

As we have discussed Viet Nam has made a number of policy, regulatory and market structure changes thathave substantially strengthened the ICT arena and the ability for ICT to develop. This movement shouldcontinue and has an added impetus given Viet Nam’s desire to join the World Trade Organization and itsalready existing trade commitments. We further recommend a focus on and the strengthening of the followingareas in order that policy, regulation and the market is able to react more actively to the needs not only of theICT industry and other key user groups but also supports and encourages the use of ICT in development andpursuit of the MDGs.

• Improved regulations of the still existing monopoly in some areas in the ICT sector, to promote greaterprivate sector participation in both infrastructure development and content provision. This should aim tostrengthen the level of competitiveness of the sector and therefore the affordability of the informationand communication services that is crucial for promoting human development and all MDGs


• A legal framework for the convergence of technologies in the format of ICT and cyber laws will beessential in the coming years.

• Review the current draft ICT strategy to ensure that this strategy is integrated into the overall socio-economic development strategy of the country, especially with the ongoing public administration reforms.Without a significant breakthrough in the public administration reforms, the impact of ICT for humandevelopment could be seriously diminished. Ensure that the strategy and its action plan is directedtowards achieving the MDGs.

• Further improving the regulatory and legal framework to ensure that information is available, accessibleand affordable to all people so they can use them effectively for improving their well-being.

• ICT can greatly assist transparency and inclusion and should be a part of all policy development not justthat of ICT.

4.2.2. ICT Industry and Enterprises

If the key recommendations above are pursued than a more open market will develop which will benefitenterprises through lower costs and availability of services as well as new opportunities. However as wehave discussed enterprises still need to be encouraged to take up ICT for there own business operations.

• Enterprises should be made aware that applications for the MDGs will be feasible.

• ICT should be a major part of SME promotion, especially inline with greater integration and marketaccess.

• Sites such as those of VCCI, should be encouraged giving companies the experience of using onlinesales arenas and reducing the costs for them in accessing ICT tools.

• Intellectual Property Rights should be strengthened on one hand to protect domestic ICT productionand companies as well as aiding their development. At the possibilities of OSS should be developed tointroduce enterprises to lower cost alternatives to proprietary software.

• Financing and credit specifically for the take up of ICT and the development of the ICT industry shouldbe made available and encouraged.

• Key groups such as the Government should act as a stimulus for the ICT Industry and a key market fortheir products ensuring software and hardware is sourced primarily from domestic producers.

• Strongly encourage ICT market players, such as VNPT, to look wider than key markets and ensureaffordable services and accessibility is available for all. Especially rural and poor groups and educationaland health facilities.

4.2.3. Content and Applications

The appropriateness of the information disseminated using ICTs is also of a major concern and should beensured to be of relevance and give information that farmers require such as market details, prices, inputprices, extension services, credit information and so on. At the same time domestic ICT producers andcontent providers should be encouraged to look towards key players in Viet Nam and supply content andapplications for their use.

• Provision of appropriate content and applications aimed at rural and poor groups should be encouraged.It should be remembered that even the poorest will pay for services that they feel will have a benefit tothem. Though content and applications should remain affordable to as many as possible.

• Enterprises should be encouraged to develop “Killer applications” which can become major aspects ofdevelopment in areas such as poverty alleviation, e-Government and education and can be used asmodels regionally.

• Project management skills will need to be substantially strengthened.


• Develop applications and content for curriculum support and encourage others to develop this. Integratethese solutions into teaching, learning and curriculum design. The use of ICTs in support of educationand learning and the traditional models (face-to-face, text books, etc.) should be complementary ratherthan substituted each other. Gender equality promotion should be ensured within these educationalprogrammes.

• ICT Training programmes, especially donor funded programmes, should ensure strong female participation.

• Continue to maintain and improve the quality of family planning and maternal and child healthcommunication programmes on mass media, with special emphasis given to local TV and radioprogrammes to improve access to remote and isolated areas and ethnic minorities;

• Give emphasis on communication for juvenile and youth target groups. Together with reviewing andenhancing education programmes on population and reproductive in school. Pay increased attention toreproductive health issues in communication programmes and the use of ICTs in disseminating information.Ensure the use of ICTs within HIV/AIDS projects.

4.2.3. Human Capacity

The movement towards a knowledge society will not happen overnight, however it can happen quickly.Given Viet Nam’s relatively low level of access and availability we have suggested recommendations thatwill hopefully focus on strengthening existing groups and using existing institutions and infrastructure to kickstart the process towards a knowledge society.

• Special programmes to deal with the increasing digital divide within the country should be designedand explicitly incorporated into the ICT strategy. These programmes could include measures to supportdisadvantageous groups, the poor and poorest communes, and ethnic minorities. Supports should begiven, again both in terms of physical infrastructure provision, capacity building and content diversification.

• Human resource development is also crucial for the ICT development itself as well as for maximumimpact that the sector has on human development. Training and education not only for ICT experts butalso for ICT users should be given a special attention. A nation-wide campaign ‘eliminating ICT-illiteracy’should be promoted and implemented, especially for rural areas and remote and isolated regions.

• The development of “Knowledge workers” for the ICT Industry is going to be essential but a thoroughreview of curriculum and its relevance along with substantial improvements in quality should also beensured. This could also be done in cooperation with the private sector, for training, and ICT enterprises.

• Improve ability of teachers to use ICT in there day to day activities, administration, planning as well asusing ICT as a teaching tool. Teachers should be recognized as a key knowledge society group and avanguard for an e-Society in Viet Nam. Set and meet minimum knowledge levels for pupils and teachersin ICT knowledge and use in education.

4.2.4. Infrastructure

In a similar manner to human capacity our recommendations focus on the development of already existingsystem of information dissemination and telecommunication access to ICT while also calling for the furtherdevelopment of Viet Nam’s Infrastructure programme to ensure the movement towards universal access.We also feel inline with recommendations in policy, regulation and environment that greater openness andcompetition will go along way towards ensuring universal access but that this should also be monitored by aGovernment regulator to ensure those enterprises involved in the ICT market move towards this.

• Measures should be taken to improve both content and infrastructure provision in key components ofthe ICT sector to ensure better availability and accessibility especially for the poor and disadvantageousgroups


• Though ICT infrastructure is poor there is an existing infrastructure backbone that can be taken advantageof to overcome access problems. The Government hopes to reach 100% of communes with fixed linessometime in the near future which offers a basis for networking communes with the district, provincialand central headquarters.

• Equally there is a network of post office cultural centres that already provide access to informationthrough newspapers as well as access to telephones in some cases. A number of groups are alreadyconsidering the use of these centres for the use of ICT support for rural development and povertyalleviation.

• In many countries issues of both cost and access are overcome by the development of tele-centreswithin communities. Again this enables a large number of people to access ICT tools and other services,and creating economies of scale in implementation.

• Set and meet minimum ICT levels for all schools at every level in infrastructure, hardware lessonlengths and make sure targets are met as part of a long term ICT integration program. Use cheapcomputers and OSS software to support this goal.

• Seek partnerships for the development of EduNET between key private enterprises, donors andgovernment. Seek cheap or free internet access from groups such as VNPT as well as other infrastructuralsupport.

• Mobile technology and services are getting increasingly lower in price and should be piloted in remoteprovinces.

In Viet Nam, ICT have been used to various extents in achieving specific MDG such as poverty alleviation,education and learning, for the cause of gender, healthcare and environment protection. It would be superficialto say that without ICT, these MDG and target of human development would not be achieved. However,one thing is for sure that with the help of ICT, these goals of development would be achieved more equitably,more feasibly and take the goal of human development closer to achievement.

On top of specific recommendations for using ICT to ensure each area of our strategic compact movesforward, there are a range of common issues to be addressed urgently, including of policy and institutionalsetting, legal framework, infrastructure, aspects of the economy. These are complex issues, but not impossibleto solve. The whole society in general, policy makers, practitioners, enterprises and communities at largeshould and could share and work together for the common vision of using ICT as a source of knowledge fordevelopment.


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AbbreviationsAFTA ASEAN Free Trade AgreementAPDIP Asian-Pacific Development Information ProgrammeBTA Bilateral Trade AgreementCDIT Centre for Development of Information TechnologyCFAW Committee for Advancement of WomenDFID Department of International DevelopmentEIMC Education Information Management Centre, MOETIAP Internet Access ProviderICARD Information Center for Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentICT Information and Communication TechnologyIEC Information, Education and CommunicationISP Internet Service ProviderLAN Local Area NetworkMARD Ministry of Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentMDGs Millennium Development GoalsMOCI Ministry of Culture and InformationMOET Ministry of Education and TrainingMOSTE Ministry of Science, Technology and EnvironmentMOF Ministry of FinanceMPT Ministry of Posts and TelematicsNCFAW National Committee for Advancement of WomenNCSSH National Centre for Social Sciences and HumanitiesNIPTS National Institute of Posts and Telematics StrategySME Small and Medium EnterprisesUNDP United Nation Development ProgrammeVASC Viet Nam Software Development CompanyVCEP Viet Nam-Canada Environment ProjectVCIT Viet Nam-Canada Information Technology ProjectVDC Viet Nam Data CorporationVNA Viet Nam News AgencyVNPT Viet Nam Ports and Telecommunications CorporationVTV Viet Nam TelevisionWAN Wide Area Network

Cover photos: Bruce Edwards, Dang Huu Cu, Tran Viet Duc, Nguyen Van Thanh, Hoang Ngoc ThuyGraphic Design: Dang Huu Cu/UNDP Viet Nam


United Nations Development Programme25-29 Phan Boi Chau Street, Ha Noi - Viet NamTel.: (84 4) 942 1495Fax: (84 4) 942 2267e-mail: [email protected]

www.undp.org.vn

UNDP is the UN's global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners.

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