Decentralized Programme for Rural Poverty Reduction in Ha Giang and Quang Binh Provinces

Transcription

1 Decentralized Programme for Rural Poverty Reduction in Ha Giang and Quang Binh Provinces Project Completion Report Digest Document Date: 2-Apr 201 Project No Asia and the Pacific Division Programme Management Department

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3 Viet Nam - Decentralized Programme for Rural Poverty Reduction in Ha Giang and Quang Binh Provinces Loan No.: 67-VN Project Id Board Date 02 December 200 Effectiveness Date 17 August 200 Original Closing Date 31 March 2012 Final Closing Date 31 March 2012 Total Project Cost USD(M) IFAD loan US$(M) 2 Cofinanciers (if any) none Implementing Agency Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI); Provincial People s Committee (Ha Giang); Provincial People s Committee (Quang Binh) Principal Components The components are: (i) Capacity-Building for Decentralized Development to enhance the capabilities of local people to become active stakeholders in the management of commune and village-level institutions; (ii) Production Support to increase the productivity and income levels of poor households, ethnic minorities and women, and improving their household food security; (iii) Small-Scale Infrastructure Development to reinforce the ongoing decentralization processes, with emphasis on village-level infrastructure; (iv) Programme Management to developing local capabilities to bridge the gap between national-level policies and provincial implementation of initiatives on decentralization. Project Performance Relevance In both DPRPR's two provinces - Ha Giang and Quang Binh - the strategy, objectives and approaches were relevant to the needs of the population, and they were consistent with the national policy environment and IFAD s country strategy. The Programme was implemented through a complete decentralization strategy, ensuring beneficiaries' active participation in planning process. The Programme employed different approaches in a harmonized and integrated manner, including: i) capacity building for decentralization for poverty reduction; ii) participatory approach; iii) gender integration; iv) diversification of incomes for poor households, women and ethnic minorities through various technical interventions. After the MTR, in both provinces, some important adjustments were made compared to the original design, in order to ensure higher appropriateness with local socio-economic conditions and unique characteristics of beneficiaries. In Quang Binh after the 2008 MTR, the poverty reduction approach focusing on the poorest was replaced by a more market-oriented approach, in order to meet beneficiaries' needs at a large scale, enabling them to participate in some value chain processes. In Ha Giang, during implementation, to better fit local situation and demands, some modifications were made to the original design, concerning: i) duration of intervention at commune level; ii) targeting; iii) production support methods; iv) adjustments in financial management. On the less positive side, in Quang Binh, some design flaws were detected, such as: i) the Programme's Logframe did not have detailed target for each indicator; ii) the saving and credit program offered the villagers the loan size which was small and insufficient for production; iii) the Programme's intent to partner with the Bank for Social Policies for additional credit provision, was infeasible due to the differences in terms of rural finance approaches between the Bank for Social Policies and the Programme. Effectiveness According to the PCRs, in both the provinces, the Programme was effective in applying a decentralization approach from provincial to commune and village level. It effectively focused on capacity building at commune and village levels and provided human resources and financial support for the grass-roots levels. It also was effective in: i) supporting village infrastructure development with a focus on small-scale construction; ii) providing services responsive to people (such as extension and veterinary services; credit and saving products through Saving and Credit Groups (SCGs)). In Quang Binh, despite the Programme positive contribution to increase the food security and living quality of poorest households, ethnic minorities and women, Programmes' effectiveness could have been higher. The Programme experienced difficulties in receiving additional loans support for SCGs; ii) the expansion of the production models for larger impact required additional loans for dissemination and awareness raising (which were missing); iii) the planning tended to focus on infrastructure development rather than focusing on the strategy for economic development. Above all, the Programme lacked a clear collaboration between components and between management levels to achieve the objective of building the capacity for market-oriented socio-economic development. In Ha Giang, some difficulties were met in the production support component, mainly concerning the aquaculture development and the microenterprise development and marketing. With regard to the rural financial services, the coordination between the Programme and the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) was not possible, which prevented enhancing the management of operations of SCGs. 1

4 Efficiency Programme effectiveness lag stood at 8.6 months. Initially, the Programme had a slow implementation, as IFAD's loan did not come into effect until mid-200 and thus 2006 are considered as the first year of Programme's implementation. However, during 2006 Programme's implementation could not be speeded up due to severe animal pandemics in the Programme's sites. Nevertheless, Programme's final disbursement rate stood at 100%. In Ha Giang, in the early years, Programme's efficiency was initially low as some difficulties were encountered due, inter alia, to low capacities of communal officials. However, it was found out that the investment rate for many Project's important infrastructure items was lower than the national norms regulated by MOC (Ministry of Construction), which applied to the mountainous areas. This occurred thanks to beneficiaries' participation in constructing small scale infrastructure works, which helped saving huge costs by eliminating the expenses of bidding, construction consultancy and supervision. The EIRR of some production supporting activities was also determined as relatively high. In Quang Binh, the IRR stood on average at 22%. Infrastructure development had the high IRR of 2.2%, while income generation models had an average IRR of 72.1%. The production models in cultivation, livestock and aquaculture showed high efficiency both in the demonstration and expansion models. However, besides some low cost/benefit models, there were still some ineffective or low effective production support projects (such as fruit cultivation models, biogas model, goat model, rabbit models). Project performance. Partner Performance IFAD Both in Ha Giang and Quang Binh, IFAD has significantly contributed to the Programme's implementation. IFAD showed some flexibility in adjusting the Programme design to better respond to the practical implementation status. In the two provinces, IFAD provided its effective support through annual supervision missions (including MTR in 2008), and regular and ad hoc support (either at its own initiative or as response to requests by PPMUs). Recommendations from IFAD greatly supported PPC and PPMUs in adjusting the Programme's implementation, supporting the achievement of set targets as well as the Programme's progress. On financial management, in Ha Giang, IFAD was supportive in trying to solve the problems being encountered, which led to significant improvements especially after the MTR. In Quang Binh, IFAD's was also very supportive in smoothing Programme's implementation. However, the PCR mentioned that Programme's implementation was somehow partly influenced by IFAD's strict procedures on financial management. The PCR also mentions that the Programme's implementation would have improved, by having IFAD's stronger technical supports in terms of: i) standardizing the M&E system; ii) linking with other stakeholders for macro policies' enabling, such as working with the Central Bank for Social policies in approaching groups loan provisions. Cooperating Institution UNOPS was in charge of Programme's supervision during the period ; from 2008 onwards, IFAD was directly in charge of it. UNOPS provided technical support in various fields over its supervision missions. The 2008 MTR stated that supervision mission reports reviewed were considered as satisfactory. In the PCR for Ha Giang, there is no reference to UNOPS' performance. In the PCR for Quang Binh, it is mentioned that most of the Withdrawal Applications submitted by the Programme were not reimbursed wholly or partly by UNOPS as these applications contained advance payments made by the Project for various project activities. Only eligible project expenditure could be funded and not advances. As a consequence, the Programme was perpetually short of funds. Government The GoV has been supportive of the Programme and has continued to make decentralized programme and poverty reduction a high priority. The provincial and district level departments, the Provincial People's Committee (PCC), and other administrative bodies were all committed to the poverty alleviation efforts initiated by the Programme. In both Ha Giang and Quang Binh, the Programme Management Units at all level showed their capacity in implementing the Programme's activities with good progress and performance. With regard to the fiduciary aspects, in the Ha Giang province, a number of difficulties in financial management were encountered due to challenging decentralised financial management at the commune levels and lengthy disbursement processes. In Quang Binh, the financial and accounting system of the Programme met partially the Programme management requirements, mainly due to lack of accounting capacity at commune level. The staff-turn over in PMUs (from provincial to commune level), especially happening in the Programme's ending time created difficulties in the coordination of Programme's activities. Some issues were also raised on loan compliance and procurement. NGO/Other In Ha Giang, many service providers were mobilized, especially for agricultural, forestry and aquaculture extension as well as capacity building activities. All in all, their performance has been considered as satisfactory. In Quang Binh, the quality of the service providers was different due to the low cost norm set by MoF, which failed to attract competent experts. In the final years, the Programme used the IFAD nonrefundable budget, which allowed hiring some good consultants. Cofinancier(s) 2

5 Combined Partner The Programme has benefitted from support and interactions from IFAD, UNOPS, and the Government. Performance Rural Poverty Impact Household Income and The Programme had a fairly positive impact on this domain, when considering several issues. In Ha Giang, Net Assets the asset ownership index of beneficiary households improved sharply, mainly concerning TV and motor bikes. A similar positive impact was achieved in Quang Binh province, which showed an increased ratio of households having valued assets such as television, refrigerators and agriculture machineries. The combination of interventions including access to market, access to finance, policy and technical supports, brought about positive changes in the households' financial assets. In both provinces, the Programme allowed beneficiaries achieving better access to micro-finance services, through SCGs and PSF. In Ha Giang, beneficiaries' incomes grew by 70% from 2009 to In Quang Binh, animal husbandry, crop production, aquaculture, handicrafts and provision of services, led to tangible economic benefits. Over 60% of households' responding to Programme's impact assessment stated that the Programme had largely contributed to improve their incomes. In this province, in terms of poverty reduction, the PCR states that the Programme contributed to reduce the poverty rate from 3.% in 2006 to 18.6% in In Ha Giang, results from the RIMS baseline and end-line surveys suggested that the proportion of the poorest households went down from 3% to %, which for poor households also declined from 21% to 19%. However, all this data have to be treated carefully as they refer to a limited period of time, plus they are mainly based on RIMS in the period of time , and do not show the change of households' incomes before and after the Programme. Food Security In both Ha Giang and Quang Binh, the Programme has had a positive impact on improving beneficiaries' food security by fostering production models, as well as by supporting infrastructure development, technical knowledge, seedlings and credit provision. In both the two provinces, it was noted a decrease in the rate of hunger households as well as a remarkable improvement in children's nutrition indexes. In Quang Binh, the RIMS showed that there have been significant changes in terms of food security for poor households, as the percentage of households facing food shortages passed from 0% to 26%; the hunger length was also reduced from 3.9 months to 3.2 months. For Ha Giang, the 2011 annual survey showed that 120 households reduced the number of food deficient months. In addition, the area of cultivation increased by over 320 ha in the project area. However, the robustness of this dramatic impact has to be taken with caution, as all these reported changes are not supported by a comparison between the Programme's different baselines, but only refer to the RIMS surveys. Moreover, the PCR in Quang Binh, mentions that the number of households with food deficient months is still high, whereas in the PCR for Ha Giang it is reported that interviews with villagers revealed that without support from the Programme or the GoV, food security was still a major challenge. Ag. Productivity In Ha Giang, the Programme had a notable impact on different aspects of agricultural productivity, including crop cultivation, growth of livestock and poultry rising, increase in the size of arable land. In this province, agricultural productions shifted from traditional forms that were small scale, fragmented and require little financial investment to the application of advanced techniques and updated varieties. The Programme helped to introduce production models (inclusive of 117 upland farming models, 91 livestock and poultry raising models and 13 aquaculture models), which have been widely applied by the beneficiary households. All the three crops such as paddy, corn, soybean all experienced sharp increases in both output and yield during the project period. Being supported with seedlings, breed animals and production tools, many poor households have expanded their scale of production. In Quang Binh, the small irrigation schemes under the project support have brought considerably positive impacts such as increase of irrigated crop areas, particularly under rice and maize; enhancement of crops yields and number of agricultural crops per year. The land use ratio doubled and the average productivity increased by 1%. Moreover, the local agriculture which used to focus on rice intensive production shifted to diversification of cultivation crops, livestock and aquaculture. The PCR mentions that 21.7% of households reported increased cultivation productivity, 23.8% increased livestock productivity and 1.3% reporting increased aquaculture productivity. Agricultural Productivity and Food Security Natural Resources and In the Ha Giang province, many farming models promoted by the Programme helped to reduce the use of Environment agro-chemicals and water. The Programme also contributed to eradicate the over-exploitation of forestry resources and protect forestry ecosystem in the target area. The introduction of biogas and organic manure processing during the project implementation was environmentally sustainable. However, it was noted that these interventions were limited in size. In Quang Binh, the Programme's impact on natural resources was positive through its support to ICM rice cultivation, forest plantation, and sustainable agricultural practices in sloping lands. The PCR also mentions that the ratio of charcoal for cooking reduced from 96,% in 2006 to 77.1% in 2011, which in turn reduced the threats on deforestation for firewood. On the other hand, it was 3

6 noted that in some cases the improved rural road had external impacts as increasing the exploitation of fishery resources. Human, Social Capital and In both provinces, Programme's impact on human, social capital and empowerment has been notable. On Empowerment human capital, as a result of trainings, capacity building activities, better access to water supply, hygienic latrines, building of schools and cultural houses, considerable improvements on beneficiaries livelihoods were noted in terms of improved physical health and positive changes in education. With regard to social capital, as a result of Programme's decentralization trend, intense capacity building effort, and delegation of powers to grass-roots levels, a positive impact was noted at the district, commune and village level, as well as with regard to the roles of the VMGs (Village Management Groups), SCGs (Savings and Credit Groups) and other voluntary formations of farmers' collaborative groups. In terms of empowerment, as a result of the decentralization strategy and the participatory approaches, all the beneficiaries, from poor households to women and ethnic minorities, were encouraged to participate into the local planning process. This process helped to bring about radical changes in their social status; their voices have been heard and their opinions have been reflected in the planning, with an improvement of their participation in the decision making of the local socio-economic development. Inst. & Policies In both Ha Giang and Quang Binh, the Programme was able to implement a comprehensive decentralization strategy with the shift from a top-down centralized planning to bottom-up participatory planning, which strongly contributed to improve institutional and policy implementation at local level. The establishment of CPMUs, villages' SMBs, SCGs and Local Development Fund (LDF) further contributed to strengthening the grass-roots democracy. The CPMUs, with some differences, have become confident in planning and implementing their socio-economic development plans and effectively exercised their investor roles. In the Ha Giang province, impact for decentralisation could be seen through the current implementation of the national programme 13 and programme 30A in which implementation has been fully decentralized to communes. In Quang Binh, despite the success, the capacity for decentralization varied from one commune to the others. According to the PPMU, capacity of around a half of the target communes could be considered as good; 3% was moderate; and 1% was weak. Markets In both Ha Giang and Quang Binh, improvements in the village level infrastructure contributed to improve beneficiaries' access to markets and reduce transport costs and time consumed. In Quang Binh, the Programme pushed for a poverty reduction approach with market orientation. This helped to link the producers with the markets, improving farmers' access to information on demand and supply, good prices and quality. However, although some good results have already been showed, the Programme's impact was still incipient and small compared to the potentials, as this market-oriented approach has been newly introduced since Project Impact Overarching Factors Innovation In the Ha Giang and Quang Binh provinces, the Programme had many breakthroughs and innovative approaches, such as: i) the decentralization of investment projects to commune and village levels; ii) the application of a participatory planning approach using a wealth ranking technique; iii) the SCGs' model which was innovative as it identified a way to make credit accessible at the village level, by women and with procedures much more simpler than the formal banking system in upland, remote communes; iv) the innovative crop varieties supported by the Programme. In Ha Giang, another innovation was the Production Revolving Fund, which was a shift away from giving out of inputs to revolving credit funds. In Quang Binh, during the programme implementation, it was also newly introduced a poverty reduction approach with market orientation, which had not yet been employed in any national poverty reduction programme and projects. Other promoted innovative models were: i) piloted support for large agriculture farms and private enterprises which supply seeds and provide trainings and buy products from small farmers; ii) using key farmers integrated with micro-finance for seeds and replication; iii) self-management boards (SMBs) which exerted their roles in supervision and M&E for small-scale infrastructure; iv) Local Development Budget (LDB) allocated to village communities enabling groups of farmers to visit other groups of farmers in the same regions; v) public-private partnership for poverty reduction. Replicability and Scalingup whole province. Moreover, the Programme's participatory planning approach at commune level is a lesson The PCR for Ha Giang states that the Programme's decentralized strategy could be replicated across the which should be scaled-up to the other poverty programs/projects implemented in the same region and in many other provinces across Vietnam. Some of the Programme's models, particularly operations and maintenance of irrigation schemes by beneficiaries, have been replicated in schemes funded through Government's own resources. In addition, the production models introduced and supported by the Programme have been adopted and replicated by local people. In terms of upscaling good practices, all communes are going to be inserted in the Government Programme for rural development and poverty reduction, namely the National Targeted Program for New Rural Areas, as well as over 90% of them are likely

7 to participate in programme 30A. With regard to Quang Binh, the results demonstrated that decentralization to commune level was feasible. Based on the lessons and practice, this approach was expanded to other communes belonging to the 13 programme. Moreover, the Department of Planning (DPI) has been tasked to continue testing and institutionalizing the market-oriented Socio Economic Development Plan (SEDP) for adopting and scaling up of the successful production models. Innovation, Replicability and Scaling-up Sustainability and In the Ha Giang province, the Programme achieved high political sustainability, as well as good prospects Ownership were also achieved for institutional and social sustainability. Resolution by Provincial People's Committee (PPC) confirmed further intensification of Programme approaches, especially the agriculture model development with strong emphasis on market-orientation and market linkages. However, sustainability of poverty reduction in the project areas seems to be still in question, as without Programme's support and Government subsidies, households may fall back to the previous situation of poverty. Moreover, the adoption of production models could face some difficulties due to pandemics and extremely harsh weather conditions. The fund raising for O&M, as well as the unfavourable natural conditions, may also threaten the sustainability of some infrastructure works. In Quang Binh, the Programme is considered to have a good institutional, political, social and economic sustainability. The PPC committed to continue to lead the process and to ensure the financial support through the provincial annual socio-economic development plans and the National Targeted Programme (NTP) for New Rural Development, Climate Change Adaptation and Risk Mitigation. Targeting The programme had good result in targeting the poorest and most vulnerable groups. In the Quang Binh province, the Programme's target beneficiaries were the poor, especially poor women, ethnic minorities, jobless and youths. The target beneficiaries were identified by the Provincial Department of Labor based both on the annual poverty assessment and the Rapid Rural Assessment conducted right after the Programme's start. The selection of communes to be included was based on the criteria such as: i) poverty level; ii) presence of ethnic minorities; iii) absence of other major poverty reduction programme; and iv) communes' capacity to receive the intervention. In the Ha Giang province, the targeting process also prioritized the poor, women and ethnic minorities. A multi-dimensional poverty approach was used for poverty classification. In this province, the proportion of poor and very poor household stood at around 30%. The PCR mentions that the Programme always gave special priority to the poor and very poor. After the MTR, non-poor households were also included as Programme's beneficiaries to encourage experience sharing and mutual assistance among poor and non-poor, which would be a stimulus to the poor to be more active in applying new production models introduced by the Programme. Gender In the Quang Binh, gender issues have been integrated across all activities and women's role has been considerably strengthened. The ratio of women's participation in the commune/village training, in SMBs, in community's groups, in SCGs and in the employment portfolio in enterprises receiving supports by the Programme was high. Women have also gained better access to health and literacy trainings. Women also accounted for 31% of beneficiaries receiving production supports. Women's representation in people's elected bodies has increased significantly. However, the PCR highlights that despite the Programme's positive impact, the gender equality still needs further improvements. In the Ha Giang province, women accounted for % of the total number of beneficiaries. Their voice in the community has gained weight. A significant change occurred in the perception of women's role in household economic development; women were also more consulted in decision making process within the family. For many specific activities, the female participation rate was very high: i) nearly 100% of SCG members were women; ii) 100% of participants in illiteracy classes were women; iii) 73% of PSF loan was disbursed to female borrowers, etc. Nevertheless, again the PCR mentions that the proportion of women involved in the administrative authorities and project management units could improve. Overall Performance Estimated number of beneficiaries PCR Quality Scope In Ha Giang, the scope of the report was overall in line with the 2006 Guidelines for Project Completion, including the requested annexes. In Quang Binh, the scope of the report did follow the 2006 Guidelines for Project Completion, however, the majority of the requested annexes were missing. The final rating is an average of the two single ratings provided for each PCRs. Quality In Ha Giang the quality of the report is satisfactory, both relying on a good set of data and with a good analysis of project's main strengths and weaknesses. The project built on a good M&E system. In the Quang Binh, efforts were made to present a comprehensive as well as balanced report. The PCR preparation process built on the information from various sources, as well as consultation with some of the Programme's

8 main stakeholders. However, the PCR quality has been lower than in Ha Giang, mainly due to weaknesses of the M&E system, which did not allow to appropriately track Programme's outcomes and impacts. Thus, the provided rating is an average of the two ratings provided for each PCRs. Lessons In both the reports, good efforts were made to distill and clearly present the lessons learned. In the Ha Giang report, the final result was of a higher quality, which somehow reflects a more in-depth reflection process as well as better analytical capabilities. Candour By triangulating the two PCRs in Quang Binh and Ha Giang, with the other information sources available (Supervision mission reports, PSRs) on the Programme's intervention, there is a feeling that the two PCRs somehow overemphasized the Programme's achievements in the two provinces. Moreover, some relevant issues which appear in the PSRs or supervision reports, were not absent or just briefly mentioned in the two PCRs. 6