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East Asia Program Coordinator Brendan Allen recently visited our projects in remote Vietnam, and was heartened by what he saw.
Rice fields at Nga My are now irrigated, allowing more land to be cultivated.
Photo: Brendan Allen/OxfamAUS
One of best things about being a Program Coordinator with Oxfam Australia is the regular visits to the communities with whom we work. Such visits are essential for monitoring and evaluation: ensuring that our programs are meeting their objectives and funding is acquitted accordingly. They are also a fantastic opportunity to see the communities grow and develop.
Every field visit is different. Life can be chaotic poor countries, and you often have to plan on the run. My recent trip to Vietnam was no different. We are funding work in Nghe An province, which is about 10 hours drive from Hanoi. Once you reach the township of Tuong Duong, it is around another three hours to the actual project area. When I arrived, however, heavy rains had cut all road access to the communes. No problem! We would travel by canoe.
The canoe trip literally gave me a completely different perspective. Life along Vietnam's remote - and I had thought "sleepy" - rivers is incredibly active. In a five-hour journey I saw children playing, people fishing and driving supply boats, men poling rafts of bamboo to town for processing and women washing clothes.
I had visited Nga My commune a year ago, and the changes I saw were astounding. Rice farmers in Na Ca village had received our support in the form of a small-scale irrigation scheme, rice field development and agricultural training. Their rice fields had increased from four to 12 hectares, and their food shortage period was now four months, down from eight months before the project and six months on my first visit. Village chief Lo Hong Khue is confident that as more land is planted out and local farmers gain experience, Na Ca will eventually become completely self-supporting.
Perhaps the most exciting changes I saw were in Bon Village. In the past year, 13 new water tanks and shower blocks have been built. Local people have been trained in construction and maintenance, and community hygiene promotion is underway. The water tanks and shower blocks look great, and are already making a real difference to people's health. The biggest changes, however, can't be captured on camera. One of the most important aspects of our work strengthening communities to manage their own affairs, by helping them set up community consultation and decision-making systems.
Through the local government, Village and District Management Committees are established as mechanisms for the community to decide on the development that is right for them.
The Bon Village community was going strong. It was great to see women active in community discussions and decision-making, and as members of the Village Management Team. After community consultation, the Team has decided to undertake their own development activities to complement those we support. These include a larger village sanitation program, the establishment of household maintenance teams trained to clean and maintain the water cisterns we funded, and the development of a fruit tree plantation that will provide more food - and potentially more income - for the village. The Management Team is planning and implementing these activities using the skills they learned through our program.
This visit highlighted to me the absolute necessity of supporting these kinds of community management processes. This is about the long haul: about a community controlling and sustaining their own development long after we are gone. Toilet blocks and water tanks are essential, but it is this kind of development that changes people's lives in the long term.