Second Program 135 Phase 2 Support

closed

The Second Phase of the Second Program for Communes Facing Extreme Hardship in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas (Program 135) Program operation will support implementation of agreed policy and institutional actions based on the November 2008 mid-term review, to improve progress towards agreed outcomes for one of Vietnam's principal National Target Programs (NTP) for poverty reduction: the re-designed 'Program for Socio-Economic Development in Communes Facing Extreme Hardship in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas (2006-2010)', known more familiarly in Vietnam as 'Program 135, Phase two' (P135-2). P135-2 and the particular policy areas that are the focus of the series of operations are judged to represent the best available entry points to a wider, emerging agenda for systemic change in the way NTP in Vietnam are conceived and implemented. This reform agenda aims broadly to promote informed participation and civic engagement at community level in the Government's targeted public investment programs, as well as improved targeting, fiduciary management, transparency and monitoring and evaluation, as primary means to improve the results of these programs in many cases by transferring and mainstreaming approaches successfully piloted under smaller-scale, donor financed investment projects working in the same program areas.