VN - Central Highlands Poverty Reduction Project (CHPov)

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The development objective of the Central Highlands Poverty Reduction Project for Vietnam is to enhance living standards by improving livelihood opportunities in project communes of upland districts of the central highlands of Vietnam. The project has four components. The first component is village and commune infrastructure development. It has following two sub-components: (i) support the design, construction or repair of small-scale village, and commune-level infrastructure (such as simple access roads, terracing, irrigation or water supply, basic social infrastructure, etc.) through the provision of block grants; and (ii) finance sub-projects for the repair, operation, and maintenance (O and M) of communal infrastructure. The second component, sustainable livelihoods development will support ethnic minorities (EMs) and other households in the targeted areas to enhance their food security and nutrition, their productive capacities for more diversified income sources, and their linkages to selected agricultural markets. It has following two sub-components: (i) target chronically poor and at risk households; and (ii) aim to develop productive partnerships (PP) between farmer groups and agribusinesses (ABs) which are operating in the targeted areas for proven commercially viable agriculture or agro-forestry endeavors. The third component is connective infrastructure development, capacity building, and communications. It has following three sub-components: (a) finance selective intra- and inter-commune level infrastructure that will strengthen physical connectivity within and between local economic zones; (b) support training and capacity building at all project levels for all aspects of project management; and (c) support communications activities to ensure beneficiaries, project staff, key stakeholders, and the public at large are aware of the project objectives and operational principles. The fourth component is project management. It includes following two sub-components: (i) project coordination and implementation, will include the set-up and operation of coordination structures at national level and implementation units or teams at provincial, district, and commune levels, and operational costs associated with project management; and (ii) monitoring and evaluation (M and E), will include the design and implementation of a simple management information system (MIS) for project monitoring, the design and contracting of a rigorous impact evaluation, the recruitment of key personnel at central, provincial, and district level to support M and E activities, and will support various knowledge exchange and learning activities between participating provinces, with other similar projects in Vietnam and within the region.