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   Mrs. Dang Thi Tinh, who buys and sells areca nuts in the small Vietnamese village of Hoa Phong, knows how important good amenities are for business. Mrs. Dang’s sales increased after her community used a grant to improve a local road and upgrade the market. "Before, during the rains, the road was very dirty," she says. "Now it is cleaner, more pleasant to work around, and there are more customers."Hoa Phong village got its grant through a programme sponsored by the Government of Viet Nam, the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Australian Development Agency (AusAid). The programme seeks to strengthen the development planning abilities of local governments, and provides grant capital to help fund the projects that are identified through village-level participatory planning, where ordinary villagers like Mrs. Dang have a say in what public revenue is used for. In addition to participating in the planning process, the village itself puts in 20% of the money needed to pay for the projects. Since half of Viet Nam’s 80 million people live in poverty, especially in rural areas, this type of grant is key to helping people like Mrs. Dang make a decent living. When communities are directly involved in the decision-making and financing of projects it gives them a greater stake in the outcome and makes for more effective income-generating projects. The United Nations and its partners bring local communities into the planning and management of projects that make a difference such as schools, hospitals and roads. The UNCDF is a special-purpose fund mainly for small-scale investments in the poorest countries. It helps eradicate poverty through local development programmes and microfinance operations. FIND OUT MORE about how the UN and its partners work with people to help them build better lives for themselves. Click on the links next to Mrs. Dang's Picture. ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT STORIES: A partnership pays off Don Ricardo doesn't grow coca anymore Photo credit: Adam Rogers/UNCDF |
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