UNICEF’s cooperation with the Government of Viet Nam has been founded on the principles of a shared belief in the rights of children and the principles of sound development.  The Government of Viet Nam has shown great commitment to its children; few countries in the world have seen such rapid and sustained results and improvements over the last thirty years.  To this commitment, UNICEF added its technical expertise, a bridge to international knowledge and experience and its financial and, most importantly, human resources.  This formula provided the basis for a story of success which both the Government and UNICEF can be and are rightly proud of.
Summary of Viet Nam-UNICEF Country Programmes (1975-2010)
i)  First Country Programme - US $ 9.8 million (1975-1979): Cooperation centred primarily on emergency assistance for post-war recovery, responding to immediate needs and the imperative of reconstruction. UNICEF support included significant food supplies, construction materials and equipment to support self-sufficiency in developing infrastructure and basic materials required to meet the various needs of children such as health and education infrastructure. 
ii)  Second Country Programme - US $ 16.3 million  (1980-1983): This country programme focused on meeting the basic needs of children, while continuing to provide relief and emergency assistance. Activities included the provision of basic services for children in the areas of health, nutrition, rural water supply, early childhood care, pre-school and primary education.
iii)  Third Country Programme - US $ 31.8  million  (1983-1987): During this period, work on the provision of basic social services was expanded, but with a narrower geographic focus. A more coordinated approach to providing services was applied in six provinces and a further shift in focus from emergency response to development planning was initiated.
iv)  Fourth Country Programme- US $ 26.2 million   (1988-1991): Cooperation still included the provision of basic social services from the previous cycle, but coverage was extended to 14 provinces.  There was an increased emphasis on integrated and inter-sectoral approaches, which were initiated to promote coherence and synergy among the various social services within those provinces. This promoted community participation through the provision of complementary services, such as improvements in nutrition through growth monitoring, household food production, early childhood care, rural water supply and primary health care. This country programme also saw the acceleration of two national programmes which were to provide some of the most marked and durable achievements of the cooperation between UNICEF and the Government of Viet Nam: the Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI) and Control of Diarrhoeal Diseases (CDD).
This cycle also saw the introduction of new focus areas on women in development and environmental sanitation, along with a multi-sectoral project on primary health care and education. The latter reflected the Government’s commitment to reducing child mortality and morbidity and strengthening early childhood care in order to allow women with small children to fully participate in the economy as a necessity since many men had lost their lives in the war.
Greater links were also established with United Nations sister agencies, in particular with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in strengthening primary health care infrastructure, and with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in strengthening parental education and maternal health care.
v)  Fifth Country Programme - US $ 52.4 million  (1991-1995): The fifth Country Programme began the move to a more rights-based approach, with a focus on helping the Government and Vietnamese families adjust to and benefit from the reforms launched in 1986 under doi moi. Assistance was directed increasingly towards building the capacity and empowering those with responsibilities for children, including the Government at different levels as well as parents and other caregivers. The situation analysis in 1994 also raised emerging problems which would later become more central to cooperation: HIV/AIDS, children in especially difficult circumstances, and growing geographical and gender disparities.
vi)  Sixth Country Programme -US $ 123.6 million   (1996-2000): During this period, the acceleration of reforms led to further rapid social and economic changes, including rising disparities. More strongly incorporating a rights perspective, the sixth Country Programme responded by addressing the new emerging issues of HIV/AIDS and increasing inequalities with respect to gender, ethnicity, and geographical location (especially in rural, remote and mountainous regions and other disadvantaged areas). The country programme established direct linkages to the National Hunger Eradication Programme through the provision of basic social services for the poor. For the first time, a separate project for Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances was incorporated into the country programme, consisting of two sub-projects: one on ethnic minority development and one on the urban poor. The programme also supported implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Viet Nam’s efforts to achieve the goals of the National Plan of Action for Children.  It was during this time that UNICEF began to build a stronger relationship with UNDP in its work.
vii)  Seventh Country Programme- US $ 51.28 million   (2001-2005): The most recent Country Programme of Cooperation was founded very clearly on a rights-based perspective to its programmes.  It focused on reducing under-five and maternal mortality, and enhancing the well-being of the most disadvantaged children and women by furthering their rights as set forth in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Key goals over this period were: addressing continually high malnutrition rates, increasing access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities in combination with behaviour change communication activities especially in rural areas, improving qualitative early childcare and kindergarten, ensuring primary school completion, providing opportunities for adolescents up to 18 years of age to develop life skills for healthy living and HIV/AIDS prevention and protecting and caring for children in especially difficult circumstances (CEDC). These activities were implemented through a coordinated, area-based approach in selected districts. At the national level, UNICEF provided advocacy and support to policy development and dialogue of selected national policies, while assisting Viet Nam to mobilize resources from other partners.
viii) Eighth Country Programme (2006-2010):  responds to both an established and ongoing agenda and a new and emerging agenda.  Programmes in Health and Nutrition, Education and Water, Environment and Sanitation continue, but with greater emphasis on technical support to laws and policies.  Significantly, one quarter of the proposed budget for this country programme is proposed for a new Provincial Child-Friendly Programme, through which UNICEF will provide support to a reduced number of selected provinces to maximise impact, demonstrate the benefits of convergent and integrated programmes and respond to the emerging issues and context of decentralization.  The programme is again founded strongly within a rights framework, and has four priority themes of ethnic minorities, adolescents, HIV/ AIDS and emergencies.
For more information on UNICEF, visit the organisation’s official website at www.unicef.org