Relations between Viet Nam and UNCDF were established in 1978 as UNCDF began helping Viet Nam with rural infrastructure development.
During Viet Nam’s national reform process, UNCDF, in coordination with UNDP, has been assisting Viet Nam in the implementation of “the development course of the people, by the people and for the people”, UNDP/UNCDF development projects have substantially enhanced capacities at hamlet, communal, district and provincial levels.
In 1990, UNCDF helped Viet Nam in the implementation of the development cooperation program for the period 1990-1995 for Quang Nam – Da Nang province. The program consisted of 5 projects, totaling 18.2 million US dollars in capital, of which 17.5 million came from UNCDF and 0.7 million from UNDP. The program mainly covered the investment of capital in irrigation, transportation and electricity in selective rural areas based on their respective poverty levels, infrastructure difficulties and advantages in terms of geographical location and mineral reserves; the establishment of an identification, assessment and implementation mechanism of infrastructure projects; and the enhancement of capacities of Da Nang Vietcombank branch in order to grant credits to local manufacture and construction enterprises.
This program was assessed by the Government, UNCDF and UNDP as highly efficient and had made great contribution to the course of hunger eradication and poverty reduction of Quang Nam – Da Nang province during the period.
From 1996 to 2001, UNCDF, in coordination with UNDP and Australian Agency for International Development, assisted the Government of Viet Nam in carrying out a wide-scale assistance project in Quang Nam – Da Nang province, establishing the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDEF) with 11.2 million US dollars in capital, of which 7.9 million came from UNCDF. The project’s goal was to improve planning and infrastructure development capacities of the local authority and community groups by promoting decentralized administration and people’s participation; reduce poverty in the province’s most impoverished communes through small-scale investments into local socio-economic infrastructure. The project succeeded in setting up Rural Infrastructure Development Fund model, an important initiative which allowed the experiment of a new approach in planning, investment and providing public goods and services in Viet Nam. The RIDEF model is based on the concept of granting greater power to the local authority and community. With the aid of Quang Nam province, Da Nang city and AusAID, 122 communes and 15 districts were able to improve their capacity in administering local development activities, including the work of determining specific needs, planning, implementing and maintaining rural infrastructure. Not exactly a perfect model of rural development, RIDEF is yet considered an exemplary model based on which other projects with similar goals of enhancing planning and funding power of the local authority in Viet Nam can be developed.