Chia Se – A Different Programme for Poverty Alleviation

In Vietnamese, the word “Chia Se” means “sharing”. The programme is not only about poverty alleviation.  Chia Se also aims at increasing influence from the bottom up. In fact, Chia Se is as much about democratisation as about poverty.

The Chia Se Programme operates in more than 450 villages in some of Vietnam’s poorest areas.

By placing the power over nearly half of the total budget for the Programme at village level, Chia Se is changing the traditional way of working with development co-operation. Instead of supporting the poor mainly by “top-down” decisions carried out from higher to lower levels, the villagers from start get the right to manage and supervise their Village Development Funds. This “bottom up” approach, sometimes called “direct support to poverty” is a core element in Chia Se. 
 
In addition, the programme has substantial funds for capacity building. This means training and an exchange of ideas on every level, from villages to ministries.

Some facts about the Programme:

• The Village Development Fund amounts to around 70,000 SEK  (8 500 USD) per year per village. The sum varies according to number of inhabitants and poverty rate in the villages.
• Communes, districts and provinces in the areas where Chia Se operates are also supported by a Local Development fund, to develop the local community.
• The Swedish contribution to the programme is 310 million SEK and Vietnam contributes with 10 percent of that sum
• Experiences from Chia Se are continuously monitored for potential integration in Vietnam’s future policies.
• Chia Se supports the Government of Vietnam’s decrees on grassroots democracy and decentralisation, and is a part of the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS).

One Programme with four projects
The Chia Se programme is composed of four projects with independent agreements with Sida, three at the provincial level and one at the national level.
 
In the three provinces, Chia Se operates on the provincial, district, communal levels. In each province, full-time staffs are employed to implement the project. The national and international consultants are hired from the technical consultancy ORGUT Consulting AB.

The National Project involves Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, and the General Statistics Office. The National Project supports and co-ordinates the provincial projects and helps the provinces modernise the planning process.

The programme began in November 2003 and runs until the end of 2008.