Vietnam : Formal and Informal Social Assistance in Metropolitan Cities - A Rapid Assessment

The expanding coverage of social
assistance in Vietnam raises a question of whether relevant
arrangements at all levels are sufficiently robust to handle
a larger program. This note explores institutional and
delivery aspects of formal and informal social assistance in
metropolitan cities. It is a result of a rapid assessment of
governance and administration of social assistance in
metropolitan cities, including interviews with related
stakeholders in Ho Chi Minh City in July 2010 and in Hanoi
in January 2011. Basically, the existing governance and
administrative structures for delivery of Decrees 67/13
assistance in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are characterized
by a number of common issues elsewhere in the country, as
described in previous studies. In addition, this note finds
that while the cities may have resources to self-finance
their assistance under Decrees 67/13 and provide significant
informal assistance through various channels, their
determination of exclusive poverty lines without sound
scientific grounds may result in substantial inclusion and
exclusion errors in locally funded schemes of aid.
Furthermore, although the cities provided some forms of
off-budget temporary assistance in response to the economic
crisis in 2009, their targeting was based on the poor list
and the 'conventional' administrative
classification of residence status rather than consideration
of actual needs as arisen from the crisis. These findings
entail systematically strengthening the governance and
administrative system of social assistance, given proven
substantial increases in beneficiary coverage under Decree
13; improving methods of determining poverty lines; and
developing measures to identify emerging needs from external
catastrophic shocks and thus formulating an appropriate
targeting mechanism in the metropolitan cities. Also, a
mechanism is required to effectively harmonize formal and
informal assistance in order to optimize resources and
maximize the coverage of assistance to needy individuals and households.