Viet Nam's economic hub hosts cutting edge poverty discussions

In the past poverty has been measured simply in terms of income. However, new Multi-Dimensional Poverty approaches - or MDP - provide a much more complete picture. By measuring a much more comprehensive set of indicators, including standards of health and education, living standards, empowerment, quality of work and the threat of violence, the overall insights can help to direct poverty reduction efforts to where they are most needed.

MDP assessments have already helped to identify local governance bottlenecks that hinder service provision, and supported reform processes to improve local governance systems. They have also helped to point to where institutional and coordination mechanisms need to be improved.

Here in Viet Nam, Ho Chi Minh City is leading the way in piloting the use of MDP. Two Urban Poverty Surveys in 2009 and 2012 provided detailed data on the trends and scope of multidimensional poverty in the city, which helped to strengthen governance mechanisms, develop policy responses, and allocate resources more effectively to those most in need.  

At the workshop, Ho Chi Minh City will share experience in using the MDP methodology and approach to address poverty and other issues related to access to services, particularly for vulnerable sections of population.

Ms Nguyen Thi Thu, Vice Chairperson of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, reported that the People’s Council of the City recently decided the poverty line for 2016-2020 using the multi-dimensional approach for application in the municipal sustainable poverty reduction program.  

“Currently, the city is developing concrete policies to address deprivations in 5 dimensions (including education, health care, employment and social insurance, living conditions, and access to information) targeted to prioritized groups of the MDP poor and near poor (including migrants) as well as the city’s universal population,” she said.

Ho Chi Minh City and Viet Nam are going to use the MDP tool for poor household identification (poverty listing) processes, and have developed frameworks and sets of procedures for completing this alongside the existing income based system.

At the workshop, Dr Pratibha Mehta, UN Resident Coordinator and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Viet Nam, congratulated Ho Chi Minh City authorities for their pioneering efforts in taking a lead in applying this approach. “This City joins a select group of global innovators that are seeking to implement these approaches to make a positive contribution to the lives of all urban dwellers, especially the most disadvantaged and vulnerable,” she said.

During the three-day workshop, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan will also share their experiences in MDP application in measuring and addressing various dimensions of poverty, as well as improving institutional frameworks and coordination mechanisms.

Participants also discussed collaboration mechanisms among countries/cities to facilitate information, experience sharing and applied research for advancing the knowledge/application of MDP and improving service delivery in practice. Dr Mehta suggested: “we need some form of regional hub that can promote knowledge pooling and undertake research on an ongoing basis”.

The “South-South Exchange Workshop: Addressing Multi-Dimensional Poverty and Improving Service Delivery” has been co-organized by the UNDP together with the Government of Ho Chi Minh City (the People’s Committee).

For more information, please contact:

Nguyen Bui Linh, UNDP Viet Nam program officer, nguyen.bui.linh@undp.org

Nguyen Viet Lan, UNDP communication analyst, nguyen.viet.lan@undp.org