The EU Delegation to Vietnam is consulting with stakeholders for the revision of its EU Roadmap for engagement with CSOs for the period 2021-2025 and its Gender Action Plan. The consultations are conducted in close coordination with the current programming exercise, which will lead to the identification of the EU’s new priorities of cooperation with Vietnam, under the framework of the new Neighborhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI). The NDICI will be the EU’s main financial tool to contribute to poverty eradication and to promote sustainable development, prosperity, peace, and stability.
The ICA-AP and Vietnam Cooperative Alliance (VCA) spoke with Ms. Beatriz Sanz Corella, Team Leader, Support Facility Roadmaps for Engagement with Civil Society, Economic Policy and Regional Development, who is helping the EU Delegation to Vietnam in their consultation, on 12th March 2021.
ICA-AP representatives briefed Ms. Corella on the ongoing ICA-EU Partnership, ICA-AP priorities in the region, and VCA’s role. Given the focus on climate and digitalization, they spoke about VCA’s work in the area, the need to build capacity for digitization in coops, and the climate action training undertaken in Bangkok, Thailand. The Government of Vietnam has been pursuing the formation and development of cooperatives and farmer groups to help farming become more efficient, profitable, and market-oriented, which an eye to enhance members’ income and standard of living. The Hanoi Resolution (2017) called on the participants of the ICA-AP Minister’s Conference in Vietnam to encourage and support women members’ participation (ranging from 30-50% representation) in committees, bodies, councils, and other high-level cooperative structures.
The second virtual consultation in this series was with Ms. Francesca Arato, Attaché, Governance and Rule of Law, Delegation of the European Union to the Laos PDR, on 24th March 2021. The ICA-AP regional office briefed Ms. Arato about the capacity building project for the development of cooperatives with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), under the Government of Japan’s Overseas Development Assistance Program. Each project over three years has had three training courses each year to foster leaders for the management and development of farmers’ organisations/agricultural cooperatives; promote women’s participation in business and management of agricultural cooperatives; and foster coordinators (leaders) of agricultural cooperatives in business development. Several participants from Laos PDR have attended the training course, including the Bolaven Plateau Coffee Producers Cooperative (CPC). The cooperative is a good example that shows what is possible when small-scale farmers join forces. The government awarded CPC the "Laos Best coffee exporter 2012" for best price and quality.
The enabling environment for cooperatives in Lao PDR is improving each year. There is a change in the organisational structure in MAFF, the former DAEC (Department of Agricultural Extension and Cooperatives) has split up into two new departments. Since 2017, the new department responsible for cooperatives is the Department of Rural Development and Cooperatives (DRDC). The new structure will give impetus to promote agriculture in rural areas by integrating infrastructure, creating value chains, and providing access to credit.
