On April 3rd 2016, Ms. Nuala O’Brien, First Secretary, Head of Development – Embassy of Ireland in Vietnam, Ms. Laura Leonard, Vice Chairperson, Ms. Susan Huggins, Program Officer, Audit and Evaluation Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland and Mr. To Ngoc Anh – Advisor for Poverty reduction of Irish Aid, visited Nuoc Duc village, Du Sang commune, Kim Boi district, Hoa Binh province.
Nuoc Duc is one of the poorest village of Du Sang commune which was involved in the project “Pilot of Community-based Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of communal infrastructures in Program 135” since 2014. After two years of participation in the project, Nuoc Duc village gained more positive changes: 3 irrigation works (2 canals and 1 dam) was applied community-based maintain and operate successfully and were provided sufficient and controlled irrigation water for 6. 4 ha (in total of 8.4 ha) of the village agricultural land. Mr. Bui Van Chiu – leader of community group of Nuoc Duc village shared “thanks to mobilize participation of local people in doing maintenance, the expenditure reduced, and materials were not lost while the quality was still ensured. After participating in the project, we also applied the community self-management model in resolving land disputes, maintaining security in the village … “
Ms. Bui Thi Chi – members of community group and also a beneficiary of the canal, said “Our women previously not involved in community work, nor participated in meetings, or spoke out because we were afraid of speaking wrong, or we could not do any work, but after increasing capacity, we are more confident, know how to calculate material, how to carry out the work. Since the dam maintained, water in my field better controlled, the yield of rice increased from 5 rice bags to 10 bags. I had more time to relax, participate in music club, volleyball club… “
Mr. Bui Thanh Suot – CPC Chairman of Du Sang commune appreciated the project funded by Irish Aid and implemented by RIC at his commune “other projects funded by the government for poor communes in remote areas generally are focused on supporting people to benefit, but the project implemented by RIC was focused on raising awareness and responsibility of the people to the community. People do not only benefit but also contribute to the implementation of that sense of preserving and protecting the works is enhanced. We will apply this approach to other poor villages of our commune”. Mr. Bach Cong Quynh – Party Secretary of Du Sang commune agreed that “The model of the project stimulated internal resources and people’s responsibility to the community. In the future, if no external resources, the community can contribute to implementation maintenance “.
Ms. Nuala O’Brien – First Secretary, Head of Development – Embassy of Ireland in Vietnam said that funding of the people of Ireland had effective and reasonable used. The Evaluation Team also asked about how the community chooses priorities, benefits of having women participate in the activities of community group …
In 2016, Nuoc Duc village plans to repair another canal with total budget of 11 million Vietnam Dong of which 135 Program allocated 5.6 million Vietnam Dong and community contributed 5.5 million Vietnam Dong in labor.
Mr. Bui Van Chiu – Leader of the community group of Du Sang village shared the results and plan of the village
Mr. Bui Thanh Suot – Chairman of Du Sang People’s Committee shared his opinion with the team
Visit canal of Nuoc Duc village
