On October 29, 2020, a national conference was held in the Guesthouse of Ministry by the Ethnic committee and The Center for Research on Initiative for Community development (RIC). The conference shared the experience for Ethnic minorities Empowerment through Piloting and Scaling up Communities Based O&M of Commune infrastructure in Programme 135 which is following specific investment mechanisms.
Mr Vo Van Bay- The Director- The chief of Program Coordination Office 135 opened the Conference
The conference was attended by 80 delegates from the Embassy, Irish Aid in Vietnam (Irish Aid); Committee for Ethnic Minorities (Program Coordination Office 135, International Cooperation Department, Department of Ethnic Minorities); Ministry of Planning and Investment (Department of Agricultural Economy, Office of National Assembly (Department of Ethnic Affairs); National and International NGOs; Provincial Committee for Ethnic Minorities, People’s Committees and departments, districts, communes and people of 12 provinces: Hoa Binh, Tra Vinh, Kon Tum, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Yen Bai, Thai Nguyen, Bac Giang, Ca Mau, Quang Ngai, Lam Dong, Gia Lai and private experts in state management and policy development in the ethnic affairs field.
Mr To Ngoc Anh- Senior Advisor to the Embassy of Ireland speaking at the conference. 
Mr. Tran Anh Dung – Department of Agricultural Economy, Ministry of Planning and Investment speaking at the Workshop
Through the conference, many practical experiences related to the role of the commune and community in the implementation of operation and maintenance of small-scale infrastructures under Program 135 under a specific investment mechanism. It was shared in Decree 161/2016/NĐ-CP of the Government (hereinafter referred to as Decree 161) has been shared.
Ms. Nguyen Cam Tu – Ethnic Affairs Department of Ca Mau province shared at the conference
Participants all recognized the need and value of operation and maintenance in helping to “revive” many projects with large investments of billions of VND. At the same time, enhancing the capacity of the government and people at the grassroots level, saving costs; efficiency, quality and sustainable construction. In particular, the model of operation and maintenance of infrastructure works is an effective renewal that needs to be multiplied. The workshop also highly appreciated the contribution of the Specific Investment Mechanism under Decree 161 in creating a favorable legal basis for the commune and community to directly participate and be able to carry out the construction, operation, and maintenance of small-scale infrastructure projects (the commune level is the investor and the community directly carries out the construction).
Mr. Tram Thanh Ai, officer at 135 Thanh Son commune, Tra Cu district, Tra Vinh province shared in the conference
The mechanism has created a double impact when the community has both access to state resources, capacity building and benefited from the project. However, in the implementation process, there are still a number of barriers related to the capacity of investors, contractors, settlement of community contributions … according to the binding regulations of auditing, inspection and monitoring. As Decree 161 will be expired soon, the workshop agreed that to effectively implement the National Target Programs in the period 2021-2025, especially the National target program for socio-economic development in the delta region. Ethnic minorities and mountainous people in the period 2021-2030 need to continue to build a specific mechanism with more complete contents than Decree 161 to overcome the above barriers, aiming to promote decentralization and empowerment for the community. In particular, there should be a specific chapter on community-based operation and maintenance, with specific regulations and guidelines to ensure the efficiency of investment. Activities belonged to the project: “Ethnic minorities Empowerment through Piloting and Scaling up Communities Based O&M and Construction of Commune infrastructure in Programme 135 at Hoa Binh and Tra Vinh Provinces, period 2017 – 2021 “sponsored by the Irish Aid Agency in Vietnam (Irish Aid). Here are some pictures of the workshop.
Representatives of Hoa Binh and Tra Vinh provinces attended the conference
