Vietnam: Building Grassroots Capacity for REDD+

The grassroots project was initiated in Vietnam in August 2010 – in Phase II of the project. Using capacity building needs assessment (CBNA) tools, as  a first step, local knowledge, demands, and interests in REDD+ were assessed in three out of four project provinces, namely Bac Kan, Ca Mau, and Lam Dong Provinces (the assessment in Lam Dong was done in Cooperation with UN-REDD). Ha Tinh is the fourth project province. For conducting CBNA, four major stakeholder groups were interviewed, namely government forestry agencies, forestry entrepreneurs, mass organizations, and forest dependent households. For all groups the lack of a complete training package on REDD+ in Vietnamese was highlighted, particularly one that would keep the capacity building needs of the grassroots stakeholders in mind. Furthermore, it became clear that the basic concept of climate change needs further explanation for all stakeholder groups, so that it can be built upon during discussions of REDD+. Based on these findings, the country team has developed a range of communication products in Vietnamese, including booklets, manuals and radio programs for a range of stakeholders.

Capacity development activities planned and provided at national level to national facilitators which include provincial level staff from relevant forestry government agencies. Then, following a cascading approach, the training programs on climate change, REDD+ and relevant issues including sustainable forest management,  social safeguards, FPIC and gender mainstreaming have been continually tailored  to the needs of grassroots stakeholders in the target provinces. The target grassroots stakeholders identified in these provinces are district staff working in forestry sector, Commune Forestry Board, Farmers' Association, Women's' Union, Youth Union, Veterans Association, Local Extension workers, community leaders, teachers and students.