Places of the programs

Viêt Nam Plus presently works in over 150 villages in the province of Bình Thuân, in the 2 districts of Dúc Linh and Tánh Linh. And from March 2004 also in about 35 villages of 4 communes of Châu Thành district, Dông Tháp province.

Dúc Linh is a long district, at the South-West of the province. Its population is today about 150.000, although the region was only forests just 40 years ago. Immigrants from the Centre and the North came because land was available. Remote and far from the main roads to Hô Chí Minh City and its markets, it is a relatively poor district, mostly agricultural. Viêt Nam Plus operates in Dúc Linh since 1999; the relations with the local authorities are particularly good except in 2 of the 12 communes.

Tánh Linh borders Dúc Linh. Viêt Nam Plus prefers to work in neighboring areas so that costs would be minimized and the exchanges between program teams easy. The population of Tánh Linh is approximately 95,000, including economic migrants. Ethnic minorities count for 5% and are much poorer even than the average. Tánh Linh is mainly agricultural, but less densely populated because of its mountains and forests. Viêt Nam Plus works in Tánh Linh since 2001, and in 2002 the authorities decided to expand the program to the whole district.

In Châu Thành the program has just started. It is a very different environment, in the Mekong delta. The population has settled there for a very long time (not so many migrants as in Bình Thuân) but land ownership becomes quickly skewed and landlessness is on the increase.

To find good partners and develop an effective sincere partnership is not easy, one must be very patient. A good partnership is in Vietnam the key to success for any program. To select a new program area is thus a long and careful process. There have been failures in the past, like in Bình Minh. The preparation had taken 1 year, the authorities had been invited to visit on-going programs of Viêt Nam Plus and to ask any question, namely to the local authorities of Bình Thuân. Still, after only 6 months they changed their mind, they asked for important changes, which Viêt Nam Plus refused because these changes would have jeopardized our work with the poor, and the programs would have never become sustainable. So Viêt Nam Plus decided to quit Bình Minh, while the people were begging for us to stay and sent petitions to the district, which were not heard.