A national community-based intranet of essential know-how in trade, production, health and education, to equip Viêt Nam's grassroots for change
The fight against poverty is the most important challenge that the world faces today. In 2000, world leaders set a target of halving world poverty by 2015. 
Achieving this will require concerted action worldwide and specific action in each country to match its economic, social, cultural and geographic endow-ments. In Viêt Nam, these endowments are its people, and they hold the key to reaching this target. Driven by a spirit of entrepreneurialism, they have repeatedly made clear that they are hungry for the kind of information and support with which they will empower themselves to take advantage of the opportunities posed by the liberalization of the economy (forthcoming accession to the WTO), the rolling back of the state, and the globalization of markets.
Since the introduction of dôi moi (which in Vietnamese means renewal with a subtext of economic and political opening) in 1987, the main centres 
of population have seen a transformation in their way of life. However disparities between the rich and poor, between urban and rural and mountainous areas, and between the majority Kinh (89.1% of the population) and the 54 minorities (10.9%) continue to rise, in a manner that will prove detrimental to Viêt Nam's future development and its social peace.
In many cases these disparities are driven by a know-how gap that prevents grassroots populations from fulfilling their natural commercial instincts and moving forward on their own terms. For example, Viêt Nam's grassroots lack information on prices at different provincial markets, committing them to sell their products at below market prices to middlemen. They lack information on production methods, constraining them to produce basic products at low yields. They lack access to primary healthcare, allowing minor illnesses to bring the family, as a production unit, to a halt. And with the children helping in the fields, they often lack a basic education, putting them at a disadvantage in a rapidly-changing and interdependent society.
eLangViet, which means 'e-Vietnamese Village,' answers this challenge with an online network in which easy-to-understand know-how in production and trade, health and education can be accessed by the poorest sections of Vietnamese society through computers based in specially-staffed community telecentres. It will operate initially in eight pilot villages (70,083 according to the 2002 census) spread across six provinces. 
This pilot stage will last for two years before the network is rolled out across the provinces and then the country, based on the lessons learned from a final end-of-pilot-stage impact evaluation, two annual audits, ongoing internal evaluations and ad-hoc studies by interested parties. Its success will measured by the degree to which it can assist its beneficiaries to move forward on their own steam within a flux of changing markets and a changing state, thereby enabling Viêt Nam to strengthen its domestic markets and integrate on more beneficial terms into the international economy, dominated by a multilateral trading system derived from a common rule-of-law.
The shape and substance of eLangViet are the fruit of an in-depth feasibility study (see below), in which extensive surveys were undertaken by local universities in the partner villages to identify their information needs, 
assess the facilitating conditions for such a project and evaluate the opportunities for mobilising the different communities around the network. The terms of this study originated from discussions with villagers, universities, political authorities, businesses, international organisations including UNDP in Viet Nam and New York, and national and international NGOs. At each stage of this process, village representatives provided suggestions and signed their approval. As a result, eLangViet springs from a needs-driven, people-centred and bottom-up approach focusing on content rather than technology.
The study recognises that ICTs themselves will not stimulate development; rather that they will amplify and scale up current development processes. Firstly the content will be created by local universities, 
NGOs and parastatal bodies that already have a rich experience in disseminating know-how and techniques on a sporadic and more traditional basis. Its method of working therefore ensures a valuable South-South cooperation that promotes Viêt Nam's capacity to stimulate her own development. It is this same group of local organisations that will train the telecentre staff. Secondly, the telecentres will be anchored within the women's and farmers' associations and schools of each village, the first of which (women) act as strong drivers for change within rural communities and the last of which (children) will act as a dynamic bridge between the families and the computers. Targeting different members of the community in turn, will enable an integrated development based around the economic and social needs of the grassroots family unit. Thirdly, eLangViet's methodology takes its cue from the Mekong Delta where in certain provinces in the 1990s, even the poorest farmers were given know-how on modern techniques in agriculture, presented in a form that was for the first time comprehensible to them. The result was a green revolution that took 
Viêt Nam from a point of starvation to being the world's second biggest exporter of rice. Vo-Tông Xuân, the father of this revolution, is one of this project's conceivers. The challenge is to scale this up nationwide, this time using computers in which vast amounts of information can be constantly updated and clearly presented, and integrating a social as well as an economic perspective.
The feasibility study proposes a budget of USD865,000 of which 538,000 is earmarked for the first year of pilot implementation and 326,000 for the second year. The higher costs of the first year reflect the need to establish comprehensive know-how databases and make certain capital expenditures before operations in the villages get underway, ensuring reliability and a degree of sustainability in the long-run. These costs also reflect the initial foreign involvement that will be required on the ground to ensure the fundamentals are correct, promote transparent and accountable management and strengthen local capacities to run a project of this kind. However, once operating, the project will face increasing returns to scale and the addition of new villages to the network will be at minimum cost in terms of funds and effort. This will enable a more effective scaling-up at the end of the pilot stage.
In choosing stakeholders, the aim is to bring together a broad pool and common partnership of human and financial resources, comprising foundations, universities, research institutes, non-governmental organisations, international organisations, government agencies at every level and independent experts. This also includes the private sector, which as a business partner, 
stands to benefit from the opportunities that this project will generate, and in time, the benefits accruing from a higher standard of living that this project will bring. It also includes foreign investors who wish to take a stake in Viêt Nam's future development. This breadth of support and expertise will ensure that the final product is founded on a thorough and rigorous basis, giving it the resilience, flexibility and know-how to meet its objectives.stands to benefit from the opportunities that this project will generate, and in time, the benefits accruing from a higher standard of living that this project will bring.
eLangViet is being established as an international NGO, operating in parity between its national and international sponsors. Its status allows it to run on a tax-free basis, free from the corruption and bureaucracy that can affect public sector projects. It is overseen by a committee of 
respected national and international experts. eLangViet was developed initially by the UNCTAD-UNDP Global Programme on Globalization, Liberalization and Sustainable Human Development, and the Ministry of Trade, under the leadership of the former European Ambassador to GATT, Paul Trân Van Thinh and the patronage of Vice Prime Minister Vu Khoan. It was approved in July 2004 by Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen and UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero, and will be implemented as soon as funds permit.
The project's backers believe that eLangViet has every chance of taking off. They have achieved a rare consensus among the grassroots beneficiaries in the villages, the local, provincial and national authorities, the Party and the bureaucracy. Concurrently, care has been taken to ensure the creation of appropriate know-how through a viable process of South-South cooperation and to root the telecentres within existing women's and farmers' associations and schools in each village. These factors make eLangViet a fruitful and long-term investment.
eLangViêt will operate in the following communes (respective provinces in brackets): Phu My (An Giang), Khang Ninh & Nam Mau (Bac Kan), La Phu (Hà Tây), Diên Thành & Quynh Luong (Nghê An), Minh Lang (Thai Binh), Tu Quân (Tuyên Quang).
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NEW: Download the feasibility study (PDF format):
Full feasibility study 865k
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Download the pre-feasibility study (PDF format):
Full draft pre-feasibility study
(English 2550k) (Tieng Viêt 1559k)
Part one (all chapters - the essential reading - and annexes 1-4)
(English 548k) (Tieng Viêt 1244k)
Part two (annexes 5-6 on legal context and 7 on budget)
(English 423k) (Tieng Viêt 767k)
Part three (maps)
(English 1609k)
Signature page establishing partnership with Government, communes and provinces 222k
Download a brief on eLangViêt.net
View pictures of the first mission to Hanoi and the villages
Download the reports of all meetings held with the Vietnamese authorities
News
Viêt Nam: Ricupero and Minister of Trade launch eLangViêt
Former EU Ambassador Paul Trân Van Thinh: Viêt Nam must unite to win war on poverty
Viêt Nam: Inter-ministerial working meeting to finalise eLangViêt
Ha Noi, 13-14 March 2004
Global Programme and Government of Viêt Nam finalise eLangViêt study
Press articles
UNCTAD/UNDP helps provide IT for Viet Nam's communes
Viet Nam News Agency July 2004
VN needs to ensure sound base for WTO membership
Sunday Youth March 2004
Free Internet for Remote Areas in the Pipeline
Sai Gon Times June 2003
UN Programme to take the Internet to Terraced Paddies
Viêt Nam News June 2003
Contact
For more information, please contact ian.richards@unctad.org
All photos copyright Roger Harris
