Finalized July 7, 2016

Transcription

1 Finalized July 7, 2016

2 The third Asia Regional Conference on Community- Driven Development (CDD), titled Sharing Experiences Deepening Knowledge was hosted by the Government of Vietnam in Sa Pa Town, Lao Cai Province, in partnership with the Government of Australia s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the World Bank. The Conference was held from June 14-17, 2016, following up on two previous regional CDD conferences held in Indonesia in November 2013, and the Philippines in March OBJECTIVES Provide a venue for a regional exchange of knowledge and peer-to-peer learning on a set of topics common to CDD programs; Facilitate a dialogue among practitioners, implementers, participants, and development partners working on CDD programs; Deepen analysis and discuss successful approaches in three key challenges facing CDD programs: working with indigenous groups and communities, supporting livelihoods, and preparing for and responding to disasters. Consider useful steps and activities that will advance the concept of a regional CDD community of practice. In total, 90 CDD program staff from around the region, DFAT and Government of Australia stakeholders, and World Bank task team members participated in the conference. Twelve countries including ten from the East Asia and Pacific region (Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam) and two from South Asia (Afghanistan and Sri Lanka) were represented. The list of participants can be found here.

3 Conference Opening The conference was opened by the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Investment in Vietnam, Nguyen Van Hieu. Vice Minister Nguyen highlighted the important role CDD plays in addressing poverty reduction, particularly among the marginalized and remote communities in Vietnam, as well as the importance of the conference as an opportunity for Vietnam to learn from other countries. He emphasized the need for continued action post-conference to build on the south-south CDD support network. In her opening remarks, Susan Wong, the World Bank Global Lead for CDD, highlighted the World Bank s robust portfolio for CDD, encouraging trends in CDD over the past few years, and the need for creative, out-of-the-box thinking on CDD. Session 1: Stock Take of Action from Previous Conferences, Successes and Challenges Representatives of each country program presented an update on their respective CDD programs, and noted any actions taken as a result of the last regional CDD conference in the Philippines to foster cross-learning and knowledge exchange. The session was facilitated by Mai Linh Huynh, Program Officer, Poverty and Social Transfers, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australia. Overall, presentations highlighted a range of issues, contexts, and challenges that the present CDD programs face, including: Making decentralization processes more effective Working in less secure and insecure environments Integrating information technology into CDD programs Enhancing the participation of women Creating common interest and livelihoods groups Dang Xuan Phong, the Chairman of the Lao Cai Provincial Peoples Committee, which co-hosted the conference, provided an overview of poverty conditions in Lao Cai Province and discussed the positive results achieved through CDD programs over the past few years. He also emphasized the important role that the World Bank and other development partners play in helping make these programs a reality.

4 Sessions 2 & 3: CDD and Indigenous Peoples / Ethnic Minorities and Other Vulnerable Groups PRESENTERS Tran Ngoc Hung, Director, Central Highlands Poverty Reduction Project, Vietnam Kyaw Swar Aung, Director, Department of Rural Development, National CDD Program, Myanmar Leonard Hill, Assistant Secretary, Indigenous Culture, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia; David Ross, Director, and Danielle Campbell, Manager Community Development, Central Land Council, Australia Hatthachan Phimphanthavong, Head of M&E Division, Poverty Reduction Fund, Laos Facilitator: Patricia Fernandes, Senior Social Development Specialist, World Bank KEY ISSUES DISCUSSED Strategies for promoting participation of marginalized groups Facilitation adjustments made to allow more effective participation, adapting to traditional leadership structures, inclusion Adjustments made to sub-project types to respond to special needs of IPs (land, natural resources, etc.) Challenges to working in heterogeneous IP/non- IP communities Q&A HIGHLIGHTS The Q&A that followed presentation highlighted additional questions for consideration: How are traditional authorities incorporated in CDD planning and implementation? Do projects follow standardized or traditional methods for voting on community priorities? Has this challenged the traditional way in which communities agree on priorities? How do projects balance the need for fast-track project implementation with the consultation challenges faced in IP communities (due to language, isolation, and/or customary structures and practices)? SELECTED SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION RECOMMENDATIONS Participants broke into smaller groups to further discuss the key issues outlined before returning with recommendations. These included: Build relationships with trusted elders, Lengthen project cycles to bridge communication and isolation gaps, Improve sensitivity to different IP experiences, supporting learning exchanges across villages, Ensure representation from all IP groups, Recruit community facilitators from same ethnic groups. Read the full session notes: Asia CDD Conference 2016 Session 2 and 3

5 Sessions 4 & 5: CDD and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) PRESENTERS Camilo Gudmalin, Under-Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Philippines Bapak Suprayoga Hadi, Director General of Development of Special Region, Ministry of Villages, Disadvantaged Areas and Transmigration, Indonesia Mohammed Najib Amiri, Program Advisor to Deputy Minister, Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, Afghanistan Lesley Cordero, Sr. Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Bank Facilitator: Maria Loreto Padua; Senior Social Development Specialist, World Bank KEY ISSUES DISCUSSED How have different programs been used for DRM, and what if any adjustments have been made to project procedures to help respond to disasters? Are different types of sub-projects called for in disaster prone areas and what adjustments have been needed to accommodate these? What more can CDD operations do to help make communities more resilient to disasters (i.e., not just helping to rebuild after the disaster has struck)? Q&A HIGHLIGHTS How do we integrate CDD into government DRM planning processes? How do we communicate DRM concepts to grassroots levels to facilitate or enhance thinking about community resilience? SELECTED SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION RECOMMENDATIONS Facilitate access to national and local risk information Allow for exemptions to a negative list, Increase threshold for procurement during disasters, and improving coordination Mainstream risk analysis into community planning, Incorporate resilient construction strategies, Decentralize budgets for faster local level disbursement, Coordinate with NGOs and other agencies. Read the full session notes: Asia CDD Conference 2016 Session 4 and 5

6 Sessions 6 & 7: CDD and Livelihoods / Local Economic Development PRESENTERS Seenithamby Manoharan, Senior Rural Development Specialist and Task Leader of the North-East Local Services Improvement Project (Sri Lanka), World Bank Nghia Minh Thi Nguyen, Deputy Director, Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project, Vietnam Dulce Guterres Junior, Director and General Coordinator of PNDS (Programa Nasional Dezenvolvimentu Suku), Timor-Leste Facilitator: Ingo Wiederhofer, Lead Social Development Specialist, World Bank KEY ISSUES DISCUSSED Beneficiary targeting; working with the poorest of the poor or with the productive poor; Systems adjustments in response to private versus public goods; Facilitation of linkages with commercial sector (including micro-finance sector); and Use of savings and loan schemes; best practices, potential challenges. Q&A HIGHLIGHTS What has been private sector involvement in livelihood programs? How do you link livelihood production groups to the market? Have there been links between livelihood programs and the tourism sector in Vietnam? Where do the technical inputs for private sector production come from and how do you manage these inputs? How do you manage non-performing loans? What has been the composition/skill mix of project teams? SELECTED SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION RECOMMENDATIONS Support the scaling up of most successful groups into cooperatives and federations, Ensure that livelihoods are matched with climate and cultural context, Keep grants small to reduce elite capture, Carry out livelihood programs with loan and saving schemes, Adapt rules to local context, Collect information on economic potential in different project areas, and disseminate to interested companies to promote market linkages Read the full session notes: Asia CDD Conference 2016 Session 6 and 7

7 Field Trip and Dinner Presentation The third day of the conference was dedicated to field visits to the communes of Ta Phin, Ta Van, Lao Chai, and Sa Pa, sites of the Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project area in Lao Cai Province, Sa Pa District, to explore the Project s experiences in engaging with indigenous groups, promoting the inclusion of women, and supporting varied livelihoods activities. The main takeaways from the field visits were presented on the final morning of the conference. The day concluded with a dinner hosted by the World Bank and DFAT which included a presentation by Dulce Guterres Junior, Director and General Coordinator, National Secretariat of National Program of Village Development (PNDS) of Timor Leste on gender inclusion. The presentation outlined how the program s commitments to gender strive to ensure that men and women are able to effectively engage in key decisionmaking forums, play an active role in community management structures, participate in determining priority infrastructure needs and benefit from new opportunities created by the community-constructed infrastructure, and access employment opportunities offered through the program. Talking Points and Presentation

8 Session 8: Group Report on Field Trip Observations and Key Takeaways Session 9: Next Steps for the Regional Community of Practice The last day of the workshop commenced with brief presentations by representatives of each field group summarizing key takeaways/observations from the field visits to the four Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project areas: PRESENTERS Sean Bradley, CDD CoP Leader, World Bank Melinda Mousaco, Senior Adviser to PNDS, Timor Leste Pak Sujana Royat, Senior Advisor on Indonesia PNPM Peduli Program, The Asia Foundation Important positive impacts that livelihoods projects have on women s roles and power in communities; The critical role of common interest group leaders in providing knowledge, market contacts, etc., to other members; Opportunities remain to capitalize on groups potential buying and selling powers, and to add more value to crops (organic certification, etc.) Facilitator: Lan Thi Thu Nguyen, Senior Environmental Economist, World Bank. KEY ISSUES DISCUSSED How to enhance support for country programs? How can we keep learning (e.g. training, crosslearning, other types of information and resource exchange)? What areas of continued discussion and future collaboration within the EAP and SA regional community of practice might be useful and in what form can they best be taken forward? Are there external stakeholders with whom we should be seeking closer partnerships? Q&A HIGHLIGHTS How do people best get information; how do teams learn? What do you need to do this better? What can your program/country do to make this work? SUPPLY & DEMAND BOARD An effort to match knowledge or tools offered and needed by programs to improve their operations, the board generated several requests and offers during the conference. RECOMMENDATIONS More interactive CDD website Communicate failures and learning experiences, not just successes Conduct joint missions where other countries can participate Explore interest of other partners (IFAD, ABD, SDC, etc.) Read the full session notes: Asia CDD Conference 2016 Session 9 Supply and Demand Board

9 Conference Closing and Evaluation CONFERENCE CLOSING Reflections on the achievements of the conference, closing thoughts, and thanks were given by Dang Xuan Thanh, Deputy Chair of the Lao Cai Provincial Peoples Committee; Francesca Lawe-Davies, Assistant Director, Poverty and Social Transfers, DFAT; and Susan Wong, CDD Global Lead, the World Bank. The Deputy PPC Chair noted, with thanks, the effort taken to bring and share international CDD experiences with the Northern Mountains project, hoped that the exchange of experiences with Northern Mountains had been beneficial to the international participants, and reiterated that it was their honor to host the conference. The representative of DFAT reviewed key takeaways from the three days of discussions and field trips, thanked the participants for a rich and practical discussion during the course of the event, and noted some key outcomes that would serve for specific and fruitful follow-up exchanges. The World Bank s Global Lead reiterated the Bank s commitment to supporting CDD operations and specific learning exchanges like this conference, thanked the provincial and national authorities of Vietnam for hosting and DFAT for co-sponsoring the event, and thanked the specific teams who helped make the conference an overall success. EVALUATION Overall, participants considered the conference to have been very successful. Out of 63 respondents on the final evaluation, 64 percent felt the conference was very useful for their work, and 35 percent felt it was highly useful. Written comments in particular noted the field trip, the practical information on livelihoods programs, and exchanging with peers on specific program design and implementation issues as most useful. Participants also recommended improvements including more overall time for the conference and for small-group work, pre-discussions with participants to identify conference topics and to help improve presentations, and sharing of more program challenges and failures. Priority follow-up suggestions included establishing a web-based platform to share information, resources, and to host thematic discussion boards, facilitating bilateral program-to-program exchanges around specific events (missions, trainings, etc.) or thematic reviews (e.g., gender inclusion, conflict, DRM), and to repeat the event in a year. Read the full session notes: Asia CDD Conference 2016 Evaluation

10 If you have any questions on the exchange, please contact: Sean Bradley or Kamakshi Nadisha Perera Mubarak Find the full conference report here. And visit our website for other CDD materials at: development