The World Bank (WB) has signed credit agreements with the State Bank of Vietnam to provide a US$390 million loan for Vietnam to carry out three support projects.

>> WB offers $60 mln to VN’s social support project

The projects will be implemented to improve the Southeast Asian country’s social assistance system and support community infrastructure, agriculture and livelihoods in its poorest areas, the WB said in a press release on Thursday.   

Of the loan, US$150 million will be used for the Central Highlands Poverty Reduction Project, $180 million for the Irrigated Agriculture Improvement Project, and the remaining $60 million for the Social Assistance System Strengthening Project.

Funding for the three projects will come from the International Development Association, the World Bank Group’s funding window for low-income countries.

“These projects respond to different drivers of poverty in Vietnam including limited livelihood opportunities, remoteness and lack of connectivity, low productivity agriculture and fragmented and ineffective social assistance programs,” said Victoria Kwakwa, Country Director for the World Bank in Vietnam.

The first project – Central Highlands Poverty Reduction Project – will finance village and commune infrastructure and sustainable livelihoods, and provide training in livelihood skills, project management, and more general public administration skills for the 26 poorest districts in six provinces: Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai.

The majority of target beneficiaries from the project will be ethnic minority groups in these provinces.

The second project (Irrigated Agriculture Improvement Project) will increase water and land-use efficiency, enhance agricultural productivity, and reduce vulnerability to adverse climatic events for rural households in the four central coastal provinces: Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, and Quang Nam.

The project will also extend its support to three northern mountainous provinces: Ha Giang, Phu Tho, and Hoa Binh.

Meanwhile, the Social Assistance System Strengthening Project will assist Vietnam in building a national database of poor and near-poor households and social assistance beneficiaries, together with a management information system.

This will support the Vietnamese government’s objective of reducing fragmentation of social assistance programs by laying the foundation for program consolidation and improving the effectiveness of public spending on social assistance.

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