After three decades of remarkable economic growth and improvement in social indicators, Vietnam has been recently experiencing a slow-down in poverty reduction and an increase in income inequality. In addition, the growth in Vietnam has followed a carbon-intensive path which brought huge pressures on the environment. In an effort to foster sustainable development and green growth, Vietnam’s Party and Government have issued important strategies and policies, including the Vietnam Green Growth Strategy (VGGS, 2012), Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS, 2013) and the Masterplan for Economic Restructuring (MPER, 2013-2020). While the transformation towards a greener economy will imply important changes for the labor market and incomes, the adequate consideration of social aspects in the strategic documents of the government is missing.
In order to assure that social considerations are taken into account when formulating green growth policies, technical advice on Social Impact Assessment (SIA) to the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) is provided within the framework of the project and its role as the Ministry responsible for social considerations within the Government of Vietnam is strengthened.
The project has three major areas of intervention:
• Improving capacity of MOLISA and relevant agencies on SIA within Policy Impact Assessment processes.
• Enhancing the procedures and the role of relevant stakeholders in integrating social aspect in policy sectors namely energy, biodiversity and natural resource management, and vocational training.
• Improving general knowledge of MOLISA about social aspects in sustainable green growth.
The overarching aim is to achieve a more inclusive green growth path by strengthening MOLISA’s capacity to identify and assess the impact of structural reforms and ensure that measures to compensate negative side effects are in place.