Steering Committee of the National Target Program on New Rural Development

Issued Decision No. 205-QD/TW on the establishment of the Steering Committee for the pilot program of building new rural areas and selecting 11 pilot communes for building new rural areas.

On April 16, 2009, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 491/QD-TTg on promulgating the National Criteria for New Rural Areas, which is the basis for evaluating the results of the program to build new rural areas. On August 21, 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Circular No. 54/2009/TT-BNNPTNT on Guiding the implementation of the National Criteria for New Rural Areas. This set of criteria is the basis for developing the content of the National Target Program to build new rural areas, directing the pilot construction of new rural models during the period of promoting industrialization and modernization, and also for inspecting, evaluating and recognizing communes, districts and provinces that have achieved new rural areas.

In 2010, the New Rural Development Program officially became the National Target Program when on June 4, 2010, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 800/QD-TTg approving the "National Target Program on New Rural Development for the 2010-2020 period" . Unlike previous rural development programs, the National Target Program on New Rural Development has covered a wide area, is a comprehensive program on all aspects of social life and economic development, not focusing on basic construction, the community is considered the main subject in New Rural Development. Accordingly, the program includes 11 contents with 19 criteria, divided into 5 groups:

Group I: Planning (01 criterion)

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Group II: Socio-economic infrastructure (08 criteria) Group III: Economy and production organization (04 criteria)

Group IV: Culture - Society - Environment (04 criteria) Group V: Political system (02 criteria)

According to Decision No. 800/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister and Circular No. 26/2011/TTLB-BNNPTNT-BKHĐT-BTC of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Finance, the New Rural Development Program is operated and managed by Steering Committees (SC) at all levels established from the Central to the commune level. The Coordination Office is the standing agency assisting the SC at the Central level and the provincial and municipal levels, the standing coordination agency is the assisting agency for the district-level SC. For the commune level, which is the unit directly implementing the program, there is both a SC and a Management Board, and the final management level is the Village Development Board.

Central Steering Committee

Central Coordination Office

Provincial and Municipal Steering Committee

Central ministries and branches

Provincial Coordination Office

District Steering Committee

Provincial departments and branches

Permanent coordinating agency

Commune level steering committee

District level departments

New Rural Construction Management Board

Village Development Board

Commune civil servants, chiefs

Command relationship

Support relationship

Figure 2.1 Steering apparatus of the National Target Program on New Rural Construction

(Source: Author's own drawing based on Circular 26/2011/TTLT-BNNPTNT-BKHĐT-BTC)

According to Decision No. 800/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister, investment capital for the Program is mobilized from four sources: first, budget capital (central and local) accounts for about 40%; second, credit capital (development investment credit and commercial credit) about 30%; third, capital mobilized from enterprises, cooperatives and other economic types about 20%; fourth, mobilized contributions from the community about 10%.

Figure 2.2 Capital structure for implementing the NTM program

(Source: Based on Decision 800/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister and Summary Report of the National Target Program on New Rural Development for the period 2010 - 2015)

However, in reality in localities, mobilized resources and contributions from sources often do not meet the requirements of Decision No. 800/QD-TTg, in which mobilized resources from the community and from enterprises are often low, mainly capital from the budget.

2.2 The role of people in participating in building new rural areas

In the process of building new rural areas today, people hold the position of the subject. This is a correct and necessary affirmation, aiming to promote the human factor, arouse and promote all potentials of farmers in the process of building rural areas in terms of economy, culture, society, ..., at the same time ensuring their legitimate rights. People are the active factors participating in the process of building rural areas, proactive and creative in building economic and social infrastructure; in the process of organizing production

industrialization, modernization of agriculture and rural areas; in preserving cultural lifestyle, traditional customs and is an important factor contributing to building a strong political and social system, ensuring security and order at the grassroots level.

In the guiding documents on the new rural construction program, the motto "People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect" is always mentioned for authorities at all levels from central to local to thoroughly understand and apply in the actual situation in the locality and at each level, the role of the people is also shown differently.

From a legal perspective, there are many documents that mention the role of people in building new rural areas, but they are mainly expressed in 4 documents: First, the Ordinance on implementing grassroots democracy in communes, wards and towns stipulates issues that people are allowed to know, discuss, comment on, implement and inspect, which is the basis for determining activities that people are allowed to participate in building new rural areas. Second, Resolution 26-NQ/TW dated August 5, 2008 of the Party Central Committee puts forward the main viewpoints on agricultural, farmer and rural development, which affirms the role of farmers as the main subject in building and developing new rural areas. Third, Decision 800/QD-TTg dated June 4, 2010 of the Prime Minister with regulations on consulting the community in planning, innovating effective forms of production organization, building cultural life, information and communication, clean water supply, environmental sanitation and the level of contribution to building new rural areas, has shown that the role of the people according to this Decision is only at the level of being consulted and consulted. Finally, the 2010 Handbook on building new rural areas at the commune level of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is the document that most fully and in detail shows the role of the people in building new rural areas. At a low level, people participate as contributors of labor and money to build public works, renovate their homes, etc. At a higher level, the role of people is demonstrated through giving opinions on the project to build new rural areas, the commune-level new rural planning map, or choosing the work that needs to be done.

first, what to do later to suit local conditions. In each job, the role of the people will change: when giving opinions on the project to build new rural areas and the commune-level new rural planning map, the people play the role of the consulted person; when giving opinions on choosing jobs, deciding the level of contribution in the construction of local public works, the people play the role of the decision maker; when participating in organizing, managing, operating and maintaining the works after completion, the people play the role of the manager; when participating in the Supervisory Board to manage and supervise the construction works of the commune, the people play the role of the supervisor.

Through the above analysis, the author finds that these regulations complement each other in terms of the role of the people. Accordingly, people will participate at each level, from low to high. At a low level, people only provide information so that the government can implement it in the most convenient way, at a higher level, people participate in giving opinions on planning, projects, contributing money, effort, then checking, supervising, operating, maintaining, repairing... When people participate in building the new rural area with all the above roles, they are truly the main players in this activity. However, when based only on Decision 800/QD-TTg, this is a document directly related and has legal value to the New Rural Area Construction Program, people can only participate as consultees. Thus, it can be seen that there is still a legal gap for regulations on the role of people in building the new rural area.

Figure 2.3 Steps to participate in building new rural areas

Thus, we can see that: The National Target Program for New Rural Construction has received more attention than previous programs implemented in the fields of agriculture and rural areas. Unlike previous rural development programs, the National Target Program for New Rural Construction has covered a wide area, is a comprehensive program on all aspects of social life and economic development, and the community is considered the main subject in building the New Rural Construction. The issue of people's participation has been specified in legal documents. In the guiding documents on the New Rural Construction Program, the motto "People know, people discuss, people do, people inspect" is raised for authorities at all levels from central to local to thoroughly understand and apply in the actual situation in the locality.

CHAPTER 3

THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BASIS OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

3.1 Basic concepts

3.1.1 Concept of citizen participation

Citizen participation is approached from different angles depending on the activities, levels… in which people participate. According to Florin, Paul (1990), “Citizen participation is a process in which individuals participate in decision making in organizations, programs and environments that affect them”.

According to Pierre André (2012), “Citizen participation is a process in which ordinary people participate on a voluntary or compulsory basis and act alone or in a group with the aim of influencing decisions that will affect their community” . This participation can take place inside or outside the institutional framework and it can be organized by members of social organizations or decision makers.

Harding et al. (2009) analyzed the concept of “Community Participation” by separating each component: “participation” and “community” . “Participation” is understood as the dialogue process between the community and decision makers, between individuals, groups, organizations on one side and the government group on the other side in discussing and making decisions. “Community” includes all subjects contributing to or affected by decisions. “Community” is understood with a very broad connotation, including all members living in the same geographical area, having common characteristics in lifestyle and economic, social, cultural, and political conditions.

According to Professor Guijt and Cornwall from the Institute of Research and Development (University of Sussex, UK), there are many methods and techniques of participation commonly known as “participatory research” (PR – Participatory Research). Among them, the approach of “participatory action research” (PAR – Participatory Action Research) has been

Deshler, D and Ewert, M (1995) have a general and accepted definition: “PAR is a systematic research process in which people who are experiencing a difficult situation in the community or at work, in a spirit of cooperation with researchers as research subjects, participate in information collection and analysis, decision making, and management activities as well as improving or solving their own problems”. (Excerpt from “Some theoretical aspects of the “participatory action research” (PRA) approach in community development” , Nguyen Duy Thang, 2002).

Depending on the circumstances, characteristics of each locality, people's level of awareness... the level of people's participation is expressed at different levels:

+ No participation: all work is done by the state by hiring outsiders, people do not participate in any stage of the process.

+ Passive participation: people follow the wishes of state representatives without understanding what they are doing. People are allowed to contribute opinions but it is only a formality. All decisions do not depend on people's opinions.

+ Participation through information provision: by answering questions posed by state representatives, citizens do not participate in the analysis or use of the information provided.

+ Participation by obligation, forced: people must contribute money and labor according to obligation, initiated and oriented by state representatives.

+ Externally directed participation: people voluntarily participate in and contribute to externally initiated and supported programs and take responsibility for their decisions.

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