Overview of the Northwest Vietnam
platform, Central Mekong flagship area
Jim Hammond, Lisa Hiwasaki and Hoang Thi Lua
Context and platform
background
Northwest Vietnam is characterized by:
• Many remote and culturally diverse
communities
• Large wealth and education gap between
rural and urban populations
• Increasing deforestation due to shifting
cultivation and agricultural expansion
• Unsustainable farming and land uses
practices
• Extensive soil erosion & land degradation
• Declining yields and unstable livelihoods
• High poverty rate and malnutrition
• Top-down government system & little
room for self-representation.
Opportunities and constraints
Opportunities:
• Both research partners and government
partners are keen to develop projects
and ideas
• Agricultural intensification measures
which can improve productivity also
reduce soil erosion and degradation
• Enhancing value chains for indigenous
varieties of rice, vegetable and livestock
could benefit the more marginalized
sectors of society.
Constraints:
• “R4D platform” is a new concept for
many stakeholders, thus getting it
running at the beginning is a challenge
• Highly centralized government system
may compromise the institutional and
social context necessary for a platform
to be implemented
• Timely approval of budget allocation for
the platform is integral to the planning
process
• Overlapping poverty reduction and
research programs makes coordination
and efficient implementation of
activities a challenge.
Pictures
Conclusions and ways forward
• This newly emerging platform has identified entry points through a
situational analysis process. Further meetings are planned for 2014,
to further elaborate upon entry points identified. It is expected that
innovation platforms will form around the best entry points.
• Partners are enthusiastic, but genuine buy-in has not yet been
achieved, and there is still some confusion as to what an R4D
platform is or what it does. Leadership of the platform has just been
identified, and the transition from the meeting room to the field site
will be crucial to achieving real progress.
Platform progress
First meeting (Aug 2013):
• An understanding of Humidtropics was achieved
• Situation analysis was launched
• A list of potential R4D platform members was discussed.
Second meeting (Dec 2013):
• Initial results of situation analysis in the region were
presented
• Ideas on entry points based on suggestions from
provincial government staff were collected.
Platform facilitation and
learning
• Facilitator from NOMAFSI has been
identified
• Research led by various
organizations: ILRI, Bioversity,
AVRDC, CIP, ICRAF, and involves
local partners
• A preliminary work plan with
estimated budget has been drafted
• Reports of the two meetings exist
• Five functions of the platform have
been identified: 1. linking with
policy makers; 2. sharing and
learning; 3. coordination; 4. linking
farmers with markets; 5. capacity
building; and 6. promoting
indigenous practices/scaling up.
Lisa Hiwasaki,L.Hiwasaki@cgiar.org ● ICRAF, Hanoi, Vietnam. Prepared for a
capacity development workshop of the
CGIAR Research Program on Humidtropics, Nairobi, 29 April – 2 May 2014
http://humidtropics.cgiar.org/
This document is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution –Non commercial-
Share Alike 3.0 Unported License April 2014
April- May 2014
Platform characteristics
• Led by ICRAF and facilitated by NOMAFSI,
a national research organization
• Funded entirely by the Humidtropics
program
• Stakeholders from provincial
governments, national research
institutions, local CSOs & NGOs, INGOs,
and the private sector
• Approximately 30% of the participants are
female
• The R4D platform operates at sub-
national level, in four provinces of
Northwest Vietnam
• As identified entry points lead to field
trials, it is anticipated that innovation
platforms will develop located around
field sites.