Recipient Institution:
Center for Regional Research and Development (CRD) Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam

5th floor, 70 Tran Hung Dao Street HaNoi - Vietnam

Tel/Fax: 84 4 9425360/84 4 9421078

Project Leader:
Mr. Vu Thi Thanh Huong
Vtthuong@most.gov.vn

Amount and Duration: US$ 29,500 / 20 months

Commencement Date:
May 2004

Project Proposal
Duration of Project: 20 months (from May 2004 to December 2005).

Administrative information:

Project Leader is Ms. Vu Thi Thanh Huong - The Deputy Director of the Center for Regional Research and Development, concurrently the Deputy Director of the Executing Agency of the Project on "Supporting the Human Resources Development for Software Industry" - Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam.

Grant Recipient institution:
Center for Regional Research and Development (CRD)
- Ministry of Science and Technology.
Address: 5th floor - 70 Tran Hung Dao Street - Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: 84 4 9425 360
Fax: 84 4 9421078
E-mail: vtthuong@most.gov.vn or crd@hnn.hn.vn

Partner Organization:

Techno-Economic Program on Information Technology Office
(IT Office) - Ministry of Science and Technology.
Address: Depart. 311 - 39 Tran Hung Dao - Hanoi
Contact person: Nguyen Trung Quynh - Senior Officer
Telephone : 84 4 9432 418
Fax: 84 4 9439 736
E-mail: Quynhnt@most.gov.vn

Collaborating institutions:

In collaborating with CRD and IT Office, other government organizations will be involved in the project implementation:
1. National Program on Science and Technology Application and Deployment for socio- economic Development in Rural areas.
2. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
3. High Technology Department - Ministry of Science and Technology
4. People Committees and Provincial Departments of Science and Technology.
5. E-Commerce and Information Technology Department,
Ministry of Trade
6. Research Institute of Legal Studies, Ministry of Justice.
7. Vietnam Central Committee for Science and Technology.

In addition, a number of various enterprises, state -owned and private ones, larger and SMEs in rural areas, especially in traditional trade villages will be collaborators in assessment of the readiness, difficulties, problems in ICT application and deployment for business development.

Project Description

ICT in Vietnam has been used and developed since the 1970's, and has made very important contributions to socio-economic development of the country, including rural areas.

ICT application and development in Vietnam strengthens the material, intellectual and spiritual growth of the whole nation and in every province. It promotes the reform process, speeds up the development and modernization of economic sectors and empowers the competitive capacity of businesses. It affectively supports an active process of integration of rural areas into the national, regional, global economy. It creates possibilities to leapfrog in successfully serving the cause of industrialization, modernization in rural areas.

The status of ICT use in Vietnam, however, is still backward, especially in agriculture and rural areas. Progress is slow, creating risk of a growing gap compared to many countries in the world and the region. ICT use and development has not met the requirements of industrialization and modernization, and the needs for international and regional integration.

There are many reasons for this situation: insufficient awareness of the role of IT; policies; human resource; speed, quality and cost of telecommunications and the Internet; investment for IT application and deployment... although the Government has issued some policies and legal documents on ICT application and development in Vietnam, such as Directive; Decisions of Prime Minister; Resolutions of Government; Ordinance, decree, circular of government organizations ...

In Vietnam, nearly 75 % of the population are living in rural areas. Developing agriculture and rural economy is one of the most important orientations of the Vietnamese Government. ICT has been creating not only opportunities but challenges to business in rural areas to narrow the gap between different regions, realize gender equality and the advancement of women to promote sustainable growth and poverty reduction.

One of the major measures of the Vietnamese Government to promote step by step the development of the rural areas is to improve the legal framework, mechanisms and policies with a view to create favorable conditions and offering high preferences for ICT application and development in rural areas.

The project aims at investigating factors of mechanisms, policy environment and major measures and their influences on the acceptance and application of ICT in business rural areas.

To a certain degree, the project will investigate problems and difficulties faced by grassroot business such as organizations, SMEs and households in rural or backward areas in dealing with the shift to new mode of economic activity and life.

As outcomes, a number of conclusions and recommendations for policy-making process will be drawn for governments, authorities and business managers to promote ICT application and development in business in rural areas. As such, the project will have a bottom up approach in trying to send a signal from below to the policy makers and get the response from the governments to the need of the people and business communities, especially in rural areas, contribute to the Revolution on "speeding up industrialization and modernization of agriculture and rural areas".

Project Objectives:

General Objective:

The general objective of the project is to contribute to the process of creating the conducive policy environment for acceptance, development and application of ICT in rural areas of Vietnam, especially for business development.

Specific Objectives:

• The specific objectives of the project are to conduct a general assessment of policy environment, including gaps between existing policy environment and the required need in ICT application and development in business in rural areas;
• To assess the readiness of the business and point out the real problems and difficulties faced by grassroots business in ICT application and development for business development in rural areas;
• To suggest recommendations to the central government, local authorities and also to the business managers on policies and measures to promote ICT application and development in business in rural areas.

Research issues:

The project has following elements as research issues:

• The role of IT in business activities in rural areas.
• existing status of legal infrastructure related to ICT application and development in rural areas
• the role and relationship of various government departments with regard to ICT application and development in rural areas
• Readiness of business in rural areas for IT application and deployment: willingness, capacity, problems, difficulties...
• required policy environment and measures for ICT application and development in rural areas
• gaps between the current policy environment and the required one.
• lessons and recommendations to policy makers in central and local governmental organizations, authorities and also to the business managers on policy and measures to promote ICT application and development in business in rural areas.

Research activities and methodology:

The project will have the following activities and the methodology for conducting research in a duration of 20 months, commencing from May, 2004 to December, 2005:

1. Inception workshop about ICTs Application and Development in Vietnam (some issues at stake), especially for business development in rural areas.

(will be organized in the first month of the project duration ) - (May, 2004)

2. Assessment of the current State Polices and Strategies on ICTs Application and Development in Vietnam, , especially for business development in rural areas in Vietnam.

(from June to August, 2004)

• study policies and legal documents on ICT in Vietnam and related policy documents, strategies, measures for ICT application and development in rural areas.
• carry out an inventory of all goals (explicit and implicit), expectations, plans, strategies... related to ICT application and development in rural areas.
• interview officials from about 10 related governmental agencies and ministries and 15 local authorities to identify and understand different visions, tendencies and biases in ICT application and development in rural areas
• organize a seminar to discuss the status of policy environment in relation to ICT application and development in rural areas
• producing a report on the status of policy environment.

3. Foreign experiences in ICTs Application and Development in rural areas. (from September to November, 2004)

• collect and study policy documents, strategies, measures for ICT application and development in rural areas of some countries such as Thailand, China, Canada, Singapore...)
• produce the report on lessons and experiences that Vietnam can learn.
• organize a seminar to introduce the study results.

4. Conduct a national survey of business enterprises in the rural areas to assess their role and impacts of ICT on their business development, their needs, readiness, difficulties, impacts of the policy environment for ICT application development in business.

(from December, 2004 to June, 2005)

4.1 Sampling Survey:

• Identify research population (business enterprises who have access to the internet in some rural provinces representing the Northern, Central and Southern parts of Vietnam. This population will comprise enterprises operating in different sectors with differing background, especially SMEs and households in traditional trade villages.
• Developing survey tool and questionnaire:
  • exploratory interviewers
  • design a preliminary questionnaire
  • testing the questionnaire
  • revise questionnaire
• Conducting the survey:
  • select a sample of 100 enterprises from research population
  • training interviews
  • conducting the survey
• Processing the survey data, analysis and writing survey report
  • coding the survey results and build up the database
  • producing a descriptive report based on the results
  • produce the report of sampling survey

4.2 Conduct 15 in-depth case studies of selected enterprises

• select 5 cases for each region: Northern, Central and Southern
• develop framework for case studies
• interview and study related materials of the enterprises
• produce the report of case studies

4.3 Produce the National Survey Report based on the sampling and in-depth surveys.

4.4 Organize a workshop to present the survey results

5. Analysis and writing project report:
(July - September , 2005)

• make analysis and integration of the findings in the above activities
• draw lessons and conclusions on the policy and measures factors
• recommendations on various policies and measures that the central government and local governments and authorities in rural areas should adopt to improve ICT application and deployment for business in rural areas.

6. Final conference for lauching and dissemination of the project outcomes:
(October, 2005)

7. Upgrading, revising and finalizing the final project report based on the ideas and comments from participants at the final workshop to submit to the authorities and policies makers and prepare for potential publication.
(November - December, 2005)

Users and beneficiaries

The project would contribute to the formulation process of all strategy, policy and master plans to promote ICT application and development in rural areas of Vietnam. The first immediate users of the study would be the related governmental bodies, such as Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, local authorities and National Program on Science and Technology Application and Deployment for socio- economic development in rural areas. The recommendations and findings of the project would be very useful for them in considering what options may be available, feasible and realistic.

One important benefit of the project is to build up the capacity for policy analysis and decision making of the relevant organizations. This will be the direct outcome of the project to help solving policy-related problems faced by organizations.

Vietnamese companies and households in rural areas would benefit from the study. Based on the findings, they could design, adapt and adopt appropriate business strategies and plan of actions in the most suitable way toward ICT application and deployment for business development.

Local communities, grassroots will also benefit from the outcome of the project, as the IT application and development will improve their living standards.

In addition, foreign donor's community, researchers and overall public could use the study for different purposes: funding plans, input for further research, awareness raising campaign or education and training.

Last, but not least, the project team it self and their associated organizations would also benefit from the project. After the completion of the project, research capacity of the members of the team will be enhanced and they could exchange their professional experiences to each other.

Institutions and Personnel:

Institutions:

Center for Regional Research and Development (CRD) was established by the Ministry of Science and Technology and has a function to be an important bridge for linking science and technology activities and socio - economic development in various regions and sub-regions focus on development in rural areas.
It is the unique organization of the Ministry of Science and Technology that has the mandate to carry out research for recommending solutions, such as policies, mechanisms, measures, action plans... for sustainable development in various regions and localities.

IT Office is leading organization of the Ministry of Science and Technology which is responsible for studying and recommending policies, mechanisms, measures, action plans for ICT application and deployment in Vietnam.

Some collaborators from other organizations are willing to support the project. They are professional in the various aspects and will contribute their knowledge to policies and measures to improve ICT application and deployment for business development in rural areas:

1. National Program on Science and Technology Application and Deployment for socio- economic development in rural areas.
2. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
3. High Technology Department - Ministry of Science and Technology
4. People Committees and Provincial Departments of Science and Technology.
5. E-Commerce and Information Technology Department,
Ministry of Trade
6. Research Institute of Legal Studies, Ministry of Justice.
7. Central Committee for Science and Technology.

Personnel:

The core project team will consist of following persons:

1. Ms. Vu Thi Thanh Huong, The Deputy Director of the CRD, concurrently the Deputy Director of Executing Agency of Project "Supporting the Human Resource Development for Software Industry" - Ministry of Science and Technology.
She is professional in Finance management and Economic Development and rich experience in project management such as the project on Regional Research and Development (Red River Delta Master Plan Project 1993- 1995 funded by WB and UNDP) and projects on IT application and deployment (National Steering Committee for IT (1995-2000) funded by Vietnamese Government, Vietnam - Canada IT Project (1995-2000) funded by CIDA - Canada, Impacts of policy environment for EC application and development in Vietnam (2002 - 2003) (funded by IDRC), Y2K Solutions (2000) funded by WB, Supporting the Human Resource Development for Software Industry (on-going) funded by Indian... She has been to many countries: Thailand, Singapore, China, Australia, Canada, Europe (England, France, Italy...).

2. Dr. Do Van Loc - one of the leading persons in ICT policy in Vietnam. He was the General Director of the Office of the National Steering Committee for IT (1995-2000), Director of Vietnamese Executing Agency of Vietnam - Canada IT Project (1995-2000) (funded by CIDA - Canada), Grant Recipient and Director of the Project on Impacts of policy environment for EC application and development in Vietnam 2002 - 2003 (funded by IDRC),
and now he is Director of IT Office, Head of High Technology Department - Ministry of Science and Technology. He has vast international experiences in ICT and is one of the most important expert in ICT policy and legal document making in Vietnam.

3. Mr. Nguyen Trung Quynh - Senior Officer, Director Assistant of the IT Officer. He has vast international experiences in ICT and is one of the important expert in ICT policy and legal document making in Vietnam.
He was senior expert for projects on IT application and deployment , such as National Steering Committee for IT (1995-2000), Vietnam - Canada IT Project (1995-2000) (funded by CIDA - Canada). He is now person in charge of preparation and management the National Program on Open Source Software Development.

4. Mr. Phan Huy Chi - Director of CRD and concurrently Director of the Office of National Program on Science and Technology Application and Deployment for socio- economic development in rural areas.
His background is electronics and he is professional in studying and recommending the solutions such as policies, mechanisms, measures, action plans... for sustainable development of socio- economics in various regions and localities.

5. Mr. Pham Duc Nghiem - Officer of the CRD. He is professional in Socio- economic aspects.

6. Ms. Nguyen Hoang Anh - Officer of the Office of National Program on Science and Technology Application and Deployment for socio- economic development in rural areas. She is excellent programmer of the program and have experiences in rural areas development.

7. Dr, Dang Kim Son, Centre of Information and Documentation, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
He is a leading person in studying and recommending the solutions such as policies, mechanisms, measures, action plans... for sustainable development in various rural regions and localities.

Collaborators
A group of researchers will work as collaborators to the core team will be set up as soon as the project approved. They are consisting of the leaders of some departments of the collaborating organizations mentioned above:

1. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hung - Head of EC and IT Department - Ministry of Trade.
2. Ho Ngoc Luat - Head of Science and technology Department - Centre Committee of Science and Technology of Vietnam
3. Cao Xuan PHong, Research Institute for Legal Studies, Ministry of Justice
4. Senior experts from Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
5. Some leaders and authorities from provinces and localities.

Depending on nature of each work package, specific persons will be invited to take part in the project.

Dissemination of results/outputs

The project would have the following outputs/deliverables:

• Report on policy environment and identification of situation on ICT application and deployment in rural areas in Vietnam.
• Report on assessment of ICT application and deployment in rural areas in Vietnam, especially for business development.
• Report on experiences from other countries in ICT application and deployment in rural areas.
• Recommendations on policy measures.
• Project Final Report.

The project will contribute to the publication of the project final report and some of project results.

One of the important outputs of the project will be the results of a series of different interim workshops, interactive roundtable with policy makers, brainstorming dialogue, etc.