Press release number: IFAD 20/06

Asian Parliamentarians' Seminar on Poverty Alleviation, 5-6 April 2006, Hanoi and Tuyen Quang, Vietnam

Yoshio Yatsu, Japanese Member of Parliament and Chairman, Global Legislators for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE Japan), commended the rural income diversification schemes, supported by IFAD, that has helped improve significantly the livelihood of farmers and ethnic minorities in more than 66 communes in the rural province of Tuyen Quang of Vietnam. Yatsu is a former Chair of Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD).

Addressing Vietnamese officials during his visit to the province as a part of the Asian Parliamentarians' Seminar on Poverty Alleviation, organized by the AFPPD, Yatsu said that the rural income diversification scheme is a model to follow in other countries in the region.

The rural income diversification project has been in place in more than 66 communes over the past 5 years in Tuyen Quang, a mountainous province about 300 km. north of Hanoi, encompassing four main components, namely food security and income diversification, gender and women's livelihood, village infrastructure development, and project management.

30 members of parliament and senior officials from Japan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam visited the project sites in the Xuan Van and Tan Long communes where beneficiaries and participants of the IFAD-supported project discussed how they participated in planning the project and how they are benefiting from its results.

The parliamentarians visited a bamboo-chopsticks production factory, which is part of the income diversification project, at a village in Xuan Van Commune. The chopsticks have been exported to other Asian countries, including Japan and Hong Kong thus increasing the incomes of the rural poor villagers.

“This is fantastic. These are high-quality bamboo chopsticks,” said Shin Sakurai, a Member of Japanese Parliament and a former Chairman of AFPPD.

At a village in Tan Long Commune, the parliamentarians learned first-hand from a family about the benefits of the IFAD-supported project.  

Dr. Wee Ka Siong, Member of Parliament of Malaysia, said that “the Tuyen Quang income-diversification project is a replicable model for poverty alleviation and should be introduced in other countries of the region.”

Over 55 members of parliament and senior officials from 10 countries in Asia gathered in Hanoi, from April 5 to 6, 2006, to participate in a one day Asian Parliamentarians' seminar on poverty alleviation which was opened by Truong Quang Duoc, chairperson of the national assembly of Vietnam. The seminar was organized by AFPPD, in cooperation with Parliament of Vietnam's Social Affairs Committee and Vietnam Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (VAPPD).

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IFAD is a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries. Through low-interest loans and grants, it develops and finances projects that enable rural poor people to overcome poverty themselves. There are 187 ongoing IFAD-supported rural poverty eradication programmes and projects, totalling US$6.2 billion. IFAD has invested more than US$2.9 billion in these initiatives. Cofinancing has been provided by governments, beneficiaries, multilateral and bilateral donors and other partners. At full development, these programmes will help nearly 80 million rural poor women and men to achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has invested US$9.0 billion in 705 programmes and projects that have helped nearly 300 million poor rural men and women achieve better lives for themselves and their families. Governments and other financing sources in the recipient countries, including project participants, have contributed almost US$8.8 billion, and multilateral, bilateral and other donors have provided another US$7.0 billion in cofinancing.