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Vietnam: the benefits of a strong consultative framework
Author(s) -
Bartholomew Ann,
Lister Stephen
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
public administration and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-162X
pISSN - 0271-2075
DOI - 10.1002/pad.379
Subject(s) - distrust , accountability , transparency (behavior) , government (linguistics) , economics , general partnership , poverty reduction , poverty , public administration , transaction cost , economic growth , development economics , economic policy , public economics , business , political science , finance , law , philosophy , linguistics
During the 1990s Vietnam's economic reforms led to rapid growth and dramatic poverty reduction, attracting more donors and higher levels of aid. As this happened, bottlenecks and the transaction costs of aid became more apparent and led to efforts at harmonisation. However, the task has been complicated by donors' distrust of government's low standards of transparency and accountability but respect for its poverty reduction performance and macroeconomic management record. As a result donors have concentrated first on harmonisation with each other while supporting institutional reforms. They have done this through the unusually extensive donor‐government consultative machinery, with its biannual Consultative Group (CG) meetings and a large number of sectoral and topical partnership groups. The article assesses the role this machinery plays, concluding that its vitality results from mutual commitment and its unusual extent from the number of sectors addressed. The collaboration between government and donors may face greater challenges in the future if economic growth slows, the reform agenda stalls or inequality increases. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.