Learning from Indonesia, Vietnamese Delegation Visits TNP2K Secretariat

25 August 2014

To learn and see up close to the success of poverty reduction in Indonesia, 23 delegates from various departments and regional representatives in Vietnam visited the office of the Secretariat of the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) today (08/25/2014). Delegates listened to presentations from TNP2K Executive Secretary Bambang Widianto and discussed with representatives the various working groups within TNP2K.

Widianto explained that a key effort in improving poverty reduction was to encourage the use of integrated data for poverty reduction programmes. "Previously, various ministries and government agencies -- both at the central and local level --, tended to use different data for their poverty reduction programme. However, now with the Unified Database (BDT) almost all of these programmes now target the same groups," said Widianto.

Vietnamese delegation leader, Nguyen Thanh Duong, said that despite various poverty reduction initiatives being undertaken in Vietnam, lessons can be learnt from Indonesia's experiences and successes in conducting poverty reduction programmes. Nguyen is a CPO director at the Vietnam’s Ministry of Economy and Agriculture.

Delegates asked about planning mechanisms, including budgeting, implementation and monitoring and evaluation for poverty reduction programmes. The National Programme for Community Empowerment (PNPM) was discussed in great detail, as well as the formation and launch of the Unified Database and Social Assistance Card (KPS).

With particular emphasis on the establishment of the BDT, Widianto described TNP2K’s various effort. This included improving mechanisms for the 2011 Data Collection for Social Assistance Programmes (PPLS), which were conducted after implementing additional trials, the proxy means testing (PMT) methods, data synchronisation and mechanisms for updating Adminduk data.

In addition, members of the delegation were also interested in understanding financial inclusion initiatives, especially when testing remittance mechanisms through mobile phones.

In addition to the Ministry of Economy and Agriculture, the Vietnamese delegation also consisted of representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Provincial Project Management Unit (PPMU), Central State Treasury and various regions in Vietnam.