The report has targeted rural service delivery as a key ingredient to achieving equitable growth. Public services such as education, health care, infrastructure development, and social relief build the human and physical capital necessary for economic growth, benefiting society as well as the individual. Vietnam has had success in providing some rural services including basic preventive and public health measures, literacy, and community social programs. Overall, however, the quality and delivery of these services in rural Vietnam is low, with regional disparities caused by lack of funds and leadership. The administrative and fiscal frameworks that support rural services are inflexible and inefficient, management capacity is weak, and communication flows among government agencies are poor.
Available funds are often poorly targeted and misallocated.
Despite central efforts to target needy areas, poor provinces, districts, and communes often receive national programs low in quality, quantity, efficiency, and equity. The report proposes changes to the system of intergovernmental fiscal and administrative relations that call for both greater decentralization and a stronger, more effective central government to improve the quality and distribution of rural services. Greater decentralization will increase the flexibility of the local units and enable them to respond efficiently to local needs and provide services at lower cost. Clear definition of responsibilities at the central and local level will benefit capacity strengthening efforts, will encourage the comparative strength of each administrative level, and will increase central administration's monitoring abilities and enable them to better target resources to needy subsectors and geographical areas.