devinitorg/iati-policy-markers huggingface dataset:
Agriculture Science and Technology The Project aims to strengthen the national AST system in Viet Nam, thereby contributing to the sustainable and equitable growth of the agriculture sector and ultimately to reduced rural poverty. The Project will address critical issues involved in AST development, including the low level of linkages among key AST areas (agricultural research, extension, and training), and the gap in the capacity of physical and human resources for the national AST system. The Project will contribute to the resolution of these issues and increase the effectiveness and relevance of AST activities for clients to receive benefits of improved AST, and promote on-farm and off-farm sustainable use of natural resources. Including the three key AST areas under the Project as part of the integrated national system is vital if the full potential of AST development is to be realized. 

The Project scope will cover (i) client-oriented agricultural research and capacity strengthening, (ii) grassroots agricultural extension improvement, and (iii) rural-based technical and vocational training. The activities will be undertaken through close linkages among the components. Specific project outcomes will include (i) improved capacity of physical and human resources for agricultural research, (ii) increased responsiveness of agricultural research activities to client needs, (iii) improved farmer access to participatory and pro-poor agricultural extension services, (iv) strengthened linkage between agricultural research and extension, (v) increased responsiveness of rural-based technical and vocational training to national sector goals, and (vi) strengthened capacity of rural-based agricultural training. The project scope has been carefully designed to avoid overlapping, and be technically complementary to the ongoing policy and institutional reforms under the ASDP.
COVID-19 Relief for Women-Led Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is expected to force many women-led enterprises to restructure or default on their loans because they typically have less resources to cope with an economic shock. To ensure business survival, many of these loans will need to be restructured. Without timely assistance, many will fail. Indeed, an unpublished survey of 54 women-led small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) conducted by the Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Council in April 2020 found that 78% expected to face bankruptcy within the next 1 to 12 months without external support.

Additionally, women-led enterprises that survive are expected to face higher barriers to accessing new loans. Although Viet Nam has escaped the worst of COVID-19’s economic fallout, domestic growth is still projected to slow as the pandemic disrupts businesses dependent on exports, imports, tourist arrivals, and foreign direct investment. In such an environment, banks’ risk appetite reduces.

Given banks' conscious and subconscious biases to female borrowers, women-led enterprises are expected to face greater barriers to financial inclusion in the aftermath of COVID-19. The proposed grant project would address these constraints by incentivizing partnering banks (see appendix 1 for participating bank eligibility criteria) in Viet Nam to restructure existing loans or extend new loans to at least 500 eligible enterprises (see appendix 2 for eligible enterprise and loan criteria) through two mechanisms. Participating banks would:
i. defer principal for at least 6 months, and the grant will pay the interest on behalf of the
eligible enterprise for the lesser of $10,000 or 6-months interest; and 
ii. extend a loan to a women-led enterprise that is a new client of the bank, and the grant would pay a commitment fee1 on behalf of the client, equal to the lesser of $10,000 or up to-8% of approved loan amount.

This combination of interventions would prevent economically inefficient defaults and layoffs and incentivize banks to lend to new clients to stimulate new economic activity.

The project’s impact will be economic recovery accelerated. The outcome will be businesses of eligible enterprises affected by COVID-19 revived and sustained.

The project’s output is access to finance for eligible enterprises affected by COVID-19 improved. The project will achieve this output by using the grant funds to incentivize the participating banks to reschedule the principal payments of existing loans or to grant new loans to eligible enterprises. To improve the finance for eligible enterprises affected by COVID-19. To use the grant funds to incentivize the participating banks to reschedule the principal payments of existing loans or to grant new loans to eligible enterprises. To accelerate economic recovery. To revive and sustain businesses of eligible enterprises affected by COVID-19.
Vietnam International Bank Supporting Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Improving Living Conditions Project A proposed loan of up to $200,000,000 to Vietnam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB), comprising (i) a senior unsecured A loan of up to $100,000,000; and (ii) a B loan of up to $100,000,000 for the Supporting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and for Improving Living Conditions project in Viet Nam. The proposed loan to VIB, one of the leading joint stock banks in Viet Nam, will provide critically needed financing to the underserved segment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Northern Mountain Provinces Transport Connectivity Project The project will improve and upgrade two road stretches totaling 198 km that connect several towns and districts in the provinces of Lai Chau, Lao Cai and Yen Bai to the Noi Bai Lao Cai Expressway. These road stretches will connect to other main roads under the Lao Cai province transport development master plan to improve network connectivity with the Noi Bai-Lao Cai Expressway. The existing roads pass through very difficult terrain with high mountains or large rivers, so many substandard curves and grades have been adopted. Their conditions are poor; the average travel speed is 25 km per hour and several sections are not passable year round. Therefore, a major rehabilitation or improvement is required to accommodate the expected traffic growth due to the current economic development of the region.

The improved connectivity will (i) provide reliable access to basic social services such as education, health care, job training, and emergency disaster relief, and (ii) increase economic and employment opportunities for the people of the northwestern provinces, especially the poor ethnic minorities. The enhanced connectivity to the Noi Bai Lao Cai Expressway will provide further opportunities of cross-border trade with the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the People's Republic of China (PRC). The improved roads will help save travel time and costs, hence reducing fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. The improvement and upgrade works will ensure consistency of standards over the entire road stretches, including climate resilience features namely slope protection measures in areas prone to landslides and rockfalls, raising and/or reconstructing highway embankments and bridges along road sections prone to dangerous flooding, and increasing cross-drainage capacity. The project will include awareness campaigns for road safety, HIV/AIDS, and human trafficking which will enable the vulnerable ethnic minorities to cope with possible negative impacts of the project roads.
Countercyclical Support Loan The objective of the CSF loan is to provide support for the Government’s countercyclical spending program for 2009 and, therefore, ensure predictability in its budget financing given the necessity for temporary fiscal expansion. This will allow the Government to support economic growth during a challenging period of weak global growth, protect its social spending and poverty alleviation programs and objectives, and continue with its longer term development objectives in 2009.
Renewable Energy Development and Network Expansion and Rehabilitation for Remote Communes Sector Project (Formerly Renewable Energy for Remote Commune) The primary objective of the sector Project is to develop rural electrification and renewable energy in Viet Nam to benefit ethnic minority communities inhabiting remote and poorer parts of the country. The Project consists of two investment components: (i) development of mini-hydropower plants in mountain provinces, and (ii) network expansion and rehabilitation of distribution networks serving poor provinces.

Component 1 of the Project will develop about 5-10 grid-connected run-of-river mini-hydropower plants of 7.5 megawatts (MW) or less capacity, totaling 30 MW in several  provinces in northern and central Viet Nam. Electricity connections will be provided to about 60-75 villages in poor, remote ethnic minority areas in northern Viet Nam, and minimum 100 gigawatt hours (GWh) of hydropower energy to the national grid. 

Component 2 of the Project will support the Government's ongoing special program of supporting rural electrification of poor provinces inhabited by ethnic minorities. The Government requested assistance to extend this program to five provinces:  Dien Bien and Lai Chau in Northern region; Tra Vinh and Soc Trang in Mekong Delta;  and Quang Tri in central Viet Nam. Approximately 100,000 poor households in about 1,000 villages are expected to receive electricity under this component.

The Project will include an associated technical assistance (TA) grant for capacity building for renewable energy development.
Health Care in the South Central Coast Region Project The Project will improve the health status of the poor, women and children in eight provinces in the SCCR towards achieving the millennium development goals by 2015. The outcome is strengthened provincial health systems in the eight provinces with a focus on health care for the poor, women and children. This includes (i) upgraded hospital services providing expanded and better quality health services; (ii) improved provincial capacity for human resource development (HRD), better skilled staff and more staff from ethnic minorities; (iii) improved access to quality health care for the remote poor; and (iv) improved management of the provincial health system in terms of equity, efficiency, and effectiveness. The eight provinces are Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, and Binh Thuan. The Project will support the Government's efforts to develop a comprehensive and well managed provincial health system.
Phuoc Hoa Water Resources Project (Supplementary) The Project was prepared in 2003. This led to approval of an initial ADB loan of SDR63.042 million in November 2003 with cofinancing from the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) of 29.6 million.  Project implementation was initially deficient and has also been affected by cost increases caused by high inflation in Viet Nam's economy. This has led to cost overruns and a financing gap of $131.6 million (see Table 1). However, implementation progress improved markedly with the mobilization of project implementation consultants in May 2006 and the transfer of overall project management responsibility to the Hydraulic Project Investment and Construction Management Board No.9 (ICMB9), based in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), in November 2006.
Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway Technical Assistance Project The proposed Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay (HCMC - LT - DG) Expressway is to be a 55 kilometer, high speed, limited access expressway connecting Ho Chi Minh City to Long Thanh and to a junction with National Highway 1A at Dau Giay. The HCMC - LT - DG Expressway Preparation Project (the Project) will undertake activities required to (i) commence of the construction of the HCMC - LT - DG Expressway, and (ii) strengthen VEC as an independent infrastructure provider. 

The outputs of the Project will be (i) detailed engineering designs approved; (ii) bidding documents issued; (iii) resettlement plans updated; (iv) Environmental Impact Assessment updated; (v) Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Concession documents prepared; (vi) a revised organizational structure for VEC prepared; (vii) training needs assessment complete and training program undertaken; and (ix) an asset management system identified and commissioned.
Greater Mekong and Subregion (GMS) Regional Communicable Diseases Control Project Project impact: 
(i)	Contained spread of epidemic diseases at local level and 
(ii)	reduced burden of common endemic diseases in CLV countries. 

Project outcomes: 
(i)	Timely and adequate control of epidemics likely to have a major impact on public health and the economy in the region; 
(ii)	Improved coverage of prevention and care of communicable diseases in vulnerable populations, in particular poor women and children living in border areas; and 
(iii)	Improved know-how, policies, standards, and coordination among countries to improve CDC, including for HIV/AIDS, through intergovernmental cooperation. 

Project outputs:  
(i)	Comprehensive national surveillance and response systems, including institutional structures; preparedness, surveillance, and response; laboratory services; and human resource development (HRD);
(ii)	Expanded and integrated CDC for vulnerable groups in 26 provinces (5 in Cambodia, 6 in Lao PDR, and 15 in Viet Nam) along borders or transport corridors; and 
(iii)	Productive regional coordination for CDC through capacity building of MOH, regional policy dialogue, support for regional institutions in operations research, and project management.
Second Health Human Resource Development Project The project will assist the Government of Viet Nam in achieving universal health coverage (UHC), including access to essential health care services, by increasing the supply of a skilled health workforce.  It builds on the achievements of the Health Human Resources Sector Development Program by expanding and improving the quality of undergraduate health professional training programs. Specifically, the project will design and operationalize new campuses in Hanoi Medical University (HMU) and the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City (UMP).  It will feature climate-resilient teaching and ancillary infrastructure, helping the universities to increase undergraduate enrolment and teaching capacity. The project will complement the proposed Local Health Care for Disadvantaged Areas Sector Development Program through innovative models of engaging teaching institutions in community health, including the application of information technology-based learning.  This will enhance the quality of health care in rural and underserved areas in response to the population's evolving health needs.
Skills Enhancement Project The Project will produce a more competitive and highly skilled workforce in priority industries by developing higher level training programs at a new college level, while also establishing and strengthening system governance and quality assurance frameworks for vocational training. Studies will also strengthen the policy foundation for future development.

The project will improve the quality and management of vocational education and training (VET) programs in 15 public and 5 private vocational colleges (VCs) in economic zones
offering programs for occupations in high demand in priority industries. The programs cover automotive technology, electrical manufacturing, hospitality and tourism, information and
communication technology (ICT), mechanical manufacturing, and navigation and shipping. The project will consist of two loans, the first to strengthen the public vocational training system and VCs, and the second to provide private VCs with additional resources through an onlending facility. The direct beneficiaries of the project will be students in certificate and diploma vocational training courses, most of whom come from the rural lower middle class.
Second Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Development Program - Subprogram II The Subprogram seeks to assist sustainable high economic growth in Viet Nam, by supporting the development and competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Subprogram will support the Government reforms efforts by: (i) enhancing the policy and planning framework for SME development; (ii) improving the efficiency of administrative systems in support of SME development and operations; (iii) strengthening the regulatory framework for competition policy; and (iv) enhancing SME access to finance.
Ha Noi Metro Rail System Project (Line 3: Nhon-Ha Noi Station Section) The Project will establish an integrated sustainable public transport system in six districts of Ha Noi by constructing 12.5 kilometers of a dual track rail metro line from Nhon to Ha Noi railway station. The Project will develop a new double track metro rail line in Ha Noi, which is one of four priority lines of a planned larger urban transportation system under the Ha Noi Urban Transport Master Plan (HUTMP). Metro line 3 will (i) facilitate public transport connectivity, (ii) greatly enhance access in six districts of Ha Noi, and (iii) be an an important integral part of an improved public transport system, which aims to achieve increased public modal share through low-carbon transport that reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Second Health Care in the Central Highlands Project The project will help the government to further reduce maternal and child mortality by addressing access to and quality gaps in commune health stations (CHSs) and hospitals and by strengthening provincial health management in five provinces, thereby targeting the poor, ethnic groups, and women and children in particular.
Integrated Rural Development Sector Project in the Central Provinces The overall impact of the project is expected to enhance rural livelihood opportunities and standard of living for the rural population residing in the Central Region of Viet Nam. This is to be achieved through improved quality, greater coverage and bettter integration of rural infrastructure. The Project has the following components: (i) rural and coastal infrastructure, further divided into (a) rural and coastal infrastructure subprojects, and (b) design support studies and community participation; (ii) capacity building; and (iii) central project management.
Second Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Development Program - Subprogram I 1. I submit for your approval the following report and recommendation on (i) a proposed program cluster, and (ii) a proposed loan for subprogram 1, both to the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam for the Second Small and Medium-Sized Development Program.


2. The program will support the government's key reform priorities aimed at achieving sustainable high economic growth, supported by an increased contribution from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the private sector. The reform priorities include efforts to improve the policy framework for SME development, strengthen business competitiveness, and enhance SME access to finance. The design and monitoring framework is in Appendix 1. The development policy letter is in Appendix 3. The program has a medium-term focus. Appendix 4 presents the policy matrix and medium-term direction and goals for subprogram 1, and triggers as well as milestones for subprogram 2.
Greater Mekong Subregion Tourism Infrastructure for Inclusive Growth Project The outputs are (i) last-mile tourism access infrastructure improved, (ii) environmental services in cross-border tourism centers improved, (iii) institutional capacity to promote inclusive tourism growth strengthened, and (iv) effective project implementation and management. Criteria guiding subproject selection include (i) infrastructure constraints; (ii) location in a GMS corridor with good tourism and economic development potential; (iii) location in a multicountry tour circuit prioritized by the GMS Tourism Sector Strategy and National Tourism Strategy; (iv) expressions of interest by private enterprises and communities to manage public tourism amenities; and (v) endorsement by local stakeholders, including women and ethnic groups.
Viet Nam Tropical Storms Response Project The Proposed Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund (APRF) grant funds will be used to fund activities considered eligible as per paragraph 12 of the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund Implementation Guidelines, including but not limited to, (a) provision of food and drinking water to ensure food security, (b) support to repair and rebuild damaged and submerged houses, (c) provision of assistance to restore the livelihood activities in agriculture production, (d) support for the prevention of waterborne disease outbreaks, and (e) addressing food shortage and malnutrition. To fund activities considered eligible as per paragraph 12 of the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund Implementation Guidelines, including but not limited to, (a) provision of food and drinking water to ensure food security, (b) support to repair and rebuild damaged and submerged houses, (c) provision of assistance to restore the livelihood activities in agriculture production, (d) support for the prevention of waterborne disease outbreaks, and (e) addressing food shortage and malnutrition.
Public Private Partnership Support Project The project entails the use of an ADF project loan of $20 million to fund the establishment of a Project Development Facility (PDF) that would help bring bankable PPP projects to the market.  The PDF would be used by government ministries / project sponsors to fund PPP project preparation activities which include pre-feasibility studies, full feasibility studies and the engagement of transaction advisors who would structure deals to bring to the private sector for bidding.
Power Transmission Investment Program - Tranche 1 The Project proposed for financing under Tranche 1 comprises the following three components:

(i)  expansion and upgrading of 500kV and 220kV transmission lines and associated substations throughout Viet Nam. Tranche 1 will financed four subprojects.  
(ii) build on ongoing capacity support provided by ADB through capacity building technical assistance. Under Tranche 1, the services of a consulting firm will be engaged to provide training to at least 20 staff on (i) strategic corporate planning, business planning, and management, and (ii) accounting, financial management, planning, and control.
(iii) support project implementation with focus on detailed engineering, construction supervision, procurement, safeguard compliance, and the preparation of subsequent tranches of the investment program.