Policy brief: DFID support for the MDGs in Vietnam

Authors

Landell Mills Limited, Mekong Development Research Institute

Published

December 2015

INTRODUCTION

Development cooperation between the United Kingdom(UK) and Vietnam dates back to the early 1960s. It entered a new phase in 1998 when UK-DFID opened an office in Hanoi, appointing a Head of Office in 1999. Soon after, DFID scaled up the level of development assistance to Vietnam substantially. The UK has been one of Vietnam’s principal bilateral official development assistance (ODA) donors over the last 15 years. Almost all DFID ODA to Vietnam has been allocated under three so-called pillars: (a) the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); (b) Governance; and (c) Wealth Creation. The MDG pillar is by far the largest in terms of expenditure; up to 2012, just under 60% of total DFID bilateral support for Vietnam was allocated under it. Bilateral development cooperation between the UK and Vietnam will end in 2016 with the closure of the DFID office in Hanoi. DFID has engaged Landell Mills to undertake an evaluation of UK development cooperation with Vietnam since 1999. This document summarises and highlights key findings, distilling some emerging key lessons for development cooperation.