Learning Record

Date: 9 November, 2017

Questions: What were some events that made Vietnam what it is today?
Summary:
In 1858, Vietnam was invaded by France, and France built Vietnam colony. Later on,
France incorporated Vietnam into French Indochina. In 1954, France still continued to rule
Vietnam until they had been defeated by communist forces that led by Ho Chi Minh. After
that, Vietnam was divided into two states including the North Vietnam and the South
Vietnam. North Vietnam was the Communist Democratic Republic while the South Vietnam
was the anti-Communist Republic. In 1965, the Vietnam war began. The North Vietnam was
supported by its communist allies, and the South Vietnam was supported by the US and
other anticommunist nations. Eventually, the North Vietnam won the war and became the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1975 which caused the war to terminate.
Analysis and opinion:
In my opinion, the Vietnam war had a lots of effects on society. The most directly
effect of the Vietnam war was the staggering death toll. The war caused many diseases and
hungers in the society which lead to poverty in Vietnams country until today. At that time,
Vietnamese civilians were killed and suffered from the war. Therefore, it was one of most
difficult time for Vietnam civilians to survive. In addition, the Vietnam war also caused the
children in present day growing up with a various disease and disabilities that affected by
the harmful chemicals carried out in the war.
References:
-Vietnam profile - Timeline. (2017, October 30). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/
world-asia-pacific-16568035
-Rosenberg, J. (n.d.). A Timeline of the Most Important Events of the Vietnam War. Retrieved
from https://www.thoughtco.com/vietnam-war-timeline-1779963
Date: 10 November, 2017
Questions: What caused the poverty in Vietnam?
Summary:
There were several factors behind the poverty in Vietnam in rural area including
geographical isolation, limited market access, low rates of out-migration, low level of
education, limited access to quality land, and social exclusion, culture, and language. Lower
education is one of the significant factors that causing the poverty in Vietnam. For example,
the higher education led to the more opportunity to connect with market and access to
quality land. Furthermore, civil war between northern Vietnam and southern Vietnam also
causes lots of material and supplies spend in it. In addition, Vietnam was invaded by France
colonies which make overuse of supplies which destroy Vietnam environment which result
as deterioration of environment.
Analysis and opinion:
In my personal view, there are two significant factors that causing the poverty in
Vietnam. The first one is they lack of knowledge and education. So, they cant earn a lot of
money from their career to make their life better. The second one is a long-term battle which
causing an inefficient and unreliable infrastructure in their country. I reckon that the failing
infrastructure is considered as a important cause of poverty in Vietnam. I think that the
government should handle these problems as soon as possible. For example, the water
system and roadways should be improve, and they should flourish the education for young
people.
References:
-Demombynes, G. (2013). Why is ethnic minority poverty persistent in Vietnam?. Retrieved
from http://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/why-ethnic-minority-poverty-persistent-
vietnam
-Trosclair, E.(2017). A Long-Term Battle: Remaining Causes of Poverty in Vietnam. Retrieved
from https://borgenproject.org/remaining-causes-of-poverty-in-vietnam/
Date: 16 November, 2017
Questions: What were some effects of poverty in Vietnam?
Summary:
Effects of poverty on Children
As Vietnam has a mountainous and highland region as the main geography of their
land, people still struggle to travel between urban area and rural area which cause
the civilization is hardly reach.
Health care station is far away from rural area which make people mostly decided to
stay home more than go to hospital or nearest health care clinic
Education is poor due to the method and the path to go to school. Rural area student
usually drop out of school because parent cannot afford the tuition fee.
Effect of war to present
Vietnamese income is usually based on agricultural which that land that is use to
plant food are destroyed because of the wars
Environment are destroyed because of the Agent orange that is used to kill forest
and people in that area cause the forest to hardly repair themselves because the
chemical destroy the mineral in soils too.
Agent orange also cause genes mutation if people get contact with it which make
human that lives in that area reproduce child that have disabilities.
Analysis and opinion:
The poverty in Vietnam affected the country in various ways including economic,
health problem, and children. In my personal view, these effects are remaining from the war.
For example, Agent orange, the chemical that used by U.S. military during Vietnam War.
This chemical caused a major effects in the past and also remaining until today. It also
damaged environment and caused health problems for the individuals who were exposed
this chemical such as respiratory cancers, diabetes, and disabilities for the newborn baby.
References:
-The Effects of Poverty on the Children of Vietnam(2015). Retrieved from
https://borgenproject.org/vietnam-war-impact-remains/
-Pham, P.(2013) Vietnam War. The impact remains. Retrieved from http://
vinacapitalfoundation.org/the-effects-of-poverty-on-the-children-of-vietnam/
Date: 17 November, 2017
Questions: What the government has done to deal with the poverty in Vietnam?
Summary:
Many newspapers company run a charity fund, and publishing articles about people
with extreme needs. They also collecting donations from readers.
In terms of Churches, schools and other organizations. They also run charitable
programs to provide technical and financial aids to people in need.
In terms of government, they development Infrastructure, legal framework and
policies, sustainable economic development, give education and financial support. Also
they make a loans from the World Bank Group
Support to multi-dimensional poverty reduction in urban areas
UNDP has cooperated with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city to develop and implement the
Project Support to in-depth assessment of urban poverty in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh
city in the period of 2008-2011.
This project provided the comprehensive information on urban poverty reality to
contribute to formulation and implementation of poverty reduction.
MDGs monitoring and reporting -An institutionalized framework for monitoring,
advocating, advising, and South-South cooperation
Vietnam produced three MDG reports in 2005, 2008 and 2010. The quality of these
reports has been improved over the years. Vietnam plans to prepare two more reports
in 2013 and 2015 to about the progress and results of MDGs implementation.
Support for the Task Force on Implementation of the Enterprise Law and the
Investment Law
Building on the success of the Project VIE 01/025 Institutional Reform for Business
Development which supported the drafting process of the Enterprise Law and the
Investment Law.
This project improve the effectiveness of the implementation and enforcement of these
new laws through support to the Task Force on Implementation of the Enterprise Law
and the Investment Law.
Analysis and opinion:
In my opinion, the government should find more specific ways to deal with the
poverty in Vietnam. Although Vietnamese can improve their living condition to be better
from the past, they still suffered with poverty and hunger. Moreover, there still have many
people who lived under the poverty line. On the other hand, the government should be
more concentrate and strict for the law. For example, they should be more focusing on the
Enterprise Law and the Investment Law in order to raise the economic in Vietnam to be
better. So, I think that this will help the people to escape from poverty and hunger in
Vietnam.
References:
About Vietnam. (2017). Retrieved from http://www.vn.undp.org/content/vietnam/en/home/
countryinfo.html

Date: 23 November, 2017

Questions: The brief summary of poverty in Vietnam.
Summary:
-In 1990, Vietnam was the poorest country in the world. Most of the Vietnamese population
lived under the poverty line which is the line of minimum income level in a particular
country. At that time, Vietnam got an income lower than US $100 per year. After 20 years,
Vietnam developed their country in order to increase the country income rate and decrease
the poverty rate. Therefore, the status of poverty and hunger in Vietnam was decreased
dramatically. Vietnamese population had better living conditions.
-In 2010, Vietnam became a lower middle-income country. However, it still cant escape the
poverty. The populations of Vietnam who lived in rural areas dont have enough foods to eat
or enough clothes to wear.They were suffering from poverty and hunger. In addition, they
dont have enough money to afford the higher education. So, they worked on the farm to
support their family. They continued to live in poverty even they got married. Their child also
doesnt have an opportunity to get in a good career because of their education level and
work experience. So, it was very difficult to escape from poverty and hunger.
Analysis and opinion:
From the data above, I got it from the youtubes video about what will it take to end
poverty in Vietnam. After I watched the video, I think that it is quite difficult for Vietnam
people to escape from poverty and hunger. Because in the video it compared between two
brothers that worked in different places. Eventually, they had the same end and suffered
with poverty due to lack of education, and losing their jobs. In addition, it also said that
these 2 brothers are similar to among nearly 15 millions poor people in Vietnam. Therefore,
they should find a better solution to solve a poverty in Vietnam.
References:
-Montbleau, R. (2017). Poverty in Vietnam. Retrieved from https://borgenproject.org/state-
of-poverty-in-vietnam/
Date: 27 November, 2017
Questions: What province was the problem worse in Vietnam?
Summary:
According to the data from the World Bank, Lai Chau province is the poorest province
in Vietnam. It has about 76 percent of poverty headcount which is the highest percent of
poverty headcount in Vietnam. Firstly, it has approximately 370,134 people who lived in this
province with more than three-quarters of its population living below the poverty line. This is
probably reflection of their mountainous geography, distance from the major market, and
limited infrastructure minorities. In addition, ethnic minorities also it makes up more than
half of the population in this province. Ethnic minorities in Lai Chau province are terribly
disadvantaged due to the lack of education, infrastructure, transportation, health care and
other services. For the income and poverty, Lai Chau is the slowest growing provinces over
the period of time. The economics of Lai Chau grew at 2-3 percent per year in per capita
terms. Furthermore, Lai Chau also has long been the poorest and least industrialized area in
northern Vietnam.
Analysis and opinion:
According to the data above, I think that the government should find the specific
ways to solve the poverty in Lai Chau. For instance, they should improve tourism because Lai
Chau has a beautiful nature and roadways. Therefore, they can earn a profit from the tourists
who come to visit Lai Chau. In addition, the government should support the rural people to
cultivate and domesticate because it will be a crucial source of foods for the people in that
area. It also helps to reduce the hunger problem as well. Therefore, Lai Chau can become a
better country without the poverty problem.
References:
-The world bank. (2017). Vietnam. Retrieved from http://www5.worldbank.org/mapvietnam/
-Vietnam poverty analysis (2012). Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/
INTVIETNAM/Resources/Vietnam-Poverty-Analysis.pdf