Community Development Project
Vietnam's northern uplands are characterized by diverse natural
resources, poor infrastructure, 
mainly self-sufficient small farmer
household economies, low per capita incomes, and a high rate of
poverty. The provinces in the North-western Vietnam are still among the
absolute poorest in Vietnam. Not only the poorest region, but as well
the region with most ethnic minority groups. The population of the
Northern provinces consist of app. 80 % ethnic minority groups.
In the northern region many different agricultural practises are
found, thus difficult to describe the region in simple and generalised
terms. Some are still practising slash and burn, whereas others are
specialised in production of certain vegetables. 
Further more,
small-scale vegetable production in the backyard is an important part
of the daily diet, for almost all farmers. The picture is the classic
that those farmers living nearby the cities are producing in the most
effective manner and the remotest areas are producing very inefficient.
The project is supporting a part of the Farmer Union (DEMMA) to assist the population in the region. Some activities will be allocated to provincial, district and commune level to ensure the flow of information, but the objective is to strengthen the organisation at community level. The project can be seen as six phases for implementation:
- Capacity building at DEMMA and VNFU at local levels
- Planning and development of training material
- Training of trainers
- Conduct Farmer Field Schools
- Initiate the Village Development Planning
- Establish and work with the local farmer groups
The village groups are expected to take initiative to new activities
according to the needs of the 
community, they are expected to
communicate the needs to local authorities and they are expected to
support the members in agricultural production and marketing of their
produce.
The topics discussed at the village meetings are different from one village group to the other, but it is assumed that health, education of children, community facilities e.g. schools, roads, wells etc., new laws or regulations, irrigation systems, agricultural production, forest management and marketing possibilities are among the topics discussed by the groups.
The project is implemented in Hoa Binh, Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau,
Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces. 
The target is to train 13.500 farmers
through an adopted FFS approach. They will be trained in combined
Community Development / Maize FFS. Further to the direct training of
the 13.500 farmers, the rest of the population in the villages will
have access to the village planning meetings and the improved extension
service on agriculture and agro-forestry. The project is expecting to
have established Community Development groups in 240 villages
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