Over the past two decades there have been major changes in land use in Vietnam. The country’s economy is in a transition phase with a series of restructuring processes, re-arranging the scale and mode of production. The process of urbanization and industrialization requires changes to land use and the redistribution of land use rights.
There have been many conflicts involving land, often because local people do not agree with the compensation provided by state agencies for their land. One of the reasons is that the state agencies do not consult communities and they do not provide information in a timely manner.
The project Citizen participation in monitoring and management of land use in Vietnam is extremely important as it helps bring people’s voice to state management agencies. Consideration should be given to adjusting accordingly, creating a consensus, reducing negative impacts and minimizing risks leading to conflicts and land disputes when implementing land use plans and plans.
However, in the context of a lack of legal documents and regulations, the participation of people in the land is still limited. One of the reasons is that people, even officials in land-use agencies, have not yet understood how people can exercise their supervisory rights in land.
FORLAND organised a workshop in Ha Tinh City on 26.1.2018 to share the results of the project in Son Tho commune, Vu Quang district, Ha Tinh province. More than 100 participants attended the workshop, including representatives from government departments and NGOs. The workshop was chaired by Mr. Bui Nhan Sam, Ha Tinh Provincial People’s Committee and co-chaired by Mr. Ngo Van Hong Director of CIRD, coordinator of FORLAND network.
The project piloted a citizen handbook for monitoring land administration and helped to bring the concerns of the community regarding shortcomings in the implementation of land policy in the area to the attention of government. The Citizens’ Handbook on Land Administration has been developed with the purpose of providing a general guide on methods and procedures for people to monitor, collect information and assess the management of land according to the law.