On two days 5-6/12/2013, the Consultative Institute for Socio-Ecnonomic Development of Rural and Mountainous Areas (CISDOMA) organized the TOT program of Grassroots Democracy and Citizen Involvement.

This was an activity of the Vietnam Anti-Corruption Initiatives (VACI) 2013 project “Replicating the pilot model of community participation in the planning of public facilities at local level” sponsored by World Bank in Vietnam.

The training was attended by Heads of People’s Inspectorates of 15 communes and hamlets, and representatives of different authoritative bodies in Yen Thanh commune; its trainer was Ha Hoa Ly, M.A, Lecturer from Vietnam National Academy of Politics and Public Administration.

The program aimed at helping the participants:

  • Fully grasp Grassroots Democracy Ordinance, including its content, methods used and specific responsibilities of different authoritative bodies;
  • Acquire necessary skills to promote Grassroots Democracy Ordinance in the community; and
  • Apply Grassroots Democracy Ordinance in community’s activities.

Various participatory methods were used during the training, including focus group discussion, sampling and using visual tools. These methods were effective in providing participants with practical experiences and useful knowledge.

The participants understood the main content of Grassroots Democracy Ordinance, including “People know, People discuss, People do and People monitor,” and the benefits of people’s participation in local activities; they were also afforded the opportunities to put the Ordinance into practice using visual tool and sampling methods.

According to the participants, the most important outcome of the training was they had acquired improved presentation skill. They were able to select appropriate methods to bring Grassroots Democracy Ordinance to the community, at the same time integrate the Ordinance into community activities such as poverty reduction and provision of public facilities.

At the end of the course, a post-training survey showed that the participants felt satisfied with the training and the methods being used. They also expressed their hope that more time would be allocated to similar courses in the future. Hoang Thanh Dai, President of the People’s Committee of Yen Thanh commune, said at the closing workshop of the course that “We appreciate the significance of this two-day training course. Officers of 15 communes and towns in Quang Binh district and we, the People’s Committee of Yen Thanh commune, sincerely thank Mrs. Ha Hoa Ly and CISDOMA for helping us understand the benefits of Grassroots Democracy Ordinance, and grasp the gist of the Ordinance to bring these knowledge into different activities of the community.”

TH