Strengthening Capacity of People's Councils

The Project “Strengthening Capacity of People's Elected Bodies in Vietnam“ provides technical assistance to strengthen the capacities of People’s Councils at sub-national level. People’s Councils (PCs) are elected representative bodies at Provincial, District and Commune levels. The Project is basically working with PCs at provincial level, but its action gets also disseminated through indirect impact to PCs at lower territorial levels – Districts and Communes. The primary goal of this assistance is to enhance representative and decision-making capacities of the People’s Councils, their deputies and staff. The Project provides its support to the People’s Councils through activities oriented to produce impact on the following areas:

Strengthening the representative function of People’s Councils

In this area, the project supports the improvement in the relationships between People’s Councils and their deputies and voters. An important component of the project was aimed at supporting the “2004 election of deputies to People’s Councils” through the dissemination of information.

Capacity Development of People’s Councils

The project is aimed at strengthening the management and administration of People’s Councils. For that purpose, training and sharing of national and international experiences are two important tools to be used. The project is supporting the establishment of a “Resource Centre for Elected Representatives” that will serve not only the needs of members of the parliament but also those of People’s Councils deputies. Support to consultations and debates on policy issues will also take place, in several cases mirroring similar topics and activities supporting the National Assembly.

Although activities and outputs of the project may benefit in different ways the People’s Councils in the 64 provinces of the country, the project is focused on 15 selected provinces, covering the northern, central and southern regions.

Support to the People’s Councils is delivered by the project through coordination and policy guidelines provided by the Office of the National Assembly (according to the Constitution, the Law on Organization of the National Assembly, and the Law on the Organization the People's Councils and People's Committees, People's Councils are subject to supervision by the National Assembly).

Vietnamese Local Government System: Legal Framework  l 15 Project-Related Provincial People's Councils