The Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project (2002 to 2007) was one of the two World Bank financed projects in Vietnam that adopted a Community Driven Development (CDD) approach with aims to achieve accelerated rural development and targeted poverty reduction in some of the poorest rural areas of the country. The project was designed and introduced to support the Government’s efforts to maintain growth with equity, and to help address widening differences in the rate of economic development between urban and rural areas. The project was an integral part of the Government’s overall program for poverty reduction in the remote and difficult mountainous areas, which included the majority of Vietnam's poorest rural communes.
The project has drawn on the experiences of decentralized and participatory projects in Vietnam, such as UNDP/IFAD/UNCDF projects, as well as projects in the other countries in the region such as the First and Second Village Infrastructure Projects in Indonesia and the Southwest and Qinba Mountains Poverty Reduction Projects in China.
The development objective was consistent with the priorities of the Country Assistance Strategy (1998) and the CAS Progress Report in place at the project appraisal in 2000 and the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper in 2001 which included accelerated rural development and targeted rural poverty reduction as one of the main goals. The project concept was built upon the Government’s ongoing policy initiatives and targeted poverty reduction programs that explicitly encouraged a decentralized development process and Decree 29 on Grassroots Democracy which provided a well-defined framework for consultation, participation, and transparency concerning public works at the commune level.
