Social welfare and social work in viet nam 15 years of doi moi

VIET NAM NATIONAL CENTER FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

INSTITUTE OF SOCIOLOGY
________________________________________________

Social Welfare and Social Work in Viet Nam:
15 Years of Doi Moi

Bui The Cuong, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Sociology
Email:

Paper presented at the International Conference "Viet Nam in the 20th Century",
held in Ha Noi, September 19-21, 2000 and organized by the Viet Nam
National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities. A Vietnamese version
titled “Social Welfare and Social Work in Viet Nam During 1990s” has been
published in “Review of Sociology” (Institute of Sociology, Ha Noi), No.
3&4(67&68)/ 1999, pp. 3-9.

Ha Noi - August, 2000
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The major three institutions of the modern state are politics, economy and social
welfare. To play an important role, because the social welfare aims to meet basic social
needs of social groups and to construct social relationships. With such function, social
welfare impacts strongly the reduction of social gaps and the strength of social cohesion
(Harold L. Wilensky & Charles N. Lebeaux, 1965; International Labour Conference, 1993;
Manfred G. Schmidt, 1988).

DOI MOI AND SOCIAL WELFARE

During the 1990s, social and cultural structures in Viet Nam have been dramatically
changed due to the transition from the central planned economy based on agricultural
foundations to the socialistic-oriented market economy driven by the state.
The experiences of early Doi Moi indicated that the high rate of the Government
budget for social welfare during the phase 1988-1993 contributed to the successful transition
in its first years (The World Bank, 1995). It is recently noted that the role of the social
welfare network should be increased in coming steps of the reform.
The social welfare agenda of the Government puts a series of emerging issues. For
example, the Multi-purpose Household Survey conducted by the National Statistic Office in
1994-1997 has shown that the income gap was being not de-, so increasing. The income
difference between the richest 20% households and the poorest 20% ones was 6.5 fold in
1994. It was 7.3 in 1996. The richest 20% households owned 47%, while the poorest 20%
households owned only 6.4% of the total income in 1996 (National Statistic Office, 1998).1
The analysis of the World Bank revealed that although the public expenses for the social
sector were very high, the social welfare policy of Viet Nam was still non pro-poor (The
World Bank, 1995 and 1999; David Preston, 1999).
During the 15 years of Doi Moi, in the general expansion of social sciences,
numerous studies on social welfare have been carried out. Today, it is needed to review the
existed data and materials in order to give the recommendations and solutions for shaping a
new social welfare system based on an appropriate theory.

THREE MODELS OF SOCIAL WELFARE

Figure 1 describes three types of social welfare that Viet Nam has been experiencing.
I would like to name them as the traditional type of social welfare, the social welfare of the
socialistic central planned economy and the social welfare of the socialistic-oriented market
economy. The column 2 presents major institutions (actors) participated in the functioning of

the system. The column 3 identifies the characteristics (principles) of each type. Those three
types are the abstracts of the reality. In history, they replace each other. However, the
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The Viet Nam Living Standards Survey 1998 provided with the same indicators (Tong cuc Thong ke, 1999).

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present reality is a mixture, a corporation by different way of these three types.
Figure 1.

Systemic Models of Social Welfare in Viet Nam

Component

Institutions

Features

Traditional social
welfare

v Immediate family
v Extended family, clan
v Community (associations at
village level, neighbors,
religious organizations)

v Comprehensive social welfare within villages:
The family and extended family play primary
roles for support, but clan and community
institutions are also important.
v Central state sets laws and regulations for
social welfare in villages.

Social welfare based
on socialistic central
planned economy
(since the end 1950s
in North and the end
1970s in South until
the end 1980s)

v
v
v
v

State
State enterprise/agency
Cooperatives
State-affiliated mass
organizations
v Neighborhood
v External agency

v Social security established for all citizens by

incorporating them into state and cooperative
sectors.
v Developing social insurance for state workers
and social security for cooperative members,
especially in rural areas.
v Emphasis on planning and managing of social
welfare from central state.

Social welfare based
on socialisticoriented market
economy (since the
end 1980s until
now)

v State
v State-affiliated mass
organizations
v State, private and other
enterprise/agency
v Family
v Community
v Civil society
v Individual
v External agency

v State plays key role in strongly increasing
involvement of all sectors of society in
contributing to social welfare.
v Role of private sector recognized and
increased.

v Enhanced role of local governments relative to
central government.
v Favoring role of individual households.
v Expanding social security and insurance for all
citizens in all sectors.
v Greater economic and administrative
independence of state agencies of social
insurance.
v Open to external assistance.

Source: Bui The Cuong, Truong Si Anh, Daniel Goodkind, John Knodel and Jed Friedman. Vietnamese Elderly
Amidst Transformations in Social Welfare Policy. PSC Reports. 1999.

SITUATION OF SOCIAL WELFARE

Based on observations and recent studies, I try to give 10 comments on the current
situation of social welfare. They should be seen as the hypothesis that should be tested by
appropriate empirical researches, rather than the conclusions.
1.
The social welfare of Viet Nam has been experiencing three types of social welfare
described in the figure 1. They are not absolutely replaced each other. The latter includes
many characteristics of the previous one. The present reality of social welfare is a mixture, a

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corporation of these three types. With that kind of the transition, the Viet Nam state and
society could successfully overcome (experience) numerous historical events, such as wars,

crisis, embargo, and transition. However, even that kind of the transformation yields the
difficulties and challenges, which the social welfare system is facing with.
In this matter, it is lack of social welfare studies to identify the current type of social
welfare and to shape a new social welfare system for the next future of the country based on
an appropriate theory or doctrine.
2.
The 1990s are marked as an important phase, in which a legal and policy framework
of social welfare for socialistic-oriented market economy is rapidly developed.
3.
The Government of Viet Nam gave high investments in social welfare sector
compared to many countries at the same economic level. However, the effects and efficiency
of these investments should be in question. The economics of social welfare has been
overlooked.
4.
Emerging are some serious constrains and problems in several major components of
the social welfare system, especially in the social insurance, health care and education. The
common dimension of those constrains and problems would be the increasing
commercialization of the social welfare system, while there is lack of efficient official
framework of the management.
5.
The civil social welfare has been strongly developed during the 1990s. However,
there is lack of an appropriate legal and policy framework. Consequently, the potentials of
this sector are not encouraged.
6.
Social welfare of the state and non-state sector is not yet basically restructured. This
leads to the situation that there is lack of new appropriate framework, while numerous outdated social welfare policies are obstructing the economic growth and efficiency. Poor social
protection for employees in private sector versus "overstaff" in public sector, poor social
expenses in private sector versus too high social costs in state-owned enterprises, those are
some evidences.
7.

There is lack of the systematic social welfare policies in some important sectors, such
as social welfare in the rehabilitation system and the school system.
8.
The diversity of social welfare by region, sector, method is rapidly increasing during
the 1990s to significantly address the social welfare needs. However, it brings with many
challenges to the state management of social welfare, which is very slowly changed to adapt
to new developments.
9.
The decentralization of the social welfare system is increasing, while there is lack of
strong legal and policy framework to efficiently manage on this tendency.
10.

The research and education of social welfare (including social workers and policy-

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makers) have been developing during the 1990s. However, those remain still in out-dated
theories, methodologies, methods and techniques. There are very few good textbooks and
studies on social welfare. Professional social welfare researchers and workers are still rarely
found out.

DIVERSITY OF SOCIAL WORK

The reality of social work in Viet Nam today combines of different origins, including
the tradition of mutual assistance in traditional family and clan systems as well as in
indigenous village culture; the values and norms of social welfare in the Confucianism,
Buddhism and Christians; the social work in the socialistic central planned economy; the

social work in terms of the Western tradition.
Doi Moi opened a new phase for social work with new opportunities and challenges.
Emerging are new social problems ever unknown. A new legal and policy framework is
setting up. New actors of social work are born. Roles in social work are restructuring. New
approaches, methodologies and methods of social work are being applied. The reality of the
present transformation in Viet Nam is likely one among the most interesting laboratory of
social work as a politics, a science and an art.

DISTRIBUTION OF SOCIAL WORK

What does the social work contribute to the current transformation? To answer, there
is not any sound study. However, a series of assessment researches on different social
programs and projects could suggest a portrait with some light points as follows.
1.
The policy of the Government, which emphasized on the social sector, led to
developing a series of national and local social programs. This significantly improved social
conditions for the population and also for disadvantaged groups in many regions. A noteable
evidence was that the rate of the poverty was reduced from the half of the households to 3035% of ones during the period 1993-1998, as indicated in the data of VLSS conducted in
1993 and 1998.
2.
The mass organizations, strongly supported by the state, well organized from central
to commune level, and having rich experience in the people mobilization, have been trying to
overcome their weakness, to improve their methods of social work.
3.
Doi Moi creates a new sector of social work beside the one of official mass
organizations and agencies. It is non-government sector, including volunteer social work
agencies and workers to support and advocate for vulnerable aged, children, disabled, etc.
4.
With the open-door policy, an important component of the reform named Doi Moi,
the international assistance is strongly increased. Some hundreds of international agencies

are conducting social programs and projects to help the Vietnamese people. Through the
collaboration with international projects, many Vietnamese development workers learn so

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much experiences and skills of the modern social work.

WEAKNESSES OF SOCIAL WORK

Above, only positive aspects of the current social work have been mentioned. To be
thinking for next phases, it is needed to discuss about its weaknesses. In my knowledge, I
would like to highlight the 5 points as follows:
1.
There is no match between the large investments of the state and society in social
sector and their effects. Much money invested in the social sector is inefficiently used, due
to three reasons: (a) Not all financial sources are given to the people; (b) Not everywhere
and at any time the money is given to the competent social workers and agencies; (c) It is
not well monitored.
2.
The state and mass organizations have been trying to overcome their bureaucratic
methods of social work. However, it is not yet met the present demands. In other hand, the
prevalence of current complicated social problems requires the increasing participation of
broader stakeholders.
In the paper “Empirical Rresearch in Social Policy” published in 1994, I had
comment that until now there was lack of a full legal framework for social work. Even given
such a framework, it was needed to change the actual attitude and behavior to nongovernment social work to set up an encouraging environment for this sector. The
dominated situation in the economic sector was that foreign investors were more respected

than the domestic ones, state-owned enterprises were more emphasized that did the non-state
ones. Similarly, in the social sector there was still significant difference in attitude and
behavior toward the state versus the non-state social workers and agencies, the foreign social
workers (much money) versus the domestic ones. That comment is still right today.
3.
The social work practice established some networks of collaboration, information and
experience exchanges. However, it is narrow. It is needed to set up a broader, national
network for domestic social workers.
4.
Viet Nam has numerous full-time social workers, who are playing key role in social
welfare activities. However, one among their weaknesses is that the majority of them are
lack of knowledge and skills of modern social work. Even if they have, it is difficult for
them to realize their knowledge and skills due to many institutional and organizational
constrains.
Viet Nam owns not few institutions of social work education and training. However,
in those agencies the qualification of teaching is low, the research and education methods are
out-dated compared to current international developments. The reasons would include poor
human resource and bad organizing, especially at medium level. It should be emphasized on
the latter. In my knowledge, we would have competent social work educators, who could
well implement an university curriculum at the regional (Southeast) level.

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5.
In summary, the Vietnamese social workers today need urgently (a) An appropriate
and open legal and policy framework functioning in fact; (b) A broad network of
collaboration; (c) A long-term national program on social work education.

REFERENCES

Bui The Cuong, Truong Si Anh, Daniel Goodkind, John Knodel and Jed Friedman. Vietnamese
Elderly Amidst Transformations in Social Welfare Policy. PSC Reports. 1999.
Bui The Cuong. Nghien cuu Thuc nghiem Chinh sach Xa hoi [Empirical research of social policy].
In: Tuong Lai (editor). Xa hoi hoc Tu Nhieu Huong Tiep can [Sociology from different approaches].
Ha Noi, 1994.
David Preston. Social Safety Nets in Viet Nam. International Labor Organisation. October, 1999.
Harold L. Wilensky & Charles N. Lebeaux. Industrial Society and Social Welfare. The Free Press.
New York, 1965.
International Labour Conference, 80th Session. Social Insurance and Social Protection. Report of the
Director-General (Part I). Geneva, 1993.
Manfred G. Schmidt. Sozialpolitik. Historische Entwicklung und Internationaler Vergleich. Leske +
Budrich. Opladen, 1988.
The World Bank. Viet Nam Development Report 2000: Attacking the Poverty. Ha Noi, December,
1999.
Tong cuc Thong ke [National Statistics Office]. Dieu tra Ho gia dinh Da Muc tieu [Multi-purposes
Household Survey]. Ha Noi, 1998.
Tong cuc Thong ke/VIE/95/043 [National Statistics Office]. Dieu tra Muc song Dan cu Viet Nam
1997-1998 [Viet Nam Living Standards Survey 1997-1998]. Ha Noi, August 1999.
The World Bank. Viet Nam: Poverty and Assessment. Washington D.C. 1995.

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