Localised poverty solutions key for third world, says researcher
A ‘one size fits all” approach to poverty doesn’t translate into effective solutions for third world nations says researcher and AUT Business School PhD graduate Son Thanh Tung, who has spent four and a half years studying poverty reduction initiatives in Vietnam.
Instead, Tung argues that poverty reduction measures need to be better tailored to the economic, social and political system of unique nations.
“Every developing nation defines poverty differently and each has its own unique economic, political and policy context that has a big impact on how these initiatives work. So when generic solutions are deployed without being localised, a lot of opportunities are missed,” says Tung.
After growing up with the reality of deprivation in Vietnam, Tung and his siblings have all moved into careers where they can make a positive difference. But when he first swapped his bank job for a grass-roots role on a UNDP poverty reduction project he quickly realised that initiatives that look good on paper can be ‘lost in translation’ on the ground.
“We need to frame the extent of poverty and policy responses to it in the national and international context,” says Tung.
He found that the major challenges for poverty reduction in Vietnam were at the interface between policy and practice. Minority ethnic groups in remote regions of the country and urban migrants were the most seriously disadvantaged groups, often excluded from poverty reduction services despite the government emphasis on targeting them.
“When conflicts emerge during the implementation of policy, such as differences between local and central government or between different ministries within government, then the policy objectives are effectively undermined.”
At AUT, Tung studied in the Department of Economics and played an important role as a member of the Asian and Pacific Development Programme established to examine 15 Asian and Pacific cities.
He has now returned to Vietnam to resume his appointment with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly named Saigon), where he will head up a research centre that is based on his PhD research and the Asian and Pacific Development Programme research. The mission of this research center is to enhance the research co-operation between the University of Social Sciences and Humanity and AUT as well as scholars in the Asia-Pacific Development Programme.
Tung’s primary PhD supervisor, AUT Professor Ian Shirley, believes he is “destined to play an extremely important role as a scholar in Vietnam and in the Asian and Pacific region.”
Tung graduated with a PhD in Economics entitled “A critical examination of Poverty Reduction initiatives in Vietnam” in July. Read his full thesis here.