The Country Framework (CF) is an overall strategic framework which reflects and binds a commitment to the principles of Leave No One Behind (LNOB). Additionally, it adheres to the UN system’s obligations to international standards and treaties covering many areas and aspects such as environment, population, agriculture, etc. Based on CF Theory of Change (TOC), the FAO’s CPF TOC is built around CF outcomes, under which CPF specifies technical elements that are relevant to FAO’s functions and mandates. This approach will ensure that FAO CPF will be aligned with the overall CF, contribute to CF outcomes as well as SDGs and relevant targets. Specifically, the CPF TOC describes the linkages between technical interventions relevant to FAO’s work and expected results.

The CPF development process has benefitted from a cross-disciplinary approach and inclusive consultation with a range of stakeholders, although constrained to some extent by COVID-19 restrictions. This has included multi-disciplinary planning and consultations with MARD and relevant ministries and agencies at the national, research institutions, academia, and expert level.

CPF 2022 - 2026 sets out four priority areas below

The OH is an integrated approach that recognizes this fundamental relationship and ensures that specialists in multiple sectors work together to tackle health threats to animals, humans, plants, and the environment. The OH approach is important for national and global health security in implementing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations (2005) and the international standards in animal health, veterinary public health, zoonotic diseases, and animal welfare developed by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), and to contribute to many SDGs and the 2030 Agenda. 

The CPF will contribute to the strengthening of Viet Nam’s health, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, nutrition, pandemic and EPR systems and ensure that all people, with focus on vulnerable groups, have equitable access to comprehensive, affordable, gender-responsive, climate-resilient, and environmentally sensitive services. Additionally, FAO will support Viet Nam’s agricultural sector to improve capacities for response to and recovery from COVID-19 and future pandemics.

The CPF seeks to continue supporting Viet Nam in revision and implementation of NDCs and GGS in the agriculture sector. Enforcement of the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection and 2017 Planning Law, as well as related National Resources Management (NRM) laws and regulations, will also be important to materialize the circular agricultural economy. Supplementary to the OH approach, the improvement of soil and water health, especially through FAO’s Water Scarcity Program (WSP) for Asia-Pacific, coupled with the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) initiative, will be key areas to support the country in developing new legal, regulatory and policy frameworks, including those on land, water and fisheries tenure, to deal with depletion of agricultural resources, on the basis of the Five Principles of Sustainable Food and Agriculture5. It is becoming evident that a stringent set of policies on disaster risk management in agriculture and rural sectors should be enacted, following the Sendai Framework. In addition to humanitarian aid interventions in response to the Government’s appeals following specific disasters, the CPF is to dedicate to strengthen capacities, inter-disciplinary coordination, and improve institutional settings to strengthen community preparedness, mitigation, resilience, and recovery against disaster risks

During 2021, several FS Dialogues were held in Viet Nam, consolidating multi-stakeholder networks’ inputs to Viet Nam’s transformation pathways. At the UN FS Summit on 23 September 2021, the Vietnamese delegation headed by the President affirmed the national ambition to transform FS towards a more transparent, responsible and sustainable manner, with six priorities: (1) green/ low-carbon agriculture, CCA and post pandemic building-back-better (including rural economic and food security); (2) promotion of Responsible Agriculture Investment (RAI) by private sector and Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in agriculture using innovations and technologies; (3) application of food balance sheets to orient production and distribution; (4) farmer/consumer-centric digital transformation policy and institutional reforms; (5) establishing innovation and creativity networks, preparedness to become a regional Food Innovation Hub; and (6) international cooperation in Early Warning and Early Actions (EWEAs) for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The CPF is set to support the formulation and roll-out of the upcoming National Action Plan on FS Transformation along the above-mentioned identified pathways.

This CPF strategic priority is cross-cutting and supports the fourth strategic priority of CF: (1) enabling environment towards innovative, responsive, accountable, and transparent national systems in participation of vulnerable groups in the sustainable development process; and (2) strengthening data management to inform evidence-based and rights-based policies, planning and budgeting that supports sustainable agriculture development in both angles of production and consumption. To further develop capacity of governance institutions and civic participation of vulnerable groups, the FAO, in collaboration with other UN agencies, will support in creating an enabling environment to foster innovative, responsive, accountable, and transparent national systems. The FAO and other CPF parties will integrate accountability, transparency, technology application, digitalization, and full implementation of egovernance for efficient and transparent delivery of Government services into its technical interventions. The FAO also pays more attention in mainstreaming cross-cutting issues such as Gender, PWDs, youth, ethnic minorities, etc., into its support and projects. Additionally, in this area, the CPF parties will focus on issues relating to data management to improve the effectiveness of policies, planning and budgeting that respond to the special needs of vulnerable groups in the agriculture sector by integrating these issues into its technical interventions. In its technical interventions, the CPF parties will incorporate support to increase the availability and accessibility of data and statistics for improved monitoring and policy design, whilst improving the participation and empowerment of NGOs, the private sector, and communities as key partners for SDG achievement. The strategic approach reflected in this CPF will also encourage the application of responsive and protective laws, policies, and statistical methodologies in line with international standards to better capture the context and needs of vulnerable groups, as well as the effectiveness of ongoing interventions.