Minimum guidelines for CSV implementation

Climate-smart village (CSV) has been demonstrated as a good model to practice climate-smart agriculture technologies and practices (CSA T&Ps) for enhancing adaptive capacity and resilience to climate change in rural areas worldwide. This material documents detailed stepwise guidelines for CSV implementation at village level from three CSVs that have been successfully established for three distinctive agroecologies of Yen Bai province. These CSVs were developed in three different projects, such as the CCAFS FP2.1 (2015-2018), VIBE 2018.05 (2019-2021), and NTM (2020) projects. The document will provide technical guidance for improving the implementation of Vietnam’s National Target Program on New Rural Development (NTM) in the 2021-2030 Strategy towards climate adaptation and resilience in vulnerable rural areas

Outcome and impact assessment of the Climate-Smart Village Program in Northern Vietnam

Yen Bai province inherits representative biophysical, socio-economic, smaller-holder farming characteristics to economic marginalization and climatic risks and impacts to agricultural production and local livelihoods of Vietnam’s northern mountain region (NMR). The CCAFS project deployed to Ma Climate-Smart Village (CSV) in Yen Bai in 2015 with bilateral funding support from two other research projects aimed at setting up a demonstration-for-scaling example of a rural community equipped with capacities for enhanced climate adaptation and resilience. This study applied a three tier interview data collection methodology (key informant interviews – focus group discussions – indepth farmer interviews) to thoroughly investigate 120 households about six main outcomes accomplished by the project up until 2021. The project has achieved great outcomes from the village to the provincial levels. However, the project work still has a potential to be scaled to the National Target Program on New Rural Development (NTM) given its interest in developing resilient communities in climate-vulnerable regions across the country applying the CSV approach in its 2021-2025 strategy. Despite the closing of the CCAFS program by December 2021, this most important scaling pathway will be continued by the VIBE 2018.05 (funded by the Irish Aid) and COALESCE/2020/34 (funded by the Irish Research Council) under the management of Vietnam National University of Agriculture – a long-term strategic partner of the CCAFS program in the NRM

Impact assessment of a local seventeen-year initiative on cassava-based soil conservation measure on sloping land as a climate-smart agriculture practice in Van Yen District, Yen Bai Province, Vietnam

Van Yen District in Yen Bai Province represents the general terrain conditions and farming systems of the northern mountainous region of Vietnam. It has suffered land degradation due to soil erosion and nutrient depletion, which in turn led to declined crop yield, and food insecurity. The district experienced these impacts due to unsustainable upland agricultural practices. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development realized that their previous practices would not leave anything behind for the next generations. This prompted them to launch an agricultural conservation program in 2003 to restore degraded soils, which would improve the production in the farms, and diversify incomes and the household economy of local farmers. Over the 17 years of implementation, the program has introduced six conservation measures that have been well-received and implemented by the farmers of Van Yen. This report assesses the impacts of the 17-year program using the economic, environmental, and social lenses with a focus on the cassava crop, considering the traditional cassava monocrop system (or non-adoption group) and the six conservation measures (or adoption group). The study applied a mixed-methods approach, using semi-questionnaire to collect qualitative information from 488 farmers across six communes and surveys to collect soil samples to assess the levels of soil restoration among certain measures. The study also used the quantitative research findings from two other research studies conducted in Mau Dong Commune to help discuss its findings

Conservation agriculture for a climate-resilient and sustainable upland agriculture: A success story from a seventeen-year local program in northern Vietnam

The brief elaborates on the lessons learned from an impact assessment of a local seventeen-year initiative on cassava-based soil conservation measure on sloping land as a climate-smart agriculture practice in Van Yen District, Yen Bai Province, Vietnam. Focusing on the economic, environmental, and social benefits, the recommendations push for institutional level strategies on how this success story can be replicated in areas with similar biophysical and socio-economic conditions

Scaling the Climate-Smart Village model in national-level programs: The recommendations for adoption in the implementation of the Nông Thôn Mới (Vietnam’s National Target Program on New Rural Development) 2021-2030 Strategy

The New Rural Development Program or Nông Thôn Mới (NTM) is a national target program of Vietnam that has enabled 57% of rural communes to achieve the NTM status, which aims to raise the socio-economic standard of living of small communities while facilitating agricultural development. Agricultural development is threatened by the impacts of climate change, which carries high risk for an agriculture-dependent country like Vietnam. This Info Note discusses how the Climate-Smart Village (CSV) model can be applied in the NTM to help the communities under this program achieve “advanced” and “demonstration” status based on 19 criteria. Recommendations were listed on how to integrate the CSV model into the NTM