“The greater the impact of the epidemic is, the wider the target audience will be. Therefore, the principle of policy making is to determine who is directly affected and faces difficulties the most.”

Đọc tiếng Việt tại đây.

(Interview with VietnamPlus) The Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs is building a support package for businesses and people facing difficulties due to COVID-19 with a total estimated value of over 27.3 billion VND. In the context of increasingly complicated epidemic developments, this package is expected to help businesses and employees overcome difficulties.

VietnamPlus reporter had an interview with Mr. Pham Quang Tu, Deputy Country Director of Oxfam in Vietnam about how to properly and accurately identify subjects in the new support package of the Government.

 

Good policy but incomplete implementation

- How do you evaluate the policies to support businesses and people facing difficulties due to COVID-19 in 2020 and lessons for the second support being proposed?

Mr. Pham Quang Tu: I highly appreciate the timely support policy of the government for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. However, the implementation of this support package has revealed some inadequacies and shortcomings.

According to Oxfam's assessment, many objects listed in the support package cannot be concretized. It is unfortunate when a good policy of the State has not been fully implemented, and those who should have received it have not yet enjoyed it. According to the assessment of the State agency, the disbursement of the support package remains low, only about 22%.

I hope the upcoming social security support package will learn lessons from that fact for better implementation. In my opinion, the causes of failure in implementing the first support package should be reviewed.

One of the biggest reasons why the implementation has not met the expectations is the criteria to determine the audience. The audience is too wide, the criteria are too tight, thus difficult to define.

Take informal workers as an example. They constantly move within the city and from the city to the countryside, thus often performing inadequate temporary residency - a must-have to receive support for migrants from rural to urban areas. The requirement to have a temporary residence card has been an obstacle to the payment of support for migrant workers. Another example is the group of farmers whose agricultural products are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, who has no clear support regulations either.

- In the draft of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs on the second support package, most of the policies to support employees are built on the basis of social insurance, unemployment insurance, sickness insurance, etc. How would you assess this policy?

Mr. Pham Quang Tu: In my opinion, if the policy only focuses on groups that have participated in social security policies, it will not be enough because in principle, more or less, target groups receive support from the social safety net of insurance. Therefore, in the condition of natural disasters and epidemics, those who do not have insurance should be supported more.

One of the inclusive principles is that during natural disasters or epidemics, all the people who are affected and deeply affected are in the most difficult situation. Therefore, policy encapsulated in social security policies will not be totally complete.

More impact, less support

- So in your opinion, how to identify the objects that need to be supported when building the second support package?

Mr. Pham Quang Tu: During this epidemic, businesses and people still face many difficulties despite having prepared, we highly appreciate the proactive proposal of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to continue implementing the support package of the Government. However, in addition to policies to support food costs for infected and isolated children, support for Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, etc., most of the support package focuses on affected businesses and mainly those who are terminated and lost their jobs. In my opinion, these objects are correct but not enough.

The greater the impact of the epidemic is, the wider the target audience will be, thus the bigger the target group will be. However, now we are moving in the opposite direction where the beneficiaries of support are narrower.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs has proposed a new, quick and simple support package so that this policy can timely reach people in need. However, the downside of this policy is that some groups face difficulties and suffer great impacts but have not received support yet.

The principle of support in natural disasters and epidemics is to ensure equality, therefore the State must have support for whoever is affected. In the new policy package, the object may be right, but it is not enough and not fair.

- In order to properly and accurately support, the cash support policy should be aimed at whom, sir?

Mr. Pham Quang Tu: We need to determine who the cash support is aimed at? This policy must target those who suffered directly and severely impacts and those who do not have savings and the negative impact of the pandemic left them with no way to live.

I propose to add two more groups of beneficiaries in this second package, including migrant workers and non-formal workers who are much more difficult than those who already have labor contracts with enterprises as well as groups of farmers in epidemic and isolated areas, since their agricultural products have difficulties in consumption.

At present, while informal workers are the most affected and hardest hit, due to the nature of their work, the current state system has not managed this group, so they are on the verge of policy support despite the fact that they are those in need the most.

These two groups can be hard to identify and deploy support, so the criteria should not be too complicated and difficult to consider. Specifically, we need to maximize the role of local authorities in proactive targeting and stakeholder engagement.

To some extent, the enforcement agency wants to implement the policy quickly and promptly. However, in disasters and epidemics, support methods must be different from managing available objects.

It is necessary to determine who is directly affected, and who has the most difficulties to give support. It is the responsibility of the State to determine criteria, not just easily choose those already in the list such as people with meritorious services to the revolution, poor households, people with labor contracts, etc. These objects have already had a list, which makes it easy to deploy the policy. However, they are not the ones who need support the most because this object usually receives a monthly allowance or support from insurance policies, more or less. During the epidemic, their life may be more difficult but not to the extreme.

- The expanded audience also leads to concerns about the phenomenon of profiteering, in your opinion, what solutions should be taken to limit this situation?

Mr. Pham Quang Tu: There are two solutions to ensure that profiteering is minimized. Firstly, there must be a cross-check of parties, from policymakers to local resident managers such as village heads, regional police, and ordinary people. The direct beneficiaries know each other, so when determining the list, it is essential to discuss the list with stakeholders, at the same time, it must be publicly posted to know who is right and who is not. Without discussion, cross-checking, publicity, and transparency, the risk of profiteering is clearly higher.

In addition, we need to have additional sanctions to punish acts of embezzlement, corruption, and violations to promptly deter.

If these solutions are well implemented, the Government will be more confident when expanding the policy to those who are really in difficulty.

- Thank you, Sir!

Read the interview on VietnamPlus newspaper here.