In Vietnam, over the past 20 years, fiscal policies have enabled higher government spending for public services in Vietnam, particularly among the most disadvantaged areas. Through budget allocation for social development programs, Vietnam has achieved remarkable results in poverty reduction.

However, the state budget is still a challenging topic for public engagement in Vietnam, since budget management used to be viewed as the function of research institutions and policy makers.

Through the project “Non-state actors promoting state budget transparency,” funded by the EU and Finland, Oxfam and the Budget Transparency, Accountability, and People’s Participation coalition (BTAP) have cooperated with social organizations, elected representatives, and people in two provinces, Hoa Binh and Quang Tri, for state budget oversight. We built capacities for people and facilitated their engagement with local authorities to monitor state-invested programmes.  

This short book shares stories about local communities in their journey of building confidence, becoming more aware, and involving themselves in state budget monitoring. This book also tells us how local authorities have become more open and welcoming to people’s participation in order to achieve common goals in governance.