Internal mid-term review of the project Establishment of the Vietnam Fisheries law and regulations – phase II. Bringing the Law to Life

The Project

The overall Goal of this Phase 2 project (2005-2009), is to contribute to the sustainable development of Vietnam's Fisheries sector. The purpose being; "Improved legal framework and strengthened the institutional capacity for better management and development of the fisheries sector of Vietnam". The project is a follow up of Phase 1 which consisted of technical assistance to support establishing the fisheries law. Phase 2 has 5 outputs:

1. "Subordinate legislation has been developed, formulated, submitted for promulgation and implemented as appropriate"
2. "The level of public awareness and compliance with fisheries regulations has been raised"
3. "The capacity to formulate and implement the law and subordinate legislation among organisations and civil servants have been enhanced"
4. "Experience has been collected through pilot studies as a basis for formulation of sub-laws and models for implementation of Fisheries Law developed"
5. "Project is managed and coordinated effectively"

The budget for Phase 2 (2005-2009) is NOK 22,7 mill

Interesting Findings

• The Project staff of the Legal Department of MARD (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) seems to be highly motivated and competent for the task.
• The cooperation between the project staff and foreign legal experts and the part time adviser seemed to have functioned very well. This was also the case for the cooperation between different project related institutions in Vietnam.
• Over all, the costs were kept below the budget plans and the Review Team got the general impression of "good value for money" regarding expenditures and corresponding results.
• The results obtained half way through the project period were impressive - as a majority of target indicators were met or even exceeded already:
• • Output 1: Developing Regulations and Revisions of the law. Findings: The details indicators set for the output is soon to be reached. Regulations guiding the implementation of Fisheries Law have been enacted timely on accordance with right progress and procedures as regulated by law with the participation of relevant agencies, institutions and independent experts.
  • Output 2: Disseminating and Law training. Findings: In general it was observed that most of the detailed targets have been reached or exceeded already.
  • Output 3: Capacity building in Law Formulation and Dissemination. Findings: The review team was indeed very impressed by the progress in conducting training courses in the skills of formulating legal documents.
  • Output 4: Pilot Model performance. Findings: In general, it was observed that the implementation of pilot activities has been somewhat delayed. For details please refer to a separate performance review (Norad Collected Reviews 20/2008) on the pilot models from October 2007
  • Output 5: Project Management and Coordination. Findings: The assessment of each output have shown that there is a very high degree if achievement of targets in the project (except for output 4, Pilots). The team is of the opinion that the project is managed very well and with good competence. This is the case for accounting, for reporting procedures and for leadership of the project in general. The steering committee and the management board of the project seem to have functioned very well. In addition the Project has upon request received good guidance from the leader of the steering Committee.