VIETNAM -Land Transparency Closing the Gap between Law and Practice Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty March 23-27, 2015 Huong Thi Lan Tran, Governance Specialist, World Bank

1. Vietnam at a Glance 2. Why Land Transparency? 3. Land Transparency Study 4. What did the Study Find? 5. Bridging the Land Transparency Gap in Vietnam

1. Vietnam – At a Glance East Asia Pacific Population: million (2013) 63 provinces GNI/capita: $1,740 (2013) Poverty Rate: 17.2 (2012) GDP growth: 5.6% (2014)

2. Why Land Transparency?

>70% of complaints are land related

Much Work on Land Related Issues during the past 5 years Led by the Bank, or joint work with Government of Vietnam and/or other development partners

Transparency matters The Implementation Gap

Land administration perceived as among the most corrupt Source: World Bank and Government Inspectorate of Vietnam. “Corruption from the Perspective of Citizens, Firms, and Public Officials—Results of Sociological Surveys

Legal Framework on Land and Transparency is Changing…

3. Land Transparency Study

Part of the Vietnam Transparency Project (VTP)… Better implementation of laws & policies Better laws & policies systematically measuring, recording and sharing good practices, the VTP will help improve implementation of laws and policies

Methodologies ExistingVTP Method Sample surveys of firms and citizens Direct observation on site How people perceive the transparency of Land-Related Information Whether and how Land-Related Information is actually made available at a point in time

National Coverage of the Land Transparency Study Online On site No. of cities/provi nces No. of districts No. of wards/co mmunes Total Survey Survey 2010 & Total

Land Transparency Study Data: Groups of InformationOnlineOnsite 1. Administrative procedures and process implementation of admin. procedures 2. Land use plans and planning 3. Urban planning 4. Compensation, support and resettlement plans 5. Land allocation and leases 6. Information on charges, fees and taxes related to land All together, more than 300 discrete pieces of information were checked online, and 30 pieces of information inspected at province, district and commune-level offices

4. What did the Study Find?

(1) Improvements in Land Transparency at All Levels Notes: Based on indices of availability of land related information, focusing on the types of information that are comparable between the two periods. The scales for the three charts are not the same, as the information examined was not the same for all levels. Sample sizes are 63 provinces, 24 districts, and 117 communes/wards. The changes are statistically significant at the 1% level for province web checks, and 5% level for both district and commune spot checks.

(2) Big Gap from Law to Practice (i)

(2) Big Gap from Law to Practice (ii)

(3) Uneven Implementation Practice (i)

(3) Uneven Implementation Practice (ii)

(3) Uneven Implementation Practice (iii)

(3) Uneven Implementation Practice (iv)

There is still often a lack of awareness of the obligation to provide information Researchers told they need approval of Chair of Commune PPC (Ca Mau, Binh Duong, Vinh Phuoc) for documents on Land Use Plans and Planning Researchers detained by police and forced to delete photographs (Dong Thap, Dong Nai) Commune officials say “go to the district”, and district officials say “go to the commune/ward” (Ha Noi, Bac Lieu) Researchers told that Compensation Support and Resettlement Plans are “confidential” (Pho Moi ward, Lao Cai province) Researchers told that all information is on the Internet and not posted (Ha Noi)

(4) Information Disclosure Online and Spot Check of all provinces * * Figures are calculated based on the adequacy of information subject to disclosure

(5) More Land Transparency, Less Poverty

5. Bridging the Land Transparency Gap

Two-pronged approach Supply side – State Agencies Demand side – Firms and Individuals A Law on Access to Information that makes information disclosure as a norm except for the “negative” list!

Evidence of Leadership – More Interested Provinces Produce Better Results Average score of transparency online in 2010 Average score of transparency online in 2013 – Round 1 Improved average score Round 1 Average score on transparency online of 33 provinces that received notification letter of the survey For 6 provinces that contacted again For 27 provinces that did not contact again Note: The improved score has low statistical significance of 15%. The Table consolidates only the improvements before notification letters are sent by the survey team.

Actionable recommendations in provincial tailored reports aimed at… learning good practices from other provinces.

Moving from this … … to this.

Huong Thi Lan Tran James Anderson