"I want to fix this house. The roof is almost broken so we have to use canvas to cover it. But when there are strong winds, we're scared that the roof will just come off. In addition, it leaks when it rains".
This is the heartfelt dream of 34 year old Vu Thi Thanh Hoa living in Group36, Phuc Tan Ward, Danang city. At the moment, six people in her family are bundled together in a less than 10 square meter room. The front of the house is covered by wooden boards and piles of bricks. There is no toilet and people have a shower in a rough outhouse next to their.
This was just one insight into the lives of local people who UN-Habitat staff faced during the consultations with the urban poor in Danang and Hanoi in January 2012. UN-Habitat met local residents, People's Committee officials and women's union staff to find about the poverty status of each ward. Interviews with the urban poor working as street vendors, porters, migrant workers and cleaners allowed better understanding of the lives, difficulties, opportunities and dreams and the world they want after 2015.
27-year old Vu Thi Phuong followed her mother from Hu.ng Yen Province to Hanoi three years ago. Every day she works as a shop assistant at a clothing shop. Mother and daughter alike save money. Phuong, the daughter, said the money is sent home to her unemployed father and younger brother. "Now I want to continue my studies and after that I'll be able to get a good job to support my family," she said.
It isn't far from Danang city centre, but 48 year old Huynh Thi Loi has to jump on the train to Thua Thien - Hue Province to collect firewood. If she can't go to Hue, she will go to the coast to collect fish. Her daily income is about 50,000 dong for her and two children to live on. "I just want to have six pigs, 20 chickens and 10 ducks to breed to escape poverty', she said.
Nguyen Thi Chuoc's family moved to Thanh Khe Tay Ward four years ago but they are only eligible for temporarily registration and are not recognized as permanent residents. That is why her family fails to qualify for poor family status that would make them able to receive subsidies, preferential treatment or qualify health care. In addition, the land that she has bought is not legally recognised, so she does not have the "red book" (land use certificate). "In the next three years, I hope we can shift our family registration officially to Thanh Khe Tay Ward. I also hope my second daughter can attend vocational training. Then she could borrow money to open a hair dresser shop", Chuoc wished.
"Through consultations in Danang and Hanoi, we can see that there are big differences between rural and urban poverty. In urban areas, incomes are higher but unstable, and not enough to maintain adequate living standard because the living cost in cities are much higher than in rural areas. In addition, there are flows of migrants from the countryside to urban areas which is rapidly increasing and deepening the urban poverty. These migrants normally have no access to land, no "red book", nor official family registration or stable assets, and this blocks them from accessing financial resources or basic services" Nguyen Quang, UN-Habitat Programme Manager said.
"When I listen to the dreams of the poor, like a family with father, mother and children, or dream to attend vocational training, dream to work as a sanitation worker, they left me touched. Their dreams are not impossible, and are related to their daily lives, and spring from the difficulties that they are facing every day. Through their dreams we can see that having a stable job is one of their biggest concerns and should be one of our biggest concerns " said Nguyen Quy Binh, UN-Habitat Programme Advisor.
The UN's consultations with the urban poor in Danang and Hanoi were part of a series of consultations being conducted by the UN in Viet Nam to ask people about the world they want and what they think about what the new development framework should look like after 2015 when the current Millennium Development Goals expire. The eight groups of people consulted consist ethnic minorities, the urban and rural poor, people with disabilities, people living with HIV, young people, the elderly and the private sector.
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- Regional Planning and Linkages for Southern Key Economic Zone Workshop in Ho Chi Minh City
- Policy Dialogue on Right to Adequate Housing: Roles of Urban Communities in the Housing Process
- Training on Developing result based Monitoring and Evaluation System in Urban Sector
- Urban Planning for City Leaders
- Initiatives to Promote Local Economic Development
- The World We Want: Listening to the views of poor and marginalized people 2
- The World We Want: Listening to the views of poor and marginalized people 1
- Leadership Training for Sustainable City Development Strategy of Danang
- New collaboration signed aims to support the Government of Viet Nam in the implementation of the Viet Nam Statistical Development Strategy 2011-2020
- United Nations Resident Coordinator leading UN-Habitat delegation to have courtesy visits to Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration and Minister of Construction
- Workshop "Capacity Builging to Develop Climate Change Response towards Green-Growth"
- Quang Nam Green Growth Investment Forum (PDF 475KB)
- Training on Multi Sector Investment Planning
- ‘Local to Global’ Art-Craft Industry Dialogues
- Government of Viet Nam and the United Nations signed new One Plan for 2012-2016
- National Workshop on Project "Urban Observatory System in Vietnam"
- Training of Trainers Workshop on Housing Policy Development
- World Habitat Day in Vietnam
- UN-HABITAT, partners hold consultative leadership workshop for Vietnamese Province *Will open a separate file
- Consultative Leadership Workshop for Quang Nam PDS
- Kick-off workshop of 'Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment (VAA) of Hoi An' project as a initial step of integrated approaches to the development of Hoi An Eco-city
- Workshop on Consultation and Technical Assistance to National Housing Development Strategy toward 2020, vision of 2030
- Vietnamese Study Tour in Korea on Low-Income Housing
- Workshop "Urban Indicators and Urban Management in Vietnam"
- International Conference on "Hanoi Millennium: City Past and Future"
- Joint Hoi An Eco-city Scoping Workshop
- A proactive member of UN family and a trusted partner working together with people for a better urban life - Viet Nam team’s motto to set forth the next HCPD