Publications

Workshop report of the regional inception workshop 'learning by doing: capacity development approaches at the local level, which took place on 26-27 November 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, and was organised by UNDP and SNV (Netherlands Development Organisation), with support from the UNDP Asia Regional Governance Programme (ARGP). The primary workshop objectives were 1) to share lessons learned on capacity development strategies and development efforts aimed at contributing to the MDGs at the sub-national/local level; and 2) identify critical knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to support sub-national/local capacities for reaching the MDGs.

Cassava is a cash crop that grows predominantly in upland areas of Vietnam with low soil fertility and high poverty rates among farmers. SNV is implementing a project in the north-central region of Vietnam, in which some 10,000 farmers in a cassava growing area have successfully become business partners with starch factories. In this project, the factories are the anchor companies in inclusive business models, taking the lead in the formation of farmer groups and entering into long-term profitable business agreements for a regular input supply. Promotion of sustainable production such as intensive cultivation, soil  erosion prevention and staggered cropping is based on the development of know-how within the anchor company as well as with locally operating service providers. SNV leads the process, ensuring the replicability of sustainable services for farmers within and beyond the scope of the project. The inclusive business approach of the programme takes the medium and large enterprises as the entry point for engaging the poor. Investment, commitment and good governance is required from these enterprises to ensure the sustainability of the model.

This paper concerning market access of honey producers in Cameroon was written for the international conference on ‘the role of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation’. The conference was held in Vietnam.

Over the past two decades Vietnam has achieved remarkable advances in its economic development, progressing from least developed country status to lower middle income, thus becoming one of Southeast Asia’s most rapidly industrializing countries. Vietnam’s geographical position, bordering with China, Laos and Cambodia on the West and the South China Sea on the East, has enabled larger trade of goods throughout the region. However, these results at the national level conceal significant geographical disparities and inequalities between the rural and urban inhabitants. Data indicates that poor people’s access to quality services in the areas of health, water, sanitation and education is still a concern.

This research proposed to analyze the impact of the Biogas Division Project in Vietnam, created in 2003 in collaboration with MARD and SNV. The study aimed at evaluating quantitative figures of biogas masons activity levels. Construction levels indicated that masons are extremely busy despite the seasonal effects of the job. Digester demand is on the high rise. 97% of masons said that they would continue construction levels if the program ceased from existing, confirming and ensuring the self-sufficiency of the biogas sector, something which SNV and BPD aimed to establish. Conclusively, BPD is recommended to upscale and sub-group mason business training programs to better adhere with their mason profiles. Improving training and educational programs will allow for the possibility of concrete SME development within a economically sound Biogas sector.

The seventh meeting of the experts’ network was organised in Hanoi, Vietnam, during the period April 8-9, 2009. This meeting of experts followed the internal Biogas/Renewable Energy Team Meeting of SNV Asia Region.

The overall objective of the meeting of the network of experts was to share the lessons learned, and to discuss possibilities for improvement on the training activities related to domestic biogas programmes. The discussion focussed particularly on the weaknesses/problems or evident successes of the training activities conducted so far by the different biogas programmes, and the possible solutions to overcome the problems, as well as prospects to share the success. The key
question was: how to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of all biogas and bio-manure related training activities?

This external network meeting on domestic biogas consisted of a field visit to provincial biogas office and biogas households in Ha Tay Province near Hanoi (8th April), and a working meeting on biogas training activities (9th April 2009). An overview and evaluation of training activities under biogas programmes in China, Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangladesh was given. Further, there were group discussions, presentations and plenary discussions held.

First meeting of experts on domestic biogas promotion: a brief report of activities and outcome of discussions (2006).

The ABP visualizes the establishment and operation of a regional network of experts working in the field of biogas technology. The first meeting of the network of 16 experts was organised in Hanoi, Vietnam, This brief report summarises the purpose, schedule, country presentations and outcome of discussions of the meeting.

The objective was to enhance knowledge on promotion of domestic biogas plants through presentations and experts discussion. The key question for this meeting was: How to create a market for domestic biogas plants?

Activities of the meeting:
• Day 1: Overview of the Phase-I and the proposed Phase-II of the Vietnam biogas programme, field visit to Hai Duong Province, visit of under-construction biogas plant and two
biogas plants under full operation, a cultural excursion and in general observation and discussion.
• Day 2: Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son, Director of Biogas Project Division of MARD, Vietnam, Mr. Wim van Nes, Mr. Son, Mr.Reindert Augustijn, Sr. Renewable Energy/Biogas Advisor from SNV Vietnam, Mr. Hu Qichun from the Biogas Institute, Chengdu, Mr. C.V. Krishna from CREAT, India, Mr. Saroj Rai, Executive Director of BSP-Nepal, Mr. Auke Koopmans, Sr. Renewable Energy Advisor from SNV Laos, Mr. Douangchanh Sirivonga from Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Laos, Mr. Jan Lam, Sr. Biogas Advisor from SNV Cambodia, Mr. Md. Zahidul Islam, Investment Officer from IDCOL, and Mr. Guy Dekelver, Biogas/NRM Advisor from SNV Rwanda, all presented a paper.

The outcome revealed that the stage of development of biogas technology differs significantly among the participating countries.

“Support Project to the Biogas Program for the Livestock Husbandry Sector in Vietnam” is a cooperation between the government of Vietnam and the government of the Netherlands. The project aims at developing a commercially viable and market oriented biogas industry and to contribute to avoiding the use of fossil fuels and biomass resource depletion. Until April 2010, 80,000 biogas plants have been installed. With the development of the project, the loan demand of households to build a biogas plant is increasing.

This report presents the findings on two main questions (i) What are the households’ demands for loans for construction of biogas works in 2010 and 2011; and (ii) What are the financial institutions’ capacities for providing loans for constructions of biogas works. The methodologies used are desk study, questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The report consists of 3 parts. Part I gives an overview of the study with a background, objectives, methodology and implementation process. Part II elaborates on the results of the survey with information of the households interviewed, findings and analyses on the understanding of biogas, the household’s demands for loans to construct a plant, and the capacity of financial institutions to provide loans. Part III consists of conclusions and recommendations.

This six-page guide, based on the Nov 2011 full technical paper, presents six categories of options for operationalising the Cancun safeguards. It translates the Cancun safeguards’ broad generic statements of good intent into an integral part of national policy and a set of cohesive actions to put into practice. The guide maintains that safeguard compliance does not demand substantive policy innovation or adoption of new tools and technologies; forest management and governance practices need to be improved upon through REDD+ rather than overhauled or replaced. The options for national-level safeguard responses in the guide are presented in the context of delivering environmental co-benefits; however, they are equally applicable to social co-benefits.

This document reviews the existing DGIS/DMW/KM programme implemented under the PPP-JI called “Support Project to the Biogas Programme for the Animal Husbandry Sector in some Provinces of Vietnam”. The intention of this mission is to get acquainted with the progress of the programme towards its objectives, to compare it with the experience in Nepal, and to learn more about the possibilities for a future biogas regional programme. The report is a result of a three-day mission in Vietnam, during which the consultant assigned conducted meetings with several people and spent most of the time on field visits.

The document provides a description of the programme with the project objectives, main actors and responsibilities. The findings are organised according to the project activities and their relation to the project objectives. The recommendations designed are presented per project activity. The project activities elaborated on are: promotion and marketing activities, provision of subsidy, subsidy level, credit schemes, quality control mechanisms, R&D and standardisation, training activities, extension activities, and institutional support. Other findings include: suppressed demand, GHG reduction and possible credits, commercially viable and market oriented, and contribution of the Provinces. The report concludes with a comparison of the technology and the institutional and market approach in Nepal.

A report completed by SNV in 2010 in partnership with IIED. Provides forest mapping and opportunity cost data for Viet Nam.

Biogas Project Division has conducted this research, which aims at assessing actual effect of available products potentially influence methane production and to give advice of how to utilise the products best to users. 

There are biogas digesters that do not produce gas or gas production is little or it takes long time for gas production with low gas quality. This happens more frequently in winter and in areas with low temperature. An explanation from scientific point of view is that fermentation and methane production are affected by different elements like anaerobic environment, temperature, pH degree, input contents (ratio of C/N, powder substance), toxics and retention time. The change of one or all of these factors somehow will make a significant impact on fermentation and methane production of biogas digester. On the other hand the incorrect operation of households also influences the process of gas production. 

Being faced with such situation, scientists, organisations and individual have studied and promoted products that can strengthen fermentation for organic digestion and methane production in biogas digester. All these products are promoted and advertised with highest efficiency in facilitating methane production. Nevertheless, no comprehensive evaluation of these products was conducted so that users can rely on and further promote them. 

The research products: Penac G, Microphot, and Bicat were used for testing the effect on digestion, fermentation and methane generation. Specific tests were aims at CH4, H2S, CO2, pH, COD, BOD5 and SS. Research and sampling methods are explained and a brief conclusion is provided.

This work on Rural Sanitation Supply Chains and Finance is part of the SNV/IRC Sustainable Sanitation and Hygiene for All programme, which aims to improve the health and quality of life of rural people in five Asian countries (Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal and Vietnam) through enhanced access to improved sanitation and hygiene practices. It has four integrated technical components, strengthening local capacities for a rural sanitation service delivery with a district-wide approach. An additional cross-cutting regional component of the programme focusses on analysis, dissemination, and learning.

This Brief shares some of the lessons learned from working on the Rural Sanitation Supply Chains and Finance. It also introduces the thinking behind its design and its main activities.

Access to sanitation is essential for human well-being, dignity and economic development. While demand creation innovations such as Community Led Total Sanitation are providing an unprecedented opportunity to start changing hygiene behaviour of rural people, evidence shows that behavioural change will not be sustained unless a number of key supporting conditions are met. One of these conditions is access to affordable and appropriate sanitation hardware and services. 

Market-based sanitation solutions have the most potential for scale and sustainability. However, rural sanitation markets are poorly developed and outreach is limited. Shops selling hardware and masons building toilets exist in any country, but the challenge is to reach many more customers across the socio-economic spectrum. 

Particular attention is required to address the needs and preferences of different consumer segments, most notably special needs groups, households living in poverty, ethnic minorities and low caste groups. Because rural sanitation supply chains and finance often need to be strengthened, work should start in this area before and then be conducted in parallel to demand creation activities. 

The purpose of this Small Town Sanitation Strategies in Thua Thien Hue Province report carried out by an SNV/ADB team is to make a rapid assessment of the strategic options available for wastewater, drainage and solid waste management for four Class V pilot towns in Thua Thien Hue (TTH) Province in Vietnam – Thuan An, Sia, Phong Dien and Khe Tre. 

The SNV Domestic Biogas Newsletter provides interesting short articles on SNV-supported countries worldwide. The seventh issue (September 2012) presents:

• Production rate of biogas plants increased
• International workshop on domestic biogas in Asia
• SNV and FAO release Myanmar biogas feasibility study
• Rwanda: charging your phone with cow dung
• ISO certificate for Bangladesh biogas
• Renewed online Renewable Energy library launched
• Knowledge networking of domestic biogas in Asia
• Pakistan Domestic Biogas Programme newsletter released
• The Arusha Tale
• Biogas Programme for the Animal Husbandry Sector in Vietnam
• Biodigester Programme wins first Energy for Life Award
• Innovative microcredits for Cambodian biogas users

Ethnic minority farmers located on the hillsides of North-Central Vietnam are being offered opportunities to improve their livelihoods and incomes in a sustainable way, by working together with cassava processing enterprises who want to develop cassava in an environmentally sound manner. With a grant from the Ford Foundation this value chain improvement project affected an estimated 10,000 households during the 2008-2011 period: increasing average incomes by more than 20% with additional improvements in environmental sustainability of growing practices as well as increased reliability in business relations. The companies also benefited from increased supply of cassava of higher quality. The scaling-up of the project to include 200,000 farmers is now being explored via possible collaboration between IFAD, CIAT and actors in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The potential for collaboration between farmers and processors is enormous in Vietnam and neighbouring countries as cassava is rapidly becoming a major commodity, with hundreds of thousands of smallholders supplying products to processing enterprises.

See also: Inclusive Business at SNV

The Social Inclusion (SI) and Accountability Proofing Tool has been designed to help SNV advisors and other development practitioners consider and adequately address SI and accountability issues while planning, executing, monitoring and evaluating a programme or project. The tool has been structured around three key stages of project management: analysis and planning, implementation and monitoring, and evaluation. Therefore, the use of this tool is intended to be part of and add quality to the programme/project management process.