ABSTRACT
The new international poverty reduction strategies (initiatives such as PRSP, MDG, HIPC, IADM, and so on), which have been at the core of development public policies for more than a decade, put forward the key principles of participation, ownership, and accountability. The focus on the political economy of the economic reforms, supposedly at least as important as the policies themselves, raises the issue of the way they are effectively applied on the ground. Do they only aim to present aid more attractively in the context of a profound legitimacy crisis? Or, on a more positive note, do they reflect a real paradigmatic change that places beneficiary populations in the driver’s seat? This contribution aims to provide some substantive answers to this topic, taking as an example one of the most important poverty fighting programs in Vietnam. With the participation of many international donors, this program is focused on ethnic minorities living in mountainous areas. Taking stock on the limited impact of the first phase of the program, the second phase (2006–2011) specifically aims to adopt the principle of commune ownership in order to improve its efficiency.
