Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Regional Rural Development Planning

Research studies project report (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2008

This research analyzes and accesses to the impacts of the poverty alleviation project, particularly impacts of the Rural Livelihood Improvement Project which fulfilled in the Soc Trang province during the period of the 2001-2005 to the socio-economic life of the poor households and their satisfaction level on the benefits of the project and make recommendations for building up the future poverty alleviation programs. The reasearch was conducted in two poor communes of My Xuyen district, Soc Trang province, Viet Nam namely Thanh Thoi An and Tai Van. In this research, household survey, key informant interview and group discussion were used to collect data; quantitative and qualitative techniques were applied to analyze the collected data of the research. Key findings proved that the socio-economic life of the poor households in the area had positive changes, in particular on employment opportunity, food security; income generation and access to credit except education of their children which had not expectantly reached yet. Especially, the highly positive impacts of the project on the poor were found in the increase of household income and employment opportunity. The gap between the poorest and the poor households had declined. Besides, the satisfaction level of the beneficiaries on the benefits gained from the project such as livestock raising, farming, household income generation, access to input procurement and employment opportunity was very high except the benefits of children's education in the area was in highly dissatisfied level because percentage of children dropped out is still high with more than 25 % of children in the study area after the project. From key findings, certain recommendations are given to improve effectiveness of poverty alleviation projects comprising of making opportunities for income generation by agricultural development, improving marketing information and suitable skill development; and enhance the improvement of educational condition for the poor in remote rural areas of Soc Trang province