A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Regional and Rural Development Planning

Thesis (M. Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2012

The research examined various aspects of people's participation in community forestry (CF) in Vietnam. Main objectives of the research are to study activities and intensity of people's participation in development process of CF; to assess benefits obtained from people{u2019}s participation in CF; to assess factors affecting people's participation in CF; and to give recommendations to strengthen people's participation in CF. People's participation in development process of CF focused on development activities and intensity in three stages including decision - making, implementation and M&E . The research was conducted in two villages of ethnic minorities of Tai and Khang in North of Vietnam using a survey questionnaire with a total of 126 sampled households as a prime method for data collection. The research was focused on quantitative analysis but qualitative technique was also applied. Main findings of this research showed that the participation of the two ethnic minorities Tai and Khang are at low level in all stages of CF development process consisting of decision making, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. Benefits gained from people{u2019}s participation were also low in social, economic, institutional and environmental aspects. Main factors affecting people{u2019}s participation of CF development process are education level, occupation, available herbal medicine, available food and fodders and reducing household expenditures. Barriers of people{u2019}s participation in CF of ethnic minorities are inappropriate institutional and participatory framework that CF Board members and People{u2019}s Commune Committee took several key roles in CF activities and less roles for CF members in practice. In addition limited communication and lack of trust to government officials are constraining factors of people{u2019}s participation in the CF. The research concluded that in a remote and mounta inous area of Vietnam, ethnic minorities had a low level of education and low economic status leading to low level of intensity of people{u2019}s participation in development process of community forestry resulting to low level of benefits gained from the commun ity forestry. A set of recommendations were given to strengthen people{u2019}s participation in CF of ethnic minorities from Tai and Khang. These include enhancing roles of CF members in practice based on institutional and participatory framework, strengthening people{u2019}s participation in specific stages of CF development process, improving communication network for CF and reconsidering CF rules and regulations to generate for more tangible benefits to CF members