Ethnic Minority Households Research Articles

Livelihoods for Ethnic Minority Households in Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam

Livelihoods for Ethnic Minority Households in Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam

Impact of land-acquisition induced resettlement policy on the ethnic household income in mountainous Vietnam

Land acquisition and resettlement issues related to hydropower and irrigation works have always been one of the hot issues in Vietnam mountainous areas for many years. Although the Government has introduced many policies to ensure the rights of resettled people, as well as protect their lives, the effectiveness of these policies seems to be still insignificant, because many resettled people still face many difficulties in their daily life, especially income. The research is conducted within the project titled “The urgent issues in resettlement implementation for the ethnic minorities in Vietnam mountainous areas” and funded by National Council for Science and Technology Policy in 2016-2020 (CTDT/16-20) under Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs. Applying Likert-scale and Propensity Score Matching (PSM), this study shows that 34% of the resettled households have a lower income, specifically estimated to be 8.0 - 13.1 million VND/household/year or 1.7 - 3.0 million VND/person/year lower than the income of the controlled group. However, agricultural income is not significantly different between resettled households and controlled households. This article only focuses on clarifying the impact of the resettlement policy on the general income and agricultural income of ethnic minority households; while methods to create jobs, increase income, and reduce poverty sustainably for ethnic minority households in the resettlement sites should be conducted in another research in the future.

Poverty reduction according to multi-dimensional approaching poverty standard in Vinh Long Province

In recent years, in Vinh Long Province, many policies on social security have been implemented to support the poor: Support for health care, education, housing, credit loans, employment, vocational training, production guidance, and legal assistance. However, besides the achievements, poverty reduction still faces several difficulties and limitations such as Irregular and insufficient coordination between local departments, administrative levels, and some localities; Low income of a part of the population, especially areas with a large number of ethnic minority households; Unsustainability of agricultural production and aquaculture. Researching to find solutions for the reduction of poverty according to the multi-dimensional approach to improve the living conditions of poor households, towards sustainable poverty reduction in Vinh Long Province is very necessary.

Relationship Between Grocery Shopping Frequency and Home- and Individual-Level Diet Quality Among Low-Income Racial or Ethnic Minority Households With Preschool-Aged Children

BackgroundThe home food environment can shape the diets of young children. However, little is known about modifiable factors that influence home food availability and dietary intake. ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between grocery shopping frequency with home- and individual-level diet quality. DesignThis was a secondary, cross-sectional analyses of data from the Study on Children’s Home Food Availability Using TechNology. Data were collected in the homes of participants from November 2014 through March 2016. Participants/settingsA purposive sample of 97 low-income African American and Hispanic or Latinx parent–child dyads residing in Chicago, IL, enrolled in the study. Main outcome measuresThe main outcomes were home- and individual-level diet quality. Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010) scores were calculated from home food inventory data collected in participants’ homes to assess home-level diet quality. To assess individual-level diet quality, HEI-2010 scores were based on multiple 24-hour diet recalls from parent–child dyads. Statistical analysesGrocery shopping frequency was examined in relation to diet quality at the home and individual levels. Grocery shopping frequency was defined as the number of times households shopped on a monthly basis (ie, once a month, twice a month, 3 times a month, or 4 times or more a month). Multivariable linear regression analysis, controlling for covariates, tested the relationships between grocery shopping frequency and HEI-2010 total and component scores at the home and individual levels. ResultsGrocery shopping frequency was positively associated with home-level HEI-2010 scores for total diet, whole grains, and empty calories (higher scores reflect better diet quality) and with individual-level HEI-2010 scores for total and whole fruit (parents only), vegetables (children only), and sodium (children only). ConclusionsGrocery shopping frequency was associated with multiple dimensions of diet quality at the home and individual levels. These results offer a potential strategy to intervene on home food availability and individual dietary intake.

The impacts of farmland expropriation on Vietnam’s rural households

AbstractThe expropriation of agricultural land to provide new land for industrial and urban expansion, referred to as compulsory acquisition, is prevalent in developing countries. Using Vietnam as a laboratory, this study evaluates the impacts of losing farmland through compulsory acquisition on household welfare and reaches the following findings. A 10 percentage point increase in the fraction of land expropriated results in a 2.2% decrease in household welfare proxied by food expenditure. Furthermore, politically unconnected and ethnic minority households are disproportionately vulnerable. The adverse welfare effect could take up to 10 years to evaporate. The reduction in household welfare is attributable to the decline in agricultural income and the inability to participate in the non‐agricultural labor market. Other aspects of household behavior following compulsory acquisition are also explored, such as saving, social capital, labor, and capital allocation.

Climate change resilience and adaption of ethnic minority communities in the upland area in Thừa Thiên-Huế province, Vietnam

Changing climate patterns and increases in climate extremes pose new challenges to livelihoods of ethnic communities in the upland area in Thừa Thiên-Huế (TTH) province. Unpredictability and extreme events have had adverse effects on both farming and income of many ethnic minority households who are already more likely to be vulnerable due to socio-economic and cultural marginalization. Promoting household resilience to climate extremes has emerged as a key development priority for those living in this area. Using data from a household survey conducted in two upland districts of TTH province (Nam Đông and A Lưới), this study employed FAO’s resilience framework to measure household climate change resilience of different ethnic groups and a Poison regression model to identify determinants of household adaptation. Results showed that ethnic minority households had relatively low resilience to climate change and variability with the resilience index only 0.428. Due to geographic isolation, agriculture-dependent ethnic minority households in A Lưới were least resilient to climate change. Results suggest that interventions aimed at promoting climate resilience for ethnic minority households should focus on increasing people’s knowledge of climate change and associated impacts and risks; and improving household income, savings and strengthen household asset base. Almost all households in the study areas have adopted adaptation measures, such as adjusting the seasonal calendar for crop production; using local crop varieties; practicing mixed cropping; and mulching. Education level, climate change awareness and risk perception of the household head, household income source and ability to access credit were key elements of households’ choice of adaptation strategies.

Supermarkets and Household Food Acquisition Patterns in Vietnam in Relation to Population Demographics and Socioeconomic Strata: Insights From Public Data

Food environments in Southeast Asia’s emerging economies are rapidly evolving, alongside fast-paced socioeconomic and demographic changes. The widespread expansion of supermarkets and parallel restructuring of traditional markets in Vietnam are likely to impact patterns of household food acquisition. Using provincial-level time series data on the abundance of supermarkets and multiyear household survey data, this paper examines the impact of the differential country-wide presence of supermarkets with indices of food quality and quantity acquired by households. We classified provinces into three clusters based on the number of supermarkets: high (HighSM), medium (MedSM) and low (LowSM). We found that a higher number of supermarkets associated with the exceedable Vietnamese recommendation composition of macronutrients at the household-level, but not food quantity. Households with higher per capita food expenditure in HighSM provinces tended to procure foods with higher protein content and lower shares of fat and carbohydrate as compared to similar households in the others provinces. Ethnic minority households in MedSM clusters obtained food with lower carbohydrate and higher fat:protein ratios in comparison to ethnic majority households. Additionally, larger-sized households in HighSM provinces typically bought foods with higher fat shares than smaller-sized households. In contrast, in MedSM and LowSM provinces, larger-sized households typically procured foods with higher protein and lower fat shares. The diversity of foods obtained by households in MedSM and LowSM provinces decreased over time. Within the Midlands and Northern Mountains Area we observed a decrease in the diversity of food acquired among households in the LowSM clusters. This study elucidates potential impacts of the supermarket expansion on household food baskets. Insights from this study can be used to provide evidences for policy recommendation and to design and target interventions aimed at strengthening food environments to address the challenge of the double burden of malnutrition in the country.

Access to Improved Water Sources and Sanitation in Minority Ethnic People in Vietnam and Some Sociodemographic Associations: A 2019 National Survey.

Background:Achieving access to clean water and basic sanitation remains as major challenges in Vietnam, especially for vulnerable groups such as minority people, despite all the progress made by the Millennium Development Goal number 7.C.Objectives:The study aimed to describe the access to improved water sources and sanitation of the ethnic minority people in Vietnam based on a national survey and to identify associated factors.Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019 with a sample size of 1385 ethnic minority households in 12 provinces in Vietnam. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was performed to examine the probability of having access to improved water sources and sanitation and sociodemographic status at a significance level of P < .05.Results:The access to improved water sources and sanitation was unequal among the ethnic minority people in Vietnam, with the lowest access rate in the northern midland and mountainous and Central Highland areas and the highest access rate in the Mekong Delta region. Some sociodemographic variables that were likely to increase the ethnic minority people’s access to improved water sources and/or sanitation included older age, female household heads, household heads with high educational levels, religious households, and households in not poor status.Conclusion and recommendations:The study suggested more emphasis on religion for improving the ethnic minority’s access to improved water sources and sanitation. Besides, persons of poor and near-poor status and with low educational levels should be of focus in future water and sanitation intervention programs.

Health and financial impacts of demand-side response measures differ across sociodemographic groups

Demand-side response (DSR) measures, which facilitate the integration of high shares of intermittent renewable generation into electric grids, are gaining prominence. DSR measures, such as time-of-use (TOU) rates, charge higher rates during high-demand ‘on-peak’ times. These rates may disproportionately impact the energy bills and health of vulnerable households, defined as those who face greater energy needs combined with greater social and financial pressures. Here we examine 7,487 households that took part in a randomized control TOU pilot in the southwestern United States. We found that assignment to TOU rather than control disproportionately increases bills for households with elderly and disabled occupants, and predicts worse health outcomes for households with disabled and ethnic minority occupants than those for non-vulnerable counterparts. These results suggest that vulnerable groups should be considered separately in DSR rate design, and future pilots should seek to determine which designs most effectively avoid exacerbating existing energy injustices or creating new ones. This study shows that assignment to a time-of-use rate disproportionately increases electricity bills for elderly and disabled households, and is associated with worse health outcomes for disabled and ethnic minority households, exacerbating existing injustices for vulnerable groups.

Health shocks, care-seeking behaviour and coping strategies of extreme poor households in Bangladesh\u2019s Chittagong Hill tracts

BackgroundHow and whether health shocks, care-seeking behaviour and coping strategies are interlinked and influence households resilience to ill-health remains an under-researched subject in the context of Bangladesh. This study investigates whether and how health shocks, care-seeking processes and coping strategies interplay and impact the resilience of extremely poor adivasi (ethnic minority) households in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Bangladesh.MethodsOur analysis draws from qualitative data collected through a range of methods (see Additional file 1). We conducted 25 in-depth interviews (IDIs) of two adivasi communities targeted by an extreme-poverty alleviation programme, 11 key informant interviews (KIIs) with project personnel (community workers, field officers, project managers), community leaders, and healthcare providers, and 9 focus group discussions (FGDs) with community members. Data triangulation was performed to further validate the data, and a thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the data.ResultsHealth shocks were a defining characteristic of households’ experiences of extreme poverty in the studied region. Care-seeking behaviours are influenced by an array of cultural and economic factors. Households adopt a range of coping strategies during the treatment or care-seeking process, which are often insufficient to allow households to maintain a stable economic status. This is largely due to the fact that healthcare costs are borne by the household, primarily through out-of-pocket payments. Households meet healthcare cost by selling their means of livelihoods, borrowing cash, and marketing livestock. This process erodes their wellbeing and hinders they attempt at achieving resilience, despite their involvement in an extreme poverty-alleviation programme.ConclusionsLivelihood supports or asset-transfers alone are insufficient to improve household resilience in this context. Therefore, we argue that extreme poor households’ healthcare needs should be central to the design of poverty-alleviating intervention for them to contribute to foster resilience.

Energy transition, poverty and inequality in Vietnam

This paper investigates energy transition, energy poverty and energy inequality in Vietnam employing a longitudinal dataset of a nationally representative household survey. We use the data on residential energy expenditure of more than 9,000 households over the period 2004–2016. We find a transition from traditional energy to modern energy but this transition varies across regions, between ethnic and welfare groups and between rural and urban population. The poor and ethnic minority households still rely heavily on traditional energy sources such as coal and biomass to meet their energy demands. Electricity poverty has decreased but energy-cost poverty has increased. In addition, energy inequality tends to decrease at a more significant rate than income and consumption inequalities. We propose a national program for energy poverty alleviation be established to devise policies to lower households’ energy costs. Further assistance to the poor and ethnic minority households is also recommended so that they can afford a higher level of electricity consumption.

Gender Equality as a Precondition for Meeting Various Challenges like Reducing Poverty, Promoting Sustainable Development and Good Governance: A Discussion

&lt;p class="normal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Gender equality and poverty are presented as two interrelated parameters. There is a negative correlation between the two concepts (Accordingly, when gender equality is enhanced, poverty decreases). The United Nations have religiously been there to tackle poverty, provide good governance and minimize the gender inequality gap. Much of the talk with gender equality and tackling poverty now is in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the focus on development. Goal 5 of the SDGs is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. But how far are these goals being achieved is still a growing question to debate about.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="normal"&gt;Amid all the discussion about inequality, gender voices are still a grey issue in many sectors. Even within the UN, most of the high-level policy debates are composed of men. There are not many women in the conversation. Gender inequalities vary considerably between goals. While young women in Africa are between two and four times more likely than their male contemporaries to be infected with HIV, globally girls are no more likely than boys to be underweight. In Bangladesh, it's the poorest boys who are less likely to go to school than the poorest girls.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="normal"&gt;Gender is just one of a multiplicity of inequalities that combine to form the patterns of poverty and exclusion that we see in the world today. Other inequalities are also hugely significant. In Vietnam, for example, only 7% of ethnic minority households have access to improved sanitation, while the figure for the majority Kinh and Chinese groups is 43%. In India, more than 90% of rich urban women have a skilled attendant with them when they give birth, but for poor rural women, the figure is less than 20%.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class="normal"&gt;Gender equality is one of the most important branches of development in the world more so in the developing nations. It has created much buzz in recent times than ever before. What really is gender equality is an objective question. Is it the same rights for both the sexes or is it having to recognize the male and female values as the same or is it having the same pay scale for both male and female? Typically, when talking about gender equality, scholars, writers, bloggers and activists are concerned with giving women the same or similar rights as men. The issue is are men superior to women and whether this male-dominated society is decelerating sustainable development and good Governance.&lt;/p&gt;

Energy Transition, Poverty and Inequality: Panel Evidence from Vietnam

This paper investigates energy transition, energy poverty and energy inequality in Vietnam employing a longitudinal dataset of a nationally representative household survey. We use the data on residential energy expenditure of more than 9,000 households over the period 2004 - 2016. We find a transition from traditional energy to modern energy but this transition varies across regions, between ethnic and welfare groups and between rural and urban population. The poor and ethnic minority households still rely heavily on traditional energy sources such as coal and biomass to meet their energy demands. Electricity poverty has decreased but energy-cost poverty has increased. In addition, energy inequality tends to decrease at a more significant rate than income and consumption inequalities. We propose a national program for energy poverty alleviation be established to devise policies to lower households’ energy costs. Further assistance to the poor and ethnic minority households is also recommended so that they can afford a higher level of electricity consumption.

Advocating for Automatic Eligibility for Early Intervention Services for Children Exposed to Lead.

Lead poisoning remains one of the most prevalent and preventable environmental health hazards affecting children. Low-level lead exposure has been shown to significantly increase the risk of learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and developmental delay. It also has substantial social implications as lead toxicity disproportionately affects children from low-income, ethnic minority households. Early Intervention (EI) is a state-based federal program (Part C of the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) created to support the development of children from birth to age 3 years who are experiencing or who are at risk for developmental delay. In 2016, an Illinois EI and Lead Workgroup was established to address the best practice of offering EI services to children who have been exposed to lead. This work serves as a template for advocates and health providers in other states to establish automatic eligibility for EI services at low levels of lead exposure, while also demonstrating the capacity to serve these children without overwhelming the state's EI system. [Pediatr Ann. 2018;47(10):e413-e418.].

APPROACH TO THE SPACE MODEL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BORDER-GATE ECONOMIC ZONE FOR POVERTY REDUCTION IN THE NORTHERN BORDER AREA

Paper contents is a part of a research project of the author B2015_TN_03_03 about market participation of ethnic minority households in border areas in the northeast Vietnam. Using sociological research in 1000 people are minority ethnic in the border province of North Eastern. Northeast border strip of Vietnam has special importance geo - political and geo - economic trade relations with China Southern region. Recognizing the importance of this, our State deployed model piloted border economic zones (BEZ) in the direction of openness and integration. So far, according to the joint assessment, the initial model BEZ bring positive results. It is time to evaluate, learn from experience in order to continue to improve and replicate the pilot model, access to the space model aimed at developing new markets border areas. To accomplish this goal, we think, to clarify a number of issues: (1) General understanding of the internal concept of BEZ, access market development model; (2) Evaluate BEZ in northeastern border on Vietnam as the new economic model; (3) Access to space development model in terms of market opening and integration of the border region of North Vietnam; (4) To propose some solutions for sustainable development space model developed markets northeastern border region of Vietnam.

Program participation in a targeted land distribution program and household outcomes: evidence from Vietnam

We estimate whether a land reform program led to higher incomes for ethnic minority households. In 2002, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, Program 132 directed the transfer of farm land to ethnic minority households that had less than one hectare of land. Using the 2002 Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey as a baseline, in 2008 we resurveyed over one-thousand households to provide a retrospective evaluation of the impact of their participation in Program 132. Contrary to official reports, our findings show that there was considerable deviation from the planned program parameters: many eligible households did not receive land, while ineligible households often did. We estimate that beneficiaries of the program in the province of Kon Tum experienced increases of household income largely in line with what one would expect from a small plot of poor farm land. Outside Kon Tum, where participation rates were substantially lower, the story is more mixed, and household incomes did not improve with program participation. Overall, our results underscore the limitations of simple transfers of land as a mechanism for improving the living standards of ethnic minorities. Our results also show the significant gap that can exist between program design and decentralized implementation. We discuss the potential implications for program evaluation.

Program Knowledge and Racial Disparities in Savings Outcomes in a Child Development Account Experiment

This study investigated whether participants’ program knowledge was associated with savings outcomes in Child Development Accounts and whether differences in program knowledge explained racial and ethnic disparities in savings outcomes. We used data collected from White, Black, American Indian, and Hispanic treatment participants in the SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK) experiment (N = 1126). Analysis results indicated that knowledge of SEED OK program features was low, especially among members of minority groups. Logit and Tobit regressions showed that program knowledge was positively related to the likelihood of holding a SEED OK account and to individual savings amounts. Gaps in program knowledge were associated with racial disparities in savings outcomes. If Whites and minorities had the same levels of program knowledge, gaps in savings outcomes would have significantly narrowed. The findings call for the development of policy designs and communication tools to enhance knowledge of program features among households with Child Development Accounts, especially racial- and ethnic-minority households.

Child Poverty Among Hong Kong Ethnic Minorities

This paper analyzes the data from the Population Census of 2011 to identify the characteristics of poor ethnic minority groups in Hong Kong and the factors that are associated with child poverty among these ethnic minorities. The results show that the child poverty level varies between different ethnic groups and that ethnic minorities from developing nations are likely to have a higher poverty level. In particular, Pakistani children have the highest poverty rate among all ethnic groups. The results also show that Pakistani, Nepalese, and Mixed (Chinese and Asian) nationalities have a higher child poverty rate than that of Chinese individuals who constitute the majority of the Hong Kong population. The main reason for this is that, unlike their Chinese counterparts, some of these ethnic minority households have not benefited from their own human capital or their length of exposure in the local society in Hong Kong. And even if they have benefited, the positive impact of these factors on ethnic minority households was much weaker compared to that of Chinese households. These results suggest that ethnic minorities need to be categorized as a separate group in order to assess their specific needs, and assimilation policies, especially support on Chinese language learning, need to be an integral part of the government’s poverty reduction strategy to reduce child poverty among ethnic minorities.

Impacts of Migration and Remittances on Ethnic Income Inequality in Rural China

Summary Migration is often viewed as the best option for poor rural households to exit out of poverty, although the distributional effects of migrants’ remittances tend to be ambiguous in the literature. Given that increasing income inequality is a major concern and policy issue, this paper examines the impacts of migration and migrants’ remittances on income inequality in China’s rural minority areas using recent proprietary household data. Treating migrants’ remittances as a potential substitute for income, the results reveal that migration significantly boosts income for all ethnic groups, although the returns to ethnic minority households tend to be less than for Han households. Decomposition analyses further reveal that migration increases inequality between ethnic groups despite reducing spatial inequality. These countervailing effects imply that the continual transfer of rural–urban migrants will likely lead to spatial convergence despite reinforcing ethnic inequalities in rural minority areas. Importantly, the percentage contribution of ethnic inequality to total inequality is larger than that of spatial inequality across sampled rural locations, thus highlighting the fact that the ethnic dimension is an important, yet often overlooked component of inequality in China.

Poverty among ethnic minorities: the transition process, inequality and economic growth

ABSTRACTThis article investigates the process of reducing poverty in ethnic minority households. Using two recent Vietnam household surveys, we find that ethnic minority households are more likely to be persistently poor and less likely to be persistently non-poor than ethnic majority households. The within-group component generated by the variation in income within each ethnicity group explains more than 90% of the change in total inequality. Income redistribution plays an important role in decreasing the poverty gap and decreasing poverty severity. Different ethnic groups have different poverty patterns, which should be noted when designing policies to alleviate poverty and inequality.