1 AIT Asian Institute of Technology

Socioeconomic disparity between locals and Thai ethnic minority in Vietnam

AuthorNguyen The Manh
Call NumberAIT Thesis no.RD-11-02
Subject(s)Minorities--Vietnam--Economic conditions
Minorities--Vietnam--Social conditions
Thais--Vietnam

NoteA thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Regional and Rural Development Planning, School of Environment, Resources and Development
PublisherAsian Institute of Technology
Series StatementThesis ; no. RD-11-02
AbstractAbout 300 million ethnic minority people are living under standard condition around the world with many issues. Ethnic minority in Vietnam has the same situation, particular Thai ethnic minority in Dien Bien province. The aim of this thesis is to explore socioeconomic disparity between Thai ethnic minority and Local people in term of education aspect, employment, health care aspect, and economic component. Ethnic minority stayed in Dien bien province long time ago, and local people migrate since 1954. However, local people have better life condition in this area. To understand the picture of socioeconomic in this area, three research questions are made 1) What is the different socioeconomic status between Thai ethnic minority and local group in North of Vietnam; 2) How the government policy can support to Thai ethnic minority; 3) How can make the balance between Thai and Local groups. The research was carried on Thanh An village, Dien bien district, Dien bien province North of Vietnam, where there are more than 60% of Thai ethnic minority stayed. Seventy one households was interview by using questionnaire to survey for collecting data. Of which there are 38 Thai ethnic households, and 33 Local households, which were selected to interview. Moreover, key informants and stakeholders also were interviewed to collect information. Quantitative, quantitative, and SWOT method are main techniques in order to analysis data. The research found that there are very mush disparities in term of socioeconomic status between Thai ethnic minority and Local people. Most of Thai ethnic households still have many limited living conditions such as lacked of drinking water, inadequate sanitation system, and food shortage. Income source was not enough for their live and lower compared to Local income households. Employment of Thai ethnic most is from agricultural activities. Furthermore, Thai people tend to migrate to city to earn money than that of locals' people as a result cropland of Thai ethnic was sold. There are unbalance in term education level of respondents and spouses between Thai ethnic and local people. Moreover, Thai ethnic minority cannot get many benefits from policy of government compared to Local people because of lacking education, inadequate perception, etc. The research also found that local leaders were limited in term of agricultural management, lacked of information, knowledge on market orientation as a result poverty rate of Thai ethnic was nearly 40% compared to local household (0%) even supp01ting many programs from government. Some recommendation were drawn from this research was that socioeconomic status of this area should be consider in term of policy in poverty reduction, improve health care system, and creative more occupation for both Thai ethnic minority and Local people. Gove should more focused on education for new generation because education is very important in term of development in the future. Agriculture is very significant so that it should be consider helping Thai ethnic reduce socioeconomic disparities compared to Local households. Government should provide more programs for local leaders because most of policy and programs were performed by local leaders should be taken place.
Year2011
Corresponding Series Added EntryAsian Institute of Technology.--Thesis ;--no. RD-11-02
TypeThesis
SchoolSchool of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD)
DepartmentOther Field of Studies (No Department)
Academic Program/FoSNatural Resources Management (NRM)
Chairperson(s)Ahmad, Mokbul Morshed ;
Examination Committee(s)Routray, Jayant Kumar; Soparth Pongquan ;
Scholarship Donor(s)International Fellowships Program Ford Foundation, USA;AIT Fellowship;
DegreeThesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2011


Usage Metrics
View Detail0
Read PDF0
Download PDF0