Striving for comprehensive development in ethnic minority areas

Dong Nai currently has nearly 4.5 million people, of whom ethnic minority groups number about 421,000, accounting for 9.4 percent of the province’s total population.

Member of Provincial Party Committee and Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee’s Commission for Information, Education and Mass Mobilization Nguyen Thi Hong Trang, together with benefactors, present gifts to ethnic minority people in difficult circumstances in Bom Bo Commune. Photo: Collaborator

Ethnic minority people live interspersed with other population groups across the province but are mainly concentrated in border areas, remote and far-off regions, and former revolutionary base areas. Thanks to the attention of the Party and the State through specific policies on ethnic affairs and the implementation of social security programs in ethnic minority areas, the material and spiritual lives of ethnic minority communities have improved; grassroots political systems have been strengthened; national defense and security, as well as social order and safety, have been maintained; and the great national unity bloc has been increasingly consolidated. However, ethnic minority areas and border regions still face many difficulties compared with other parts of the province.

A regular task

The Resolution of the First Provincial Party Congress, term 2025–2030, has identified the following objective: improving the material and spiritual lives of the people, especially in ethnic minority, religious, and border areas; narrowing development gaps among localities and regions within the province; and ensuring balanced and harmonious development across all areas and localities.

Member of the Provincial Party Committee and Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee’s Commission for Information, Education and Mass Mobilization Nguyen Thi Hong Trang said that, in implementing the Resolution of the First Provincial Party Congress, the Commission is advising the Provincial Party Executive Committee on drafting a Resolution to strengthen the Party’s leadership in building the great national unity bloc and promoting comprehensive development in ethnic minority and border areas.

In recent years, under the close leadership and direction of the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council, and the Provincial People’s Committee, along with the attention of the entire political system, efforts to ensure social security and improve the material and spiritual lives of ethnic minority people have been carried out regularly. Many programs and policies have been implemented in a synchronized manner, notably the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021–2025 period, with total investment capital of more than 1,137 billion VND. The program has been implemented in 49 communes and 95 villages and hamlets in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, focusing on essential fields such as infrastructure development, livelihood support, vocational training, job creation, cultural preservation, and improving the quality of healthcare and education. As a result, the poverty rate among ethnic minority households has fallen sharply. During the 2021–2024 period, the province reduced more than 4,000 poor ethnic minority households; indicators related to housing, clean water, health insurance, and education universalization achieved positive results.

Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Party Secretary and Chairman of the People’s Council of Da Kia Commune Ly Trong Nhan said that, as a Khmer ethnic minority person himself, he clearly feels that perhaps few countries provide such comprehensive support to ethnic minority communities in all aspects of life as Vietnam does, with the ultimate goal of strengthening the great national unity bloc, promoting socio-economic development, and preserving the fine traditional cultures of ethnic minority groups.

Greater attention needed

Alongside the implementation of social security policies, Dong Nai has also fully and promptly implemented policies for village elders and prestigious people. Currently, the province has 98 exemplary village elders (from the former Binh Phuoc Province) and 483 prestigious people receiving support in accordance with regulations.

Many traditional cultural values have been preserved and promoted. Several intangible cultural heritages have been recognized at the national level, contributing to the development of cultural tourism. One hundred percent of communes and wards have cultural houses or community halls; more than 99 percent of villages and hamlets have cultural houses or sports areas, providing an important foundation for maintaining community activities.

The school network has been invested in a synchronized manner; many communes in ethnic minority areas maintain universal education, universalization and literacy eradication. The province currently has 10 ethnic minority boarding schools training ethnic minority students.

Dong Nai is home to 37 ethnic minority groups, with 49 communes and 95 villages and hamlets classified as ethnic minority and mountainous areas; among them, 3 communes and 46 villages are categorized as extremely difficult areas.

Political security and social order and safety in ethnic minority areas have been maintained; the roles of village elders and prestigious people continue to be promoted, serving as important bridges between the Party, authorities, and the people. Attention has been paid to building a contingent of ethnic minority cadres, with both quantity and quality steadily improving.

In addition to the achievements, the Political Report of the Provincial Party Executive Committee for the 2020–2025 term, submitted to the First Provincial Party Congress for the 2025–2030 term, clearly states that the living conditions of a segment of the population in ethnic minority and border areas remain difficult.

Party Secretary and Chairman of the People’s Council of Bu Gia Map Commune Le Hoang Nam said that the commune has more than 8,000 people, with ethnic minority people accounting for 75 percent of the total population and comprising 17 ethnic groups. As a border locality with a high proportion of ethnic minority residents, socio-economic development associated with improving living standards while ensuring national defense and security is a key task.

In recent years, the Bu Gia Map Commune Party Committee has focused on leading and directing economic development tasks, raising average per capita income to 30.7 million VND per year by the end of 2025, an increase of 5.5 million VND compared with 2020. Despite progress in economic development, a segment of ethnic minority people still engages in production based on outdated farming practices; access to and application of science and technology in production remain limited; and there persists a mindset of reliance on State support policies, with insufficient initiative to rise out of poverty.

Member of the Provincial Party Committee and Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee’s Commission for Information, Education and Mass Mobilization, Le Thi Thai said that the development of ethnic minority and border areas is a particularly important political task, closely linked to strengthening the great national unity bloc, ensuring national defense and security, and safeguarding national sovereignty.

With this significance, the draft Resolution of the Provincial Party Executive Committee on strengthening the Party’s leadership in building the great national unity bloc and promoting comprehensive development in ethnic minority and border areas identifies three overarching priorities to 2030: developing essential infrastructure in ethnic minority and border areas; creating sustainable livelihoods linked to markets; and building a contingent of cadres from ethnic minority backgrounds.

By Phuong Hang – Translated by Quynh Nhu, Thu Ha