Box 17. Building Government Capacity: Study Tour on Minority Issues UNDP in Vietnam supported a study tour for Vietnamese government officials to Brazil at the end of 2007 to learn and consider relevant options for innovative and successful social protection and development policies for ethnic minorities in other countries, especially targeting chronic poverty and self-help approaches that support ethnic minorities to manage their own development. The main objectives of the study tour were to help Vietnamese officials responsible for ethnic minorities and social development to: a) learn from other countries’ experiences: 1) what policies have improved living standards for the chronic poor especially among ethnic minorities and enhanced their financial and human capital and overall security; 2) how these countries have created an enabling environment for social development that benefits ethnic minorities and the chronic poor; and 3) what are the lessons learned in terms of how social development policies have benefited or not ethnic minorities; b) apply this knowledge to contribute to developing appropriate policies in Vietnam for initiatives for the socio-economic development of ethnic minorities, specifically within the Socio-Economic Development Programme for Ethnic and Mountainous Areas (P135-II). The study tour featured meetings with both CSOs and government officials working on issues pertaining to Afro-Brazilians and indigenous peoples of Brazil. The outputs of the study tour included a detailed report and presentation describing what was learned from the study tour and how these lessons can be applied in the Vietnamese context; and a concept paper analyzing opportunities, constraints and recommendations to apply/ pilot in Vietnam selected best practices. The study tour set out to answer a number of key questions:  What are the most effective ways to design social policies and programmes and what is the role of facts, research and evidence? If an evidence-based approach to policy making has been applied, how was this developed, encouraged and maintained?  Is improving human development and/or social protection an explicit policy objective or an indirect objective of a programme focused on reducing hunger and poverty? How are social protection and development objectives integrated, or not? How are the needs and interests of ethnic minorities factored into this?  What types of financial and non-financial barriers to access need to be addressed, and are there any specific to ethnic minorities?  What is the role of gender in terms of enhancing effectiveness and impact? Are there differences in how ethnic minorities versus majority groups approach gender and are these considered in policy and programme design?  How are the poor and ethnic minorities involved in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programmes and policies? Is it important for administrative staff to apply a participatory approach?  What is the role of culture and how can adapting policies and programmes to the cultural realities of ethnic minorities increase effectiveness? Chapter 5: Programming Opportunities and Relevant Strategies 89