3 June - Prosperity Initiative and The Center for Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD) presented the outcome of their joint market strategy project for 2008 at a seminar hosted by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) at the Australian Embassy in Hanoi.

During 2008-09, Prosperity Initiative (PI) and CAP undertook an innovative programme funded by AusAID and SDC to develop the capabilities of CAP staff in market-oriented and poverty-focused sectoral analysis. Since 2008, seven staff from CAP have been working in Prosperity Initiative's office under the guidance of Prosperity Initiative's Strategy Managers to produce studies on a variety of agricultural sectors. The CAP Team, with Prosperity Initiative's technical support, has completed studies on soybean, cardamom, coconuts, cocoa, chili and pomelo amongst others.

The objectives of the June seminar were to present the results of the AusAID/SDC-funded CAP-PI project; draw lessons from the collaboration to date; and highlight potential areas for CAP-PI collaborations relevant to the future of agriculture and rural development in Viet Nam.

The seminar was attended by Donors of the project, including SDC, Irish Aid, Oxfam Hong Kong and AusAid. Discussion following the presentation focused on several areas including the potential contribution of market analysis and strategy approaches such as those developed in this work to other major programmes in Viet Nam including the P135 programme.

Within the framework of their longer commitment, Prosperity Initiative and CAP will continue to review the most appropriate forms of future collaboration and look to expand the support to other areas of PI's programmes such as industrial bamboo sector development and business and investment advisory work.