Our recent study showed how 22,000 people moved out of poverty in two years in our flagship bamboo project in NW Viet Nam. We have demonstrated the potential to lift more than 250,000 people out of poverty in this market system by 2020. We are developing plans to target 100'000s in other bamboo market systems (industrial, edible shoots and handicraft) around the region.

Around the sub-region, we are moving towards completing our work to ‘prove' the case for large-scale poverty impact for other locations for each of the bamboo sub sectors (industrial bamboo, edible bamboo shoots and bamboo handicrafts). This is supported by strong progress in addressing knowledge and network gaps, with Mekong Bamboo having developed extensive industry knowledge and increasing networks of business, government and development actors linking China to Viet Nam, Lao PDR and Cambodia.

A comprehensive programme of impact evaluation is being rolled-out between October 2008 and May 2009 covering the majority of the northern industrial sub-sector in Viet Nam and northeast Lao PDR. This will include a follow-up to our original survey work in 2007, capturing the impact since then. Improved survey instruments and evaluation frameworks are currently being tested for other market systems (e.g. industrial bamboo in Cao Bang in Northern Vietnam, handicrafts in Cambodia and Lao PDR).
Prosperity Initiative is developing a range of new qualitative tools for assessing the attribution of our work, in particular the impact arising from major investment decisions, policy changes and other practices that transform these target market systems, which have been precipitated through the work of Prosperity Initiative.

Further to our overall programme priorities, there are specific priorities for achieving poverty impact in each distinct geographical industry sub-sector:

• Northwest Viet Nam and Lao PDR industrial bamboo zone - roll-out stage
• Other industrial bamboo zones - proving stage
• Lao PDR and Cambodia bamboo handicrafts - proving stage
• Northern Viet Nam bamboo shoots - proving stage

2008 Thanh Hoa Bamboo Impact Assessment Report (pdf, 772kb)