Roles of innovation in strengthening strategic delta planning processes: The case of the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

Driven by natural processes and human interventions, urbanized deltas worldwide face many problems, including salinity, extreme drought, freshwater scarcity, flooding, and others. In some deltas, initiatives have been launched to address these challenges. The Netherlands has been a frontrunner in long-term strategic delta planning, to conserve deltas and delta resources for the future. The Dutch delta planning approach has been applied in strategic delta planning (SDP) for numerous deltas in the world, including the Mekong Delta and the Bangladeshi Delta. There is considerable interest in innovative strategies for delta management and a growing body of scholarly work on that subject. This thesis focuses on the role of innovative solutions for strengthening SDP processes specifically in the VMD. It analyzes the dynamics of the SDP process for the VMD, with particular reference to the Mekong Delta Plan (MDP), and it investigates how the innovative solutions proposed in that plan may play a key role in fostering and maintaining consent across the key stakeholders at different phases of the planning cycle. This thesis adopts the “hourglass framework” as the main analytical structure for studying the role of the innovations put forward in the MDP. Of special interest is how innovations worked to shape the three phases of the strategic delta planning process and to foster consent among stakeholders on strategic delta development.

This thesis zooms in on the “innovation gap” found in the literature on strategic delta planning processes. It applies exploratory analysis and a mix of multidisciplinary techniques, including qualitative and quantitative methods. For analyzing the convergence of development agendas, a “multiple streams approach” is adopted. To analyze the multifunctionality of innovations, the “Millennium Assessment Framework” is used, which embraces an analysis of ecosystem services. Finally, to analyze how innovation designs are developed, modified, and accepted by relevant social groups, historical research is applied via a social construction of technology perspective. Data was collected by in-depth interviews with key informants, in addition to literature review, focus group discussions, and field surveys and observation.

Some key findings can be noted. Firstly, convergence was found between the agenda put forward in the plan and the agendas of relevant stakeholders. Particularly, the MDP, which was developed employing the Dutch strategic delta planning process, proved able to bind different political actors. Convergence of their agendas was facilitated by the efforts of “policy entrepreneurs”.  Key policy entrepreneurs in this case were national experts, highly positioned political actors and international development partners. In Vietnam, they were able to tackle existing policy problems by navigating the push and pull of the political arena. In so doing, policy entrepreneurs were able to change what happened.

Secondly, the MDP was indeed influential in changing the mindsets of political actors. Upon completion, the MDP introduced new directions in which the delta could be developed, including proposals of new innovations, such as adaptive livelihood models and interprovincial coordination mechanisms. These have been influential in changing the mindsets of political actors, especially at lower government levels (i.e., local and regional level). These changes translated into some aspects of implementation, of which, “soft” implementation was the subject of analysis, as this represents a prerequisite step to “hard” implementation. Yet, soft implementation takes significant time in an SDP process.

Thirdly, one of the most important findings of this thesis relates to grassroots acceptance of innovations. The innovations put forward in the MDP have been intensively explored in the field across the VMD, particularly nature-based delta livelihood models such as flood-based floating rice and the multiple livelihood opportunities embedded in the “room-for-the river” innovation, alongside the shrimp-mangrove integrated farming model proposed for the coastal zone. Local respondents experimenting with and observing these innovations expressed different perceptions of them. The idea of the “floating rice farming system”, for example, was particularly welcomed as a valued innovation in this specific case, thanks to its “building with nature” value and multifunctionality. The case studies in this research remind us that shifting livelihoods, and embracing alternatives, is never easy. The difficulty stems from a variety of factors, not least, vested interests; lack of coordination, for example, between line ministries and sector administrators; missing resources, infrastructure, and finance; conflicting prioritizations; and missing links between regional and national plans. To enable innovations to really take off, evidence from this research points to the need for more “windows of opportunity” – including time, appropriate institutional mechanisms, and resources – to stimulate wider adoption of the analyzed innovations.

Fourthly and last, this research found that innovations were socially constructed, modified, re-interpreted, re-designed, and co-developed over time, in accordance with social demands. Lotus farming provides an example of this. This research was interested in lotus farming not as a technological artifact itself, but rather in how this technological innovation emerged and what the outcomes of that process were. It was not yet an implementable fixed technology, at the time of this research, due to constant changes in its development pathway and problems that had not yet been resolved. What is now needed is the emergence of a stable market for lotus and lotus products. For this, the businesses actor group will need to be called upon to step into the game, as they are considered a promising advocate for further SDP realization.

In conclusion, it must be stressed that an SDP process takes time, especially in the political context of Vietnam. Proposed innovations must first enter a soft implementation phase before hard implementation can commence. In advocating implementation and facilitating the process, policy entrepreneurs are crucially important actors (in Vietnam, these included national experts, international actors, ministers, and the prime minister). They were proven, in this research, to create momentum for MDP advocacy. Last but not the least, innovations that are to be implemented cannot be seen as “black boxed” technological artifacts, but as nested processes of which the satisfactoriness of the outcomes still very much depends on the behaviors of stakeholders.