UNIQUE Forestry and Land Use GmbH/ funded by World Bank - Survey on forestry firms for Vietnam SME Study - 2019

Project Description:

MKE was hired to organize, conduct and document a survey of 100 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the forest sector in Viet Nam. The final products included translated questionnaires (from English to Vietnamese), list and contacts of interviewed enterprises (in English), and Database of interview results in Excel (in English).

Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (Timor-Leste)/ World Bank - Baseline Survey for the Sustainable Agriculture Productivity Improvement Project (SAPIP) - 2019

Project Description:

The Project Development Objective (PDO) of SAPIP is to increase the productivity and marketed production of smallholder agriculture in selected geographical locations in Timor-Leste. Mekong Economics developed and conducted a baseline study (using appropriate methodologies and tools) in order to establish credible baseline for a selected set of indicators included in SAPIP’s results framework. This would be instrumental to allow an assessment of SAPIP’s progresses and final results and outcomes.

The World Bank Group - Implementation of the EAP Enterprise Surveys (EAP ES 2014) - 2014

Countries Involved:

Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.

Project Description:

The EAP ENTERPRISE SURVEYS 2014 was a World Bank (WB) project aiming to study the business environment in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Laos and Vietnam. With the participation of 13 key professional staffs and sub-contractors, MKE led the following responsibilities:

·        Identifying sample frames in accordance with World Bank outlined strategy and approval;

·        Conducting the face-to-face interview with approximately 6,090 establishments of the sample frame;

·        Providing to client a set of a cleaned database of all completed interviews in the STATA electronic database

·        Preparing report, in English, on the data describing all codes, sampling biases introduced in the survey implementation and other pertinent information for researchers.

The World Bank - National Community Driven Development Project - 2013

Project Description:

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar had received a grant in the amount of US$ 80 million from the World Bank toward the cost of its National Community Driven Development Project, which was being implemented by the Department of Rural Development (DRD). The objective of the project was to enable poor rural communities to benefit from improved access to and use of basic infrastructure and services through a people-centered approach, and to enhance the government’s capacity to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency.  This approach would empower villagers to manage and participate in their own development.

The objective would be achieved through: (i) financing community-identified rural infrastructure investments; (ii) strengthening the capacity of communities in partnership with local authorities to effectively identify, plan, and implement their development priorities; and (iii) facilitating the participation of the poor and vulnerable, both women and men, throughout the project cycle at the community level.

MKE played the role of local partner in the consortium with Agriconsulting and Inacon. MKE provided three out of ten experts for the team, covering the following areas; Management of Information Systems specialist, Training Specialist, and Grievance Handling Specialist.  The team worked in close partnership with the DRD to sustainably increase capacity to design, implement, monitor, and evaluate participatory development projects at the township and centralized-government level.

World Bank - Implementation of China Enterprises survey - 2012

Project Description:

The survey was implemented to provide feedback from local enterprises in various industries on the state of the private sector, business environment and constraints to their growth and performance. The findings from 3,000 face-to-face interviews would contribute to the development of indicators that enable the comparison across countries and tracked changes over time as well as the stimulation of systematic dialogue and reform agenda. The Consultant developed the sample frame, conducted pilots, finalized the questionnaires, provided training for local enumerators, conducted interviews and data entry, and reported on a regular basis.

WB & SEQAP - Research on study of recurrent (non-salary) costs for the scaling-up of full day schooling (FDS) reform - 2012

Project Description:

The long term objective of the SEQAP was to create the foundations for the implementation of FDS in primary schools throughout Vietnam by 2020. The short-term objectives were to develop the policy framework for FDS, to pilot and apply FDS model in selected provinces, and to create favourable conditions for moving to FDS nationwide. The assignment was for a study and development of a new/adjusted mechanism for budgeting/allocating non-salary recurrent costs, including transition to FDS.

The World Bank - Survey on Dollarization in Vietnam - 2012

Project Description:

There was a growing concern about the impact of the dollarization on the effectiveness of monetary and exchange rate policies in Vietnam. To improve the understanding of this issue, the World Bank in Vietnam commissioned MKE to carry out a study that aims to identify the extent and causes of dollarization in Vietnam over time.

The World Bank - Agriculture and Rural Development Public Expenditure Review - 2012

Project Description:

The objective of this Agriculture and Rural Development Public Expenditure Review (PER) was to contribute to the preparation of the proposed poverty reduction and rural development operation in the Central Region through consolidating lessons learned from the recent period Public Expenditure Management (PEM), and making recommendations on how selected provinces and central agencies in charge of the implementation or coordination of related programs can effectively and efficiently use available financial resources for achieving the rural development and poverty reduction goals set out in core strategies/development plans for the forthcoming period. MKE completed the following tasks:

(i) Providing a broad description of the dynamics and patterns of allocations and spending and the overall PEM system in the ARD sector.

(ii) Conducting a broad assessment of allocative efficiency for the sector as the whole and a more in-depth one for the selected provinces.

(iii) Carrying out an in-depth analysis of technical efficiency in the selected provinces and the influencing factors

(iv) Providing an assessment of growth and poverty reduction impacts of selected ARD programs in the region.

(v) Producing a report presenting findings and recommendations of the PEM and its summary to be included in the synthesis report of the above-mentioned series of analytical works.

World Bank (Transaction Centre III) - The Third Rural Finance Project – Mid term Socio-economic Impact Assessment Review - 2011

Project Description:

The Development Objective of the Third Rural Finance Project (RF) was to increase economic benefits for rural private enterprises and households by improving their access to finance. The expected outcomes included:

(i) improved access to financial services for rural entrepreneurs

(ii) increased capital investment made by the rural entrepreneurs as well as increased employment

(iii) increased lending, particularly term lending to the rural private sector for capital investment by all participating financial institutions (PFIs) on market-based terms.

Mekong Economics accomplished the following work:

(i) On-desk reviewing secondary data and materials provided by PMU and PFIs

(ii) Conducting a survey of more than 500 end-borrowers to assess project socio-economic impact on end borrowers

(iii) Conducting in-depth interviews with more than 50 individuals representing the PFIs and other related agencies

(iv) Processing collected data, preparing and finalizing required report (draft and final report).

World Bank (Washington D.C) - Scaling up Hand-washing Behavior Change Project: Post intervention Data Collection and Analysis for the Impact Evaluation - 2011

Project Description:

MKE was assigned the task of conducting post-intervention data collection activity for an impact evaluation of the “Scaling up hand washing behaviour change” intervention, on behalf of Government of  Vietnam and Water and Sanitation Programme. Rigorous research methodologies were used, including a randomized impact evaluation design, and the collection of multiple survey measures using household and community questionnaires for more than 3,000 households in 310 communes in three provinces of Vietnam (Hung Yen, Thanh Hoa and Tien Giang). MKE accomplished the following main tasks:

·         Obtaining country-required permissions for implementing the post-intervention data collection as well as any project-required ethical review approvals.

·        Pre-testing new survey questions, pilot questionnaires and pilot the full survey and data collection

·        Organization and implementation of the surveys and the quality controls