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Impacts of Price Hikes
on the Life and Livelihoods
of the Urban Poor
All of his six children (four boys and two girls) have dropped out of school. The highest level of
education they achieved is grade 9. The youngest boy who is 16 this year has just stopped going to his
grade 6 class and is now working with his father and siblings. Mr. T said “I could not afford to pay for
his schooling. When his teacher reminded him of the unpaid fees he felt embarrassed and decided to
quit. When he was smaller he was not that sensitive. Schooling is very costly. Every year we have to pay
300,000-400,000 VND. I sent a request to the commune government for exemption of school fees and
they have approved a discount of only 30,000 VND for one of my three children. I still have to pay the
other fees of more than 300,000 VND. This is a lot of money.”
Child malnutrition in remote areas has improved only slowly. In certain places it is actually worse. In the
commune of Xy in Huong Hoa, Quang Tri, as prices increase the nutrient intake by Vân Kiu children has
fallen (especially between harvests) while the birth rate is high. Pregnant women still have to work very
hard. The commune health clinic records show that the malnutrition rate among children under five has
increased from 40 percent to 61 percent over the last year. The infant fertility rate is 0.3 percent. All of the
eight women participating in a group interview have given birth between six and eight times and the
majority have had one or two babies die at birth or at a young age.
Women
The disadvantages and vulnerabilities of EM women at the study
sites have become more evident. When prices increase the role of
men takes on increased importance as they tend to speak the Kinh
language better and are assumed to be more technically
knowledgeable and better exposed to the world outside. They
therefore have a stronger voice when deciding how to sell
products, purchase seeds/fertilizers and plan productive activities
as they see fit to the family resources. In the meantime women
have to take on more upland farming work and continue to be
responsible for cooking and taking care of children on a lower
budget. In Dien Bien and Dak Lak, more women get hired jobs. In
Dak Lak, for example, the Êđê women are hired to husk cashew
nuts at home. In Quang Tri, they go into the forests to collect
bamboo sprouts, vegetables and fire wood (two hours from
home). The expenditure priority setting exercise revealed that
women choose to place the “clothes for women” item at a very low
level, well after “clothes for husbands and children” (because “the
children go to school and the husbands go to meetings”) . Similarly
entertainment activities for women are commonly put as a very low priority.
The most common disadvantages of Vân Kiu women in Quang Tri
The husband in a Vân Kiu family manages the money. He (or a son) is directly involved in all selling
and buying activities. He is also the family representative at meetings and trainings. Increased prices
make his status and voice even more important.
Most Vân Kiu women have never been to school so they cannot read or write in the Kinh language
(they know little and are reluctant to speak), calculate and sell or buy things. Instead they do the
household chores such as rice pounding, cooking, washing, planting, collecting firewood and weeding.
They rarely go to meetings or watch TV. Women often go back to work only 3-4 days after giving birth.
Girls also start working when they are still very young.
Women also often have to go into the forest to pick bamboo sprouts to sell to the peddlers or collect
vegetables and fire wood for the family. Bamboo sprouts are most plentiful between August and
September. During these months many women have to spend up to 10-20 days in the forest: “We leave
home at 7:00 in the morning and come back at 5:00-6:00 in the afternoon. It is far, about two hours
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