In Viet Nam, grassroots mediation is the most popular out-of-court mechanism for dispute resolution. It often covers minor disputes arising from family and civil relationships, and within communities, and is widely used across Viet Nam.  If done properly, grassroots mediation can be an effective way of accessing justice, especially for socially and economically disadvantaged people who face greater obstacles of accessing lawyers and courts. In fact, the Viet Nam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) 2018 showed that 45% of respondents would request mediation from “prestigious persons” in their community rather than using courts for civil disputes.

Recognizing the importance and potential of grassroots mediation, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) in partnership with UNDP and UNICEF, under the auspices of the EU Justice and Legal Empowerment Programme (EU JULE) organized a Legal Partnership Forum focused on this topic.  

The Legal Partnership Forum assembled more than 170 participants from relevant ministries and agencies such as Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Supreme People's Procuracy, Supreme People’s Court, the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, international organizations, development partners, NGOs, gender and law scholars, and more than 30 press agencies. The forum served as a high-level platform where relevant stakeholders came together to discuss proposals for enhancing the effectiveness of grassroots mediation in Viet Nam. 

This brief summarises the primary results of the Legal Partnership Forum focusing on recommendations for Improving the effectiveness of grassroots mediation in Viet Nam as interpreted by UNDP Viet Nam. Therefore, it should not be assumed that every participant subscribes to all recommendations and conclusions. The top broad priorities are identified based on their frequency of repetitions by presenters.