Site updates

There is a large information gap when it comes to taxation in Myanmar. For example, in a survey of urban taxpayers, 89% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed to the statement, “I wish I had clearer information on what taxes I am supposed to ...

The topic page looks back on the effective aid flows that helped Vietnam from a poor, underdeveloped country to become a lower-income country. However, the proportion of official development assistance (ODA) contributing to the state budget is declining, while the need for capital to address ...

Open Development Vietnam has published a new profile on The World Bank Aid Projects in Vietnam. The data is presented in an interactive map that allow readers to view and filter projects that are completed or under implementation.  For more detail, please access the new profile on The World Bank ...

This policy booklet provides policy recommendations on key sustainable development issues in the Mekong Region that were explored by the collaborative research projects of SUMERNET in phase 3 (2014-2017). The collaborative research projects addressed various sustainable development issues under three themes: Climate compatible development; Ecosystem ...

Open Development Mekong has just published a new sub-page on forest policy and administration. Cambodia (2002), Laos (2007), Myanmar (1992), Thailand (1941), and Vietnam (2004) each have national legal and policy mechanisms to govern the sustainable management and use of forest resources. However, these national laws are often undermined by a ...

Open Development Thailand has just published a topic page on SDG 6 Clean water and sanitation. As of 2017, Thailand has already taken steps towards achieving a number of SDG 6’s indicators.  98% of the population of Thailand has access to “improved drinking water” and 93% has ...

Open Development Thailand has just published a new page on SDG 14 – Life below water Thailand has many reasons to invest in their oceans and marine environments, having more than 3,148km of coastline which runs across 23 provinces. These marine environments are ecologically diverse and are ...

Poverty is exacerbated by armed conflicts and environmental disasters. This is particularly the case for Myanmar and Thailand, although all of the Lower Mekong Countries are expected to be disproportionately impacted by climate change. Nationally-appropriate policies that are pro-poor and take into account vulnerable groups including ...

Despite earlier successes in reducing hunger for the MDGs, the ASEAN region continues to struggle to eliminate hunger and improve nutrition. In the LMCs, only Vietnam and Thailand attained the MDG target for reducing the number of underweight children, and malnutrition still affects one in three ...

 In the Lower Mekong Countries, it is only in Vietnam that almost all children finish primary school. For the other countries, the key factors limiting access to primary education are generally economic (such as no money to support education or children being required to help on farms ...