Vietnam's economic emergence isperhaps best experienced along its rural roads: over 175,000kilometers of pavement, rubble, and dirt track extend totwo-thirds of the country's population, includingnearly all of the poorest people, who live among itsproductive farms, lush forests, and meandering rivervalleys. In recent years, road investments in Vietnam'srural areas have improved socioeconomic development and havepromoted gender equity, social participation, improvedschool attendance, and more inclusive health services toimpoverished regions. However, all but a few hundredcommunes remain off-grid, and infrastructural roadblocks andbureaucratic potholes have delayed the goal of a fullyintegrated road system. The World Bank's Third RuralTransport Project (RTP3) supported a win-win solution:employing ethnic minority women to sustainably manage roadmaintenance through an innovative participatory approach tolocal development. This smart lesson describes theexperience of improving the roads and women's lives inrural Vietnam.
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