World Food Policy Volume/Issue 2-2/3-1 Fall 2015/Spring 2016 | Page 76

Toward a Restricted Tolerance of Street Vending of Food in Hanoi Districts

The main outcomes of the
research and consultation are that
management staff at the ward and district
levels as well as within the Department
of Industry and Trade now have a fuller
understanding of street vending and see
the importance for leaders to facilitate
things to allow street vendors to operate
in residential areas. This approach was
original in that local residents—the
customers of the street vendors—were
involved in the consultation. The example
of the Kim Lien market and street
vending in Phuong Mai Ward shows that
groups of customers can take a sustained
interest in promoting the activities of
street vendors, in tandem with the local
authorities who give permission for
vacant land to be used. Street vendors
themselves commit to following traffic
and food safety regulations. In this
way, the street vending becomes “semiformal,” so to speak, which means that the
system of stakeholders is self-regulating.
Regulations are enforced while flexibly
and entry barriers to trading activities
can be kept low for the benefit of less
affluent urban residents (Cross op. cit.).
Some elements in our work on promoting
stakeholder recognition and dialogue
for a better integration of informal
activities in a city can be replicated,
even though the political context is
quite specific. In Hanoi, it is particularly
difficult to foster collective action by
street vendors because of the attitude of
local authorities who consider that any
form of organization should come from
their initiative and operate under their
control. So we had to invite a panel of
street vendors representing a diversity of
socio-economic profiles and have them
agree to disseminate information to their

acquaintances rather than acting as actual
representatives of the vendors. Further,
support was sought from the Women’s
Union at the city and local levels, given
its rather direct interest in this issue. The
general lessons can be summarized as
follows: first, this action-research shows
the importance of gathering rigorous
qualitative and quantitative data on the
benefits and drawbacks of the informal
activity under focus. Researchers are
also particularly helpful in documenting
success stories of the inclusion of informal
activities in the city, internationally, and
locally. Second, it suggests that confining
the scale to the ward or district may
make it easier to implement fruitful
stakeholder dialogue than taking on
the scale of the city. This more localized
scale is also relevant to identify and
document innovative solutions to the
problems posed by street vending. Third,
having informal traders, consumers,
district and ward officers as well as
researchers involved in the dialogue
process led by skilled facilitators, getting
all to express their views on the issue at
stake, reaching a measure of consensus
and making commitments on solutions
to the problems raised, are important
ingredients for success. As a follow-up, it
would be necessary to regularly monitor
the process put in place and facilitate
further stakeholder dialogue. From
a research perspective, investigating
recent insights from policy and planning
sciences, including Public Participation,
would also be very valuable (Innes and
Booher 2004; Walker, McQuarrie, and
Lee 2015).

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