In 2005 CIRUM was established as an independent NGO to focus on land rights and ethnic minority communities. CIRUM has been established under the legal framework of the Southeast Asian Research Association of Vietnam, and traces its (informal) provenance from another NGO, the Towards Ethnic Women (TEW). CIRUM works in the mountainous province Lang Son and especially in remote communes that are recognized as the poorest. There CIRUM creates mechanisms between various stakeholders to enable them to solve their land issues, in such a way that is acceptable and fitted to local people’s needs and at the same time official policies.
 
This case study outlines the land allocation program that CIRUM facilitated in Bac Lang between 2005 and 2007. Our goal is to share our experience with stakeholders who are responsible for land reallocation. Evidence so far show that responsible stakeholders face difficulties in implementing land allocation and in reaching pro poor and effective land distribution as intended by national land law (2003) and related programs[1]. Moreover the situation of ethnic minorities does not seem to improve but to get worse and conflicts between various stakeholders are widespread which a threat to a stable society. In Bac Lang CIRUM has been able to overcome these problems and we are sharing lessons in this case study…