In many parts of Vietnam people live their lives much like their grandparents. Communities are strong and people are mutually supportive. But it is often difficult to make enough money to feed families and deal with the many difficulties that occur throughout life. Richmond Consultants Ltd were asked to review the extent to which a UN agency was able to bring innovation to these remote communities. We found that many type of innovation were encouraged. Some were technological, such as providing simple ways of testing the levels of nutriants in soil. Others were organisational: for example, the people shown in the photograph on the right had been helped to set up a micro-finance scheme that was providing funds for the purchase of resources.