753 Willing, but Unable: Determinants of Participation Rates for Training Workshops in Central Vietnam Ryan P. Gockel Seattle WA, USA Alison C. Cullen Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle WA, USA Abstract This article examines the determinants affecting individuals’ previous participation in training workshops in rural Vietnam. This is the first study to examine training program participation rates in a rural Asian context. According to a survey conducted in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam in 2008, more than 90 per cent of individuals expressed an interest in participating in a job-training program, yet only 41 per cent participated the previous year. This disconnect presents a serious challenge to increasing job training participation rates. We find that gender, age, location, and also behavioral constraints such as an individual’s risk attitude and willingness to compete are significant predictors of previous participation. Our results also indicate that those who could benefit most from job-training programs participate at lower rates. Governments and NGOs need to rethink development models taking these behavioural constraints into account. By designing interventions aimed at mitigating these constraints, participation rates for rural individuals will likely improve, offering a chance to improve livelihoods. Keywords: Vietnam, job training programs, behavioural decision-making, risk, rural livelihoods Introduction The economy and society of Vietnam are undergoing a structural transformation. In Vietnam, 70 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, yet the country is becoming more urban as its economy industrialises (World Bank, 2011). According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), agricultural workers comprised 53 per cent of the Vietnamese work force in 2007, a decline from 65 per cent in 2000 (ILO, 2010). As Vietnam’s economy continues to industrialise, investing in human capital will be a Corresponding author’s details: Name: Alison Cullen Email address: Alison@uw.edu key component in the development process (Thang and Quang, 2007). Governments and development organizations are increasingly interested in job training workshops as a tool to tackle unemployment and to better align job skills with labour market demands. The Vietnamese Government has identified job training as a high priority for socioeconomic development and has set a goal of increasing the share of the workforce with skills training to 45 per cent by 2015 (ILO, 2010). As urban migration trends continue, Vietnam’s rural poor face particularly limited employment opportunities since they tend to lack technical training. Therefore, increasing rural access to training workshops is a high priority for the Vietnamese Government. However, very little research exists Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development journal homepage: http://aessweb.com/journal-detail.php?id=5005