Carry out investigations, surveys, and research to clarify the roles and positions of particular social groups such as the elders, the intellectuals, and the women of local ethnic minorities in sustainable development of the Central Highlands; draw lessons learned and propose opinions as well as suitable and feasible recommendations and solutions, which will be served as scientific basis for policy making for the purpose of promoting effective roles of these three social groups in sustainable development of the Central Highlands.

Theoretical results: On the base of research outcome, four project’s scientific conclusions are drawn as below:

1. In the past, the societies of local ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands were operated according to customary laws. They were run by village-level self-governing institution that was mostly composed by three social groups, which were the elders, the intellectuals, and the women. In the Đổi mới period, these three social groups have continued promoting their role in the preservation of culture and traditional customs and practices as well as playing their role in informal social management that is to mobilize villagers in socio-economic development and security-political strengthening in the villages.
2. In the process of sustainable development, the elders represents the village-level self-governing institution in the Central Highlands. They are also typical folk intellectuals of their ethnic peoples. Due to local policies, village elders have supported the political system of social management in the villages in the Central Highlands, maintaining local customs and practices as well as community’s beliefs, mobilizing villagers to preserve ethnic culture, build new cultural life, develop society and economy as well as strengthen political security. This fact has proved that the elders is a link between customary law and the State’s law, between the past and the present, and is a factor that supports the official social management system. However, apart from such good effects, the elders’ activities also have some shortcomings. For example, they have been sometimes taken advantage by reactionary organizations.
3. In sustainable development, the local ethnic minority intellectuals in the Central Highlands include three groups: folk intellectuals, religious intellectuals, and educated intellectuals. The folk intellectuals have played their role in maintaining their ethnic tradition and supporting the political system in socio-economic development and political security strengthening. The religious intellectuals have the role of managing their followers according to tenets and supporting the political system in mobilizing the followers to be good folowers and good citizens. Educated intellectuals are people who were educated under the pro-American government. Most of them returned to their villages after the resistant war, however, there are still some people who joined political reactionary organizations or living abroad and caused negative impacts to the regional and national sustainable development.
4. Before 1975, in the area of local ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands, the role of women in their families and societies were respected more than or at least equal to that of men. In the two resistance wars against the French and Americans, local ethnic minority women in the Central Highlands were united under the Communist Party’s leadership and side by side with men contributed their strength and havings to the struggle for independence. In sustainable development, they have also contributed their strength and intelligence to the construction of their motherland. Besides their active role, women of local ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands also have some limitations. Their interests are less than their responsibilities. Some of them are taken advantage by reactionary organizations.

Applied results: On the base of research outcome, lessons learned have been drawn and opinions, recommendations, and solutions have been proposed for the purpose of promoting the roles of three social groups in the local ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands. 

• Lessons learned: 1) The existence and the role of informal social management institutions in the sustainable development of the Central Highlands need to be recognized objectively; 2) Lessons of promoting the role of folk social management institutions and of the elders in history need to be inherited; and 3) Understand the elders, the intellectuals, and the women in the local ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands means to be popular.
• Opinions: 1) The official social management of the political system plays the decisive role while the informal social management of the elders, the intellectuals, and the women only has supportive role; 2) Specific solutions and policies need to be made to inherit and promote the roles of social groups of local ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands; and 3) Recommendations and policy solutions that are once built need to ensure their unity and harmony as well as supporting each other torwards the sustainable development.
• Proposals: 1) Contitue to promote the role of the elders, the intellectuals, and the women in the socio-economic development and political security strengthening; 2) Respect, listen to and thoroughly understand the elders, the intellectuals, and the women of local ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands; 3) Pay attention to the promotion of the role of these three social groups in the villages that have converted into Catholicism and Protestanism; 4) Build agreed criteria of the elders; 5) In terms of the intellectuals educated under the pro-American government who are members of political and religious reactionary organizations, on one hand determinatedly repress recalcitrant elements and on the other hand tolerate the ones who temporarily make mistakes; 6) Regard the elders as a special prestigious social group amongst prestigious persons according to the Decision No. 18/2011/QĐ – TTg; 7) Perform religious equality in training and use local ethnic minority intellectuals; 8) Build policy to use unemployed local ethnic minority intellectuals; 9) Build policy to honour and promote the role of folk intellectuals; 10) The Women's Union at all levels should be based on the features of matrilineal and bi-lineal family to develop appropriate forms of activities for organizations of local ethnic minority women in the Central Highlands; and 11) Enhance the learning and training to raise political, economic, and social awareness for the local ethnic minority women in the Central Highlands.
• Solutions: 1) Innovate and build new policies for these social groups, the elders, the intellectuals, and the women; 2) Strengthen learning activities to enhance knowledge for the elders; 3) Realize more satisfactory treatment for the elders; 4) In those villages that local ethnic minority people make the majority, step by step replace Kinh kindergarten and elementary school teachers by local ethnic minority teachers and teach bilingual programs; 5) Improve educational quality of boarding schools; 6) Incorporate specific terms and priorities when implementing policies for women in the Central Highlands, support them in all fields; and 7) Promote gender equality advocacy for local ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands, especially the women.

• First, to clarify some theoretical and practical basis for the study about the role of specific social groups of the ethnic minority peoples in the Central Highlands in particular and of the ethnic minorities in general.
• Secondly, to clarify the current situtation and active as well as negative roles of the three particular social groups, the elders, the intellectuals and the women of local ethnic minorities in the sustainable development in the Central Highlands.
• Thirdly, to draw some lessons learned and propose some opinions, proposals and solutions to inherit and promote the roles of these three social groups, the elders, the intellectuals and the women of local ethnic minorities in the sustainable development of the Central Highlands

• Scientific Articles in Academic Reviews (list):

• Synthesis report of the project’s results, 275 pages;
• Summary report of the project’s results and reports on the conclusion, proposals, and solutions of the project 51 pages;
• A data set about the role of local ethnic minority elders, intellectuals, and women in the socio-economic development of the Central Highlands in the Đổi mới period;
• A manuscript titled The Roles of Local Ethnic Minority Elders, Intellectuals, and Women in the Sustainable Development of the Central Highlands, 218 pages;
• Two papers presented at the conference Central Highlands Program 3 about the roles of social groups of local ethnic minorities in the sustainable development of the Central Highlands, 69 pages.

The Ethnic Committee, the Central Highlands Steering Committee, the Tây Nguyên University, and the People’s Committee of the provinces in the Central Highlands.

Carry out in-depth research about the roles of religious leaders in the local ethnic minority villages.