ActionAid Vietnam

Short Name: AAV

Address Line 1: 18th Floor

Address Line 2: TMC building

Street - Number and Name: No. 01 Luong Yen St., Hai Ba Trung Dist.,

District:

City: Ha Noi city

Contact Person – Vietnam: Mrs. Hoang Phuong Thao, Country Director

Email address: mail.aav@actionaid.org

Phone: +84-4-3943 9866

Fax: +84-4-3943 9872

International website: http://www.actionaid.org

Vietnam website: http://www.actionaid.org/vi/vietnam

International Headquarter:

Mission Statement: ActionAid is a global federation committed to finding sustainable solutions to end poverty and injustice. With more than 40 national members and country programmes worldwide, ActionAid focuses the majority of its resources on working with millions of the poorest and most excluded women, men and children. We take sides with them, making long term commitments to advance their human rights and to transform the world in which their children grow up. We support thousands of communities, partners and peoples’ movements in lower income countries to improve their lives through participatory capacity-development, solidarity, campaigns and emergency responses. ActionAid makes people-to-people links across the world with those who share our vision of a poverty free planet. ActionAid International is a unique democratic federation collectively governed by all its members, supported by an International Secretariat in Johannesburg so we can act as one organisation in solidarity with people living in poverty. Our central values of gender equality with courage of conviction drive our ambitions to innovate, take risks, promote women’s leadership and advance alternatives and lasting solutions. ActionAid International Vietnam (AAV) is an organic part of ActionAid International (AAI), working alongside people in the struggle for a world free of poverty and injustice. AAV works together with different groupings of poor and marginalized people, communities, knowledge institutions, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders to make change sustainable. Our vision: A world without poverty and injustice in which every person enjoys the right to life with dignity. Our mission: To work in solidarity with people living in poverty to eradicate poverty and injustice. Our values: Solidarity with people living in poverty, the powerless and the excluded; Transparency and accountability; Independence and neutrality from any religious or party-political affiliation.

History of operations in Vietnam: ActionAid started its programme in Vietnam in 1989 and in 1992 the representative office was registered in Hanoi. In 1994 some of the long term development programmes were launched aiming for poverty alleviation in four Development Areas (DAs) in Son La, Ha Tinh, Dien Bien and Ninh Thuan. AAV has gone through four different strategy phases, each identifying our understanding in the context of Vietnam and directing our actions to eradicate poverty. The first Country Strategy Paper (CSP I) was introduced in 1994. The next phase of the CSP II was launched from 1996 to 2000. The programme design was prioritized on the basis of organizational learning from the past few years. CSP III was launched during the period 2001 – 2005, structured around the analysis of Vietnam in terms of its economic and social development. CSP IV (2006 – 2010) is a continuum of AAV efforts from 1989 to make a positive and lasting difference to the lives of poor and excluded people in the country. The strategy was outlined with the analysis of unequal and unjust power relations identified as the root cause of poverty. CSP V for the period of 2012-2017 has been developed with the participation and cooperation of AAV’s different stakeholders, including communities, partners, academicians, media, policy makers and ActionAid team members. CSP V inherits the results and lessons from the last four CSPs. Based on processes of critical reviews and comprehensive consultations, CSP V seeks to confirm our solidarity with the poor and marginalized, our belief in their capacity and agency in changing the power relations and undertaking alternatives for a life with dignity. Over two decades, AAV has been recognized and is well known in the country for its contribution to the development of Vietnam.

Vietnam Programme Description: The AAV Country Strategy Paper V (CSPV) with its title of “Unite and Act on Justice and Development” for the period of 2012-2017 was approved and launched in November 2011. Applying a human rights-based approach, AAV plans to deliver its commitments through five programme priorities (PPs): (i) Promote alternative livelihoods and sustainable agriculture; (ii) Advance accountability and people-to-people solidarity for social change, increase youth leadership and civil society credibility; (iii) Promote equal access to quality education for children; (iv) Respond to disaster and climate change impacts with people-centered alternatives; and (v) Build social and political alternatives for women and girls. In order to deliver these five PPs, AAV’s CSP V has identified 5 organizational priorities (OPs), including: (i) Improve AAV’s governance to become a full member of AAI; (ii) Invest in our staff capacity and women’s leadership; (iii) Improve partnership management and M&E framework; (iv) Stabilize and diversify funding base; (v) Transform communication for campaigning. In its past strategies, AAV has presented itself through our support development programmes in more than 20 provinces from north to south, from rural to urban and in the poorest areas of the country. In the coming period we will improve our work in urban areas while continuing our engagement with rural and mountainous areas. AAV will maintain strategic representation in the poorest areas of the country with a clear priority to consolidate programme quality. Expansion will be considered carefully, taking into account the resources available and the potential opportunity for making change, working on strategic issues and bringing about pro-people alternatives.

Years of operation in Vietnam: 20

Projects in Vietnam:

AAV works in over 20 provinces in the poorest pockets of the country in the Northwest mountains, Central Highlands and Mekong regions and directly supports more than 210,000 people. We work in long-term programmes and projects at both local and national levels for sustainable changes. These programs and projects are funded by more than 12,000 regular sponsors from UK, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, and institutional donors such as IrishAid, UK Aid (DFID), EC, Benoy Foundation, Stanley Thomas Foundation, and Postkodstiftelsen with a total value of approximately US$2,500,000

Local Partner(s) in Vietnam:

Government Agencies: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD); Ministry of Finance (MOF); Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA); Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA); People's Aid Coordination Committee (PACCOM); Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly; Vietnam Union of Friendship Organization (VUFO) at the national levels; Provincial and District People’s Committees at the long-term development areas.

CSOs/NGOs: Center for Community Development (CCD); Center for Community and Rural Development (CCRD); Center for Education Promotion and Empowerment for Women (CEPEW); Community Finance and Resource Center (CFRC); Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES); Centre for Workers’ Rights (CWR); Fund for Women’s Development (FWD); Fund for Women’s Promotion (FWP); Ha Tinh Centre for Community Development (HCCD); Towards Transparency (TT); Research Center for Gender and Development (RCGAD); Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation (VPDF)

Networks/Working Groups: Climate Change Working Group (CCWG); Corporation Development Group (CDG); Civil Society Inclusion for Food Security and Poverty Elimination Network (CIFPEN); Disaster Management Working Group (DMWG); Ethnic Minorities Working Group (EMWG); Gender Community Network (GENCOMNET); Governance and Public Administration Reform network (GPAR); Joint Advocacy Network Initiative (JANI); People's Participation Working Group (PPWG); Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management (SARNM)

Academic Institutions: Institute of Labour, Science and Social Affairs (ILSA), Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD); Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS)

Media: Thieu Nhi Dan Toc Newspaper; Thoi Dai Newspaper; and others as appropriate

National staff: 46

Expatriate staff: 0

Budget in USD : 3,300,000