Workshop: Gender, Rights and Empowerment in Southeast Asia

This conference will be taken place November 1-2, 2007, Eastin Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand.

WARI is a Bangkok-based women’s organization devoted to gender research, education and training. It is organizing its 8^th annual gender and Southeast Asia conference on November 1-2, 2007. The event has been successful for the last 7 years. We are looking forward to your participation and to another year of successful meeting. The conference welcomes participants from SE Asia and other countries. We invite interested students, teachers, NGO and GO workers, activists, scholars, consultants, and representatives of UN/donor agencies to participate.

This year, we will have at least two panels devoted to issues of Thai women. Please circulate this announcement.

Gender issues are often resisted in SE Asia and other countries of the global south while gender training programs and discourse have often not been successful. At least four reasons can be cited. One is the resistance of men and bureaucracies headed by men. Two, women’s movements have often been perceived as an imitation of western women’s liberation demanding personal/individual rights. This approach perceived as promoting self-centeredness has not made much sense to most women who still hold fast to traditional obligation toward family and society. In Thailand where patron-client relations prevail, family rather than market or the state is still the safety net. Third, effective gender education is lacking and not adequately supported by donor agencies or the state. And fourth, funding agencies sometimes create contradictory consequences. Policy-wise, they help maintain activists’ programs. But for their own survival, they keep activists busy in the market mechanism of proposal and report writing. This “professionalization” of women/gender issues sometimes encourages middle class entrepreneurship in the name of working for gender justice. The constellation of donors and circles of women NGO clients leave little space for dissent and critical voices. This conformation or complacency to such mechanism sometimes turns once idealist to self-promoting activists/scholars busy in travel, meeting and accounting than continuing their personal and institutional resistance against social injustice or market mechanism.

There are very few courageous voices, but the obstacles to promotion of gender justice are many. The voice of middle class is often heard, but the voice of and attention to marginal women is lacking.

In spite of mental resistance and funding obstacles, WARI wants to continue this dialogue. The aim of the annual conference is to advance gender understanding and to deepen gender, rights and empowerment approaches in order to develop and facilitate their application to emerging social issues and challenges. The conference hopes to foster a network of Gender Education and training (GET Net) to support and help facilitate a continuing dialogue on gender, capacity building and critical human resource development.

The conference would be held right after a seven-day gender-training workshop on gender and human rights in SE Asia. The issues of gender, diversity, culture, education, and rights, along with issues of training and conceptualization are of continuing interest. In addition, we are interested in the application of gender and rights approaches to contemporary areas of HIV/AIDS, violence, and trafficking, and to the case studies of marginalized women such as girl child, migrant women and ethnic minorities. Possible panels are as follows. Additional panels on related issues can also be suggested.
1. Gender, diversity, identity, education and training
2. Challenges of gender and development issues in Thailand, Mekong region and SE Asia
3. Rights-based approach and women’s empowerment
4. Gender issues in HIV/AIDS, violence, and trafficking
5. Issues of marginal women: girl child, migrants, and ethnic minorities
6. Application of CEDAW and MDGs

The conference uses English medium and will be held at Eastin Hotel, Bangkok on November 1-2, 2007. The registration fee is USD100 or 3,500 baht. Scholarship (for Thai and other needy participants) is available to reduce the registration fee to 1,500 baht. Registration form is
attached or could be accessed with other details from our website geocities.com/wari. Last date for registration is April 15, and for paper submission June 30, 2007.

You don’t have to submit a paper to participate. Our email gendertrain@yahoo.com

US Government Donation Not Enough: Activist

While the US government’s donation of US$400,000 towards a $1 million study into removing toxic chemicals from the environment and cleaning up a site in Da Nang is welcome, it’s not enough, said Len Aldis, general secretary of the UK-Viet Nam Friendship Association.

It is a very small step – and long overdue – on the long road to the eradication of the legacy left by the use of millions of litres of Agent Orange and other chemicals used and sprayed by the US," he said.

In a letter to the Viet Nam News Agency bureau in London, Aldis wrote, "Today in Viet Nam there are over three million living victims including newborn babies, suffering from illness, many with severe disabilities caused through Agent Orange. Of what benefit to them will be the $400,000 or $1 million?".

Kim Lien Primary school has undergone a few modifications recently to make it more accessible to wheelchairs

The US$10,000 "Making schools more friendly to students with disabilities" project was funded by the World Bank and involves building ramps for wheelchairs. Work began last August, organised by the Access Working Group of People with Disabilities and Handicap International.

The group visited 20 educational establishments in Ha Noi to gauge their suitability for the project.

"Most of the schools and universities we visited didn’t have disabled access, which explains why of the 20 schools we went to only one has a single disabled student," said Nguyen Hong Oanh, a member of the group.

The project is designed to advocate the rights of students with disabilities and to raise awareness about the lack of wheelchair access in schools and universities.

"Instead of feeling the shame of having to rely on other people’s help, disabled students can now attend school unaided," said Nguyen Hong Ha, the project’s manager.

Since the project was launched last year, two schools and one university now have disabled access: Kim Lien Primary School, Tam Khuong Secondary School and the University of Labour and Social Affairs (ULSA).

All three establishments now have wheelchair access to the toilets, while disabled students attending Tam Khuong can now visit the library unaided.

"I’m very happy because at least my son can feel more comfortable in school," said Nguyen Thanh Huyen, whose wheelchair-bound 14-year-old son Nguyen Van Kien attends Tam Khuong.

Ha said the project wasn’t simply about building ramps in schools but about creating "a society without barriers" where people with disabilities can lead a normal life.

"With better accessibility, we hope more and more disabled children will go to school," added Ha.

Poverty Action Program 2015 - Vietnam (AP 2015)

The “Poverty Action Program 2015” (AP 2015) for the Focus Country Vietnam is to be seen as part of the German contribution to the implementation of the “Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy” (CPRGS) on the national and (in particular) on the decentralized and local levels. The overall goal of the AP 2015 is to strengthen the collaboration between stakeholders of the German Development Cooperation and stakeholders in selected partner countries in their joint efforts to reduce extreme poverty to half until the year 2015. In Vietnam, the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS) was approved by the Prime Minister in May 2002. Its implementation is a major challenge for involved government bodies and civil society in the years to come. Targets on the national (macro) level include the improvement of framework conditions and the harmonization of sectoral approaches for an ecologically sustainable and socially balanced economic growth. Targets on the decentralized (meso and micro) levels include the strengthening of capacities of local institutions and beneficiary organizations with the aim to actively involve them in the implementation and poverty impact monitoring of projects under the umbrella of the CPRGS. On the local level, this process is also meant to strengthen “Grass Roots Democracy.” Partner: Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), CPRGS-Secretariat Additional Partners: Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), People’s Committees and Technical Departments in selected Provinces and Districts Location: Hanoi, Son La, Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh, Dak Lak and other selected provinces Contribution: € 2.22 million Commencement: 2002 Background The Federal Government of Germany has supported the participatory formulation of the CPRGS and the initial steps of its implementation by a number of programs and projects in the major fields of German development assistance. With the AP 2015, additional funds are made available by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) to further “mainstream” the focus of poverty-related impacts of these programs and projects and implement specific support activities for the decentralized implementation of the CPRGS in close association with ongoing GTZ projects and their Vietnamese counterpart structures. Objectives Since the year 2002, the AP 2015 in Vietnam supports the CPRGS implementation both on macro and decentralized levels in the form of three projects. As from 2002, the project 'Poverty Implementation Fund, Focus Country Vietnam' (PN 2002.2091.3) aims at improving the co-ordination among Ministries involved in the CPRGS, as well as between the national and the provincial levels. As from 2003, funds were made available for a number of additional activities: The project 'Social Security for poor Population Groups' (PN 03.3504-2-019.00) mainly aims at improving framework conditions on the macro level with some pilot implementation activities for vulnerable social groups. The project 'Poverty Impact Monitoring, Implementation of MDGs, poverty- and gender-orientated Budget Planning' (PN 03.3504-2-018.00) is targeted at micro level (selected districts, communes and villages) to develop models and implement pilot activities with direct beneficiary participation of the poor population. Target Groups Direct beneficiaries of the AP 2015 are poor families, women, men, youth and children in the selected villages and communes of the provinces of Son La, Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh, Dak Lak, as well as other vulnerable groups (e.g. handicapped) in urban areas, such as Hanoi. They benefit through improved targeting of the CPRGS 'roll out' on decentralized levels due to stronger demand-oriented and gender specific programming. Based on expressed local aspirations and needs, the program supports a process in which planning, implementation and monitoring of poverty-related activities are truly 'owned' by the beneficiaries. On a pilot and modeling basis, the program also provides local development funds which are directly managed by local communities. Capacity building is targeted also to “intermediaries” of the process, such as involved government bodies, mass organizations, vocational training centers and other groups of civil society. Implementation Apart from a direct support to the CPRGS Secretariat within MPI, which is charged by the Government of Vietnam with the co-ordination of the CPRGS, other program activities are implemented in close association with ongoing GTZ-supported projects and their Vietnamese counterpart structures. The major implementation components of the program include: Implementation Components Vietnamese Partner (associated GTZ project) Son La - gender activities, commune budgets, grass roots democracy, village development funds -- DPI and Vocational Training Centre Son La (SFDP) Thanh Hoa and Dak Lak - village development funds -- DPC Thuan Xuan (Thanh Hoa) - DPC Mad Rak (Dak Lak) (REFAS ) Quang Binh - gender activities, village development funds -- PPC Quang Binh (IFSP, SMNR-CV) Dak Lak - VDP, village development funds -- DPI Dak Lak (RDDL) Hanoi and selected provinces - gender activities, poverty impact monitoring, village risk cover funds, social security mechanisms -- MOLISA (GTZ-MOLISA) Hanoi - social security for the handicapped -- VIETCOT (GTZ-VIETCOT) Hanoi and selected provinces - vocational training, support to vulnerable groups -- MoE (GTZ-BBPV) Address of the Program Office: GTZ Office Hanoi 6th floor, Hanoi Towers 49 Hai Ba Trung Hanoi, Vietnam Tel. +84-4-9344951 Fax +84-4-9344950 E-mail: wiemer@ap2015-vietnam.org nha@ap2015-vietnam.org

US grant for cleaning up Agent Orange site a pittance: expert

ThanhNien - A US donation of US$400,000 for a $1 million study into cleaning up a chemical dump in Da Nang is welcome but inadequate, general secretary of the UK-Vietnam Friendship Association, Len Aldis, said.

“It is a very small step – and long overdue – on the long road to the eradication of the legacy left by the use of millions of liters of Agent Orange and other chemicals used and sprayed by the US,” he said.

In a letter to the Vietnam News Agency’s bureau in London, he said: “Today in Vietnam there are over three million living victims including new-born babies, suffering from illness, many with severe disabilities caused by Agent Orange.”

“Of what benefit to them will be the $400,000 or $1 million?” he asked.

International donors to back VN’s sustainable development

VietnamNews — The international community has promised to help Viet Nam overcome the difficulties it will face to achieve its sustainable development targets during integration into the international community.

Addressing a recent donors’ meeting on environment and natural resources in the capital, Danish Ambassador to Viet Nam Peter Lysholt Hansen voiced appreciation for Viet Nam’s decision to allocate one per cent of its State budget to environmental protection from 2006.

Continued pressure
Tran Thi Minh Ha, Director of the Department for International Co-operation at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said Viet Nam is facing many challenges following admission into the World Trade Organisation.

"Development opportunities are many, so are the challenges," said Ha.

According to Ha, the biggest challenges come from exploitation of the country’s natural resources and environmental pollution.

She said mobilisation and exploitation of the country’s natural resources to meet the demands of rapid economic growth and cross-border pollution would seriously degrade the environment and cause an imbalance in the natural ecosystem. This would have a negative impact on sustainable development, the people’s health and quality of life, Ha said, adding that these problems were also the result of the country’s industrialisation and modernisation.

Pollution caused by waste water, industrial waste, household waste and emissions from industrial parks and urban areas across the nation have become a barrier to development, she said.

Environmental goals
Environmental protection is one of the country’s top priorities. That was the conclusion of bilateral negotiations with the European Union for accession to the WTO in July 2004. It has subsequently become one of the 11 service commitments Viet Nam has made for joining the WTO.

The country’s environmental commitments include waste water and industrial waste treatment, and controls on air and noise pollution.

Foreign invested enterprises, in which the foreign partner will be allowed to hold up to 51 per cent of the firm’s chartered capital within four years following Viet Nam’s accession to the WTO, are permitted to provide these environmental services. After four years, the foreign partner will have the right to set up on its own - but not as a branch - in Viet Nam.

Mai Ai Truc, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, said to comply with the country’s commitments to the WTO, Viet Nam needed to ensure the legal framework governing the environment was in place.

The increase in economic exchanges among nations could turn Viet Nam into a "dumping ground" for unfriendly environmental products, Truc said.

Not enough
Though the government has allocated one per cent of the state budget to environmental protection, the sum is not enough, said Truc. He said it was forecast that over the next few years capital coming from Official Development Assistance would be reduced, particularly non-refundable loans.

To cope with this situation, Viet Nam should encourage foreign investment in environmental protection, the Minister said, adding that environmental protection should be part and parcel of all government policy.

According to a Swedish environmental expert, Viet Nam should only grant investment licences to inves tors who have included in their proposals good environmental treatment measures. He also suggested that Viet Nam should develop a national target programme on environmental protection and sustainable development which investors could participate in.

Klaus Rohland, the World Bank country representative suggested that Viet Nam should encourage enterprises to adopt business-development strategies based on sustainable development. He suggested the government come up with a proper sanction mechanism for enterprises that violate environmental laws and regulations.

Development aid conference starts in Vietnam

International aid experts from the World Bank, UN and other development agencies and 40 nations met in Vietnam on Monday for a four-day conference aimed at making global development efforts more effective.

The Hanoi meeting will study ways of making worldwide foreign aid -- which, organisers said, reached a record 87 billion dollars in 2005 -- more effective in eradicating poverty.

The Third International Roundtable on Managing For Development Results will bring experts and officials from the UN Development Programme and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and scores of aid agencies, non-profit groups and private companies were also expected at the meeting.

The conference follows similar meetings in 2002 in Monterrey, Mexico, where world leaders called on rich countries to give more aid and on poor countries to use it better, and a similar roundtable in Marrakech, Morocco in 2004.

At a 2005 meeting in France, 60 donor countries and 60 aid recipients endorsed the Paris Declaration to increase aid harmonisation and accountability and greater decision-making powers for the receiving country.

Host Vietnam has been praised for its poverty-eradication programmes, and has been chosen as a pilot country in which separate UN agencies will streamline their operations to work under a common leadership and budget.

The World Bank in Vietnam plans on Tuesday to announce that it will provide Vietnam with over four billion dollars in interest-free credit until 2011 to continue its poverty reduction and development efforts.

International roundtable on seeking better aid usage opens in Viet Nam

The third international roundtable on managing for development results kicked off here Tuesday, aiming at helping developing countries and donors gain more results with their aid money.

"The main objective of the roundtable is to achieve firm political commitments as well as agreed action plans among donors and partner countries on enhancing aid effectiveness by managing for development results," Pham Gia Khiem, Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam, said at the event's opening ceremony.

The second roundtable in 2004 in Morocco agreed on five principles for managing results: increasing dialogues, linking planning, monitoring and evaluation with results, simplifying indicators, and use of results information, he noted.

Over 400 government officials and experts from 42 countries, 33 aid and donor agencies and 30 non-governmental organizations and private companies have registered to participate in the three-day third roundtable to discuss how to better improve the results made possible with development aid which stood at 87 billion U.S. dollars in 2005 worldwide.

At the roundtable hosted by the Vietnamese government and sponsored by several foreign organizations including the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, Xu Lin, Director General of the Department of Fiscal and Financial Affairs under China's National Development and Reform Commission, told delegates in his keynote speech to the opening session
his country's recent experience and approach to the development of a result-based planning system. Political leadership and the government should be united to work closely to promote development for people, while the government should have a strategic development plan with clear directions for the country, he said.

"Public participation is necessary to reach common understanding about any issues within five-year plans and maintain the political support for them," he added.

ThanhNien Newspaper comes to aid of poor blind in Vietnam

Thanh Nien newspaper and an Australia-based charity organization have provided financial assistance for performing cataract surgeries on 200 people at a medical center in a central Vietnamese province.

Thanh Nien and the Fred Hollows Foundation provided VND140 million (US$8,750) to the center in Quang Ngai.

Thanks to the Sight for Life project, a total of 1,100 people have regained eyesight.
This is for the 25^th time that Thanh Nien funded cataract surgeries all over the country and the fifth time in Quang Ngai.

“My eyes can see, I am so happy,” 76-year-old Nguyen Bao of Son Tinh district said joyously.

Another man wept: “I feel as if I have been born a second time.”

Sight for Life was launched by Thanh Nien in 2003 to help needy patients, and has so far benefited more than 1,700 people at a cost of well over VND1 billion ($63,000). The Central Eye Hospital said around 80,000 people (0.1 percent of the population) suffered from cataract annually, but many still could not afford the now-routine surgery.

Sony Viet Nam loves being ‘green’

VietnamNews — Sony Viet Nam was awarded first prize in the "Green Business Firm" awards. The awards were handed out by the HCM City Department of Natural Resources and Environment to companies that foster corporate and community environmental awareness.

The company became the only electronics firm in the awards history to receive the top honour so far, and was lauded for its launching of corporate responsibility programmes and community schemes such as the Green Sony Inventions Award. Their own inventions prize has been given out since 2000, and has become a prestigious award for university students nationwide that invent or contribute research to environmental protection.

Since it began operations in Viet Nam some 20 years ago, the company has improved its production lines by scrapping the use of lead in its welding to ensure a smaller environmental footprint, said head of Sony Viet Nam’s International Relations Office, Vu Quoc Tuan.

Recently, the company launched the Green Sony Project Award which will run parallel with the Green Sony Inventions Awards. Prominent among those in attendance during the awards, held last week in HCM City, was Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Mai Ai Truc.

Viet Nam News Agency extends aid to Agent Orange victims

Viet Nam News Agency has donated VND10mil in addition to medicine, milk and candy for Agent Orange child victims at a disabled children home in the central province of Quang Binh.

The aid was handed over by VNA Deputy General Director Tran Mai Huong during his visit to the centre on February 2 to leaders of the Duc Ninh Centre, which is raising over 74 disabled children, including over 40 affected by Agent Orange.

Huong, who is also President of the VNA Fund for Agent Orange Victims, also visited and presented gifts for A/O victims in Hanoi and the central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh.

The VNA and its fund for A/O victims have decided to disburse almost VND165mil as Lunar New Year gifts for 150 families and centres raising disabled children in 21 provinces and cities nationwide.

Vietnam's White Paper on Human Rights

Quote from the paper:

"Over thousands of years of national building and defense, the Vietnamese people have made untold sacrifices to gain the fundamental human rights, namely the right to live in independence and freedom, the right to food, clothing, housing, education and dignity. In the Declaration of Independence of September 2nd, 1945, giving birth to the independent and free State of Vietnam, President Ho Chi Minh proclaimed that "All the nations on the earth are equal from birth, all the nations have a right to live, to be happy and free."

It is the State of Vietnam's policy to respect and protect human rights. The State has also done its utmost to ensure the realization of human rights through the building and constant improvement of the legal system and the undertaking of concrete measures aimed at promoting economic, social and cultural development so that every citizen can enjoy a better life both materially and spiritually in an equal, democratic and civilised society.

To help the world public better understand the Vietnamese tradition in protecting and promoting human rights and the current human rights implementation in Vietnam, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam would like to introduce the book entitled "Achievements in Protecting and Promoting Human Rights in Vietnam".

Full paper in English is here >>

Centre helps to give voice to Hai Duong’s disabled children

VietnamNews — The Social Sponsorship Centre in Hai Duong Province has provided language and vocational training to thousands of deaf and dumb children, helping them to stabilise lives with steady jobs in the process.

Most of the disabled children, other than having little hope for a future, didn’t even dream of learning to read and write, until the centre stepped in.

"Eighty per cent of the children, who received training here, have found suitable jobs with stable incomes," says Vu Huy Tuong, director of the Social Sponsorship Centre.

Nearly 5,000 children, most of them abandoned, have finished their courses and are now employed in various companies in the province.

When they came to the centre, according to Tuong, they could neither read nor write. But, at the centre, they were not only taught how to read and write, but also information technology (IT) skills, music and sports.

"Despite many difficulties, the efforts and patience of teachers have turned the centre into an effective rehabilitation centre for disabled children," Tuong said.

At present, the Social Sponsorship Centre has about 1,000 students with disabilities. Other than the 5,000 deaf and dumb gainfully employed students, the centre has also provided vocational training to over 3,000 students with other physical disabilities.

These figures have been achieved, thanks to the efforts of teachers at the centre, Tuong underlines.

Teachers like Anh Tuyet, who has been serving the centre for the last 16 years, has taught nearly 400 children to read and write and express themselves.

Firms that have hired students from the centre, like Chan Thien My Company that has employed over 400 graduates, are also happy with the performance of students.

Lauding their talents, Doan Xuan Tiep, director of the Chan Thien My Company, says that he has been surprised at the skills and abilities of students who are on par with normal employees.

"The company has signed a long-term contract with the centre pledging to only employ its graduates," Tiep said.

An opinion shared by the management boards of other companies in the province that hired students from the centre.

Other than teachers, the centre owes its excellence to people like Doan Thi Hop, who has served the centre loyally over a decade, taking care of children with disabilities.

A widow of a martyr, Hop says she is working out of sympathy for the unhappy children at the centre, who are either Agent Orange victims, deaf and dumb, mentally retarded, or paralysed.

Hop has also adopted three children who were abandoned at the provincial general hospital, with one adopted ten years ago still unable to speak. Despite her small monthly allowance, Hop says she is happy to take care of her adopted children and work at the centre.

VAVA raises cash, support for Agent Orange victims

VietnamNews — The Viet Nam Agent Orange/dioxin Victims Association (VAVA) has reported that they raised over VND6.6 billion (US$412,500), in donations in 2006.

Deputy President and General Secretary of VAVA Tran Xuan Thu, reported at a meeting in Ha Noi, on Tuesday that the association had been extremely active in winning the support of the international community.

He cited the success of an international conference on AO/dioxin victims which hosted representatives from countries that sent troops to Viet Nam during the American war.

The conference highlighted the devastating consequences that Agent Orange has had on communities globally, and also went on to strengthen the bonds between Vietnamese victims, said the VAVA chief.

He added that impressive pledges for support were made by a number of delegations, including Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Great Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and Italy.

Thu also said that VAVA had worked closely with Thai Binh Province and Ha Noi hospitals to collect hundreds of dossiers on victims to strengthen its scientific evidence for a pending trial against US chemical companies, filed by Vietnamese AO/dioxin victims.

Thai Binh and Ha Noi have sent delegates to represent the thousands of Vietnamese A/O victims, while Military Hospital 108 and the Viet Nam-Russia Tropical Centre have provided medical evidence for the plaintiffs.

VAVA also unveiled their plans for the 2007 year, which will focus more attention on gaining greater international support for the trial, as well as a continuance of the groups aid efforts.

The association is awaiting on Government approval on a proposal to hold an international conference in Moscow, Russia, on the consequences of a chemical war left behind by American forces in Viet Nam. The conference would solidify more international support, especially in Eastern Europe, for the trial, concluded the VAVA leader.

The association also hopes to build a functional rehabilitation centre for victims from the central and Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) regions, which will have international experts invited to work at the facility.

Dutch, Swedes fund bio-diversity preservation in central Vietnam

Source: ThanhnienNews

Work started Thursday on a US$4-million project, funded by the Netherlands and Sweden, with focus on protecting the environment and preserving biological diversity in central Vietnam.

The project, with funding from the Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund of the Netherlands and Swedish governments will be implemented in Quang Nam and Quang Tri provinces under the management and technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank.

The project is aimed at preserving biodiversity, eliminating hunger and reducing poverty through the sustainable use of natural resources as well as the recovering and maintenance of the forests.

It also aims at improving managerial skills for local authorities and seeking a sustainable financial mechanism for environmental protection.

American veteran grants US$50,000 to war victims

VietNamNet Bridge – An American family has channelled US$50,000 through the US Fund for Reconciliation and Development to help Agent Orange victims in Vietnam.

The aid was made in accordance with Bob Feldman's last wishes before he died in May 2006 of Agent Orange-related diseases that he caught during his military services in Vietnam.

The sum consists of US$30,000 the US Government has paid him in compensation and US$20,000 donated by his family and friends.

The aid was handed over in Hanoi on January 29 by a Deputy Director of the US Fund, Susan Hammond, to Nguyen Duc Phan, Director of the Fund in Support of Agent Orange/dioxin Victims under the Viet Nam Red Cross Association.

Bidding for scientific grants: a flawed concept from the outset

VietNamNet Bridge – Professor Hoang Tuy spoke to the Thoi bao Kinh te Sai Gon (Sai Gon Economic Times) about the difficulty scientists are experiencing when trying to win Government grants for their proposals.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to let the Ministry of Science and Technology come up with 95 research topics and then invite interested researchers to bid on the projects.

To build a factory or a highway, the basic technology required in the construction is universal, but the quality and the cost depend very much on the contractor’s proposal.

This analogy is the same for scientific work, except when it comes to comparing the respective goals of a construction worker and a researcher.

Scientists or academics use their creativity to gain more knowledge, and though they have an idea of what might be achieved, often there is no definite goal before the research begins. This is unlike a worker that promises a building at the end of a contract.

Researchers do not know whether their hypotheses are right and so the end result(s) of their work may be radically different than planned.

That’s why funding organisations in developed countries don’t ask researchers to bid in order to receive money. In order to get a grant, scientists and academics don’t promise results, instead, they explain what the research is about, its significance and what they hope to achieve.

I can say governments offering grants for research are not a new phenomena, nor is the competitive nature of bidding or writing proposals to get the funding. What worries me is whether the bidding process will be transparent and fair.

If that was the case, a level playing field must be given to all researchers, be they young or old.

In my opinion, the Ministry should create a special board to carefully study the proposals submitted. Each member of the panel will give their score based on a common set of criteria. The whole process must be conducted openly and carefully recorded.

We all recognise that scientific research plays an important role in the economic, cultural and political life of every nation. Research activities are often conducted by universities or research institutes that specialise in certain areas.

Their research must have funding, sometimes large sums of money donated by the institutes as well as from the government.

In my opinion, if we want to get results from our research then the Government should list some areas of interest and let the experts in those fields decide what research topic they are most suited for.

What I mean is the government will act like a project supervisor and look at how its money should be invested, allowing experts to propose what research should be conducted.

There are many examples of government trying to control this process that have gained few results.

Looking at this strategy, I wonder if this is the best way to fund academic and scientific research. I also wonder if this kind of competitive environment will promote scientific and technological advancement in Vietnam.

Late US veteran gives $50,000 aid to Agent Orange victims

Source: VietnamNews

The US based Fund for Reconciliation and Development handed over US$50,000 to aid Agent Orange (AO) victims in Viet Nam yesterday.

The funds were donated by the estate of Bob Feldman, an AO sufferer and US veteran of the Viet Nam war. Feldman had originally received a $30,000 pay out from the US Government, however, before his death in May 2006, he had made plans to send the money to the AO Victim Aid Fund managed by the Viet Nam Red Cross Society (VNRC).

Feldman also asked that the funds be disbursed in the provinces of Bien Hoa, Quang Tri, Quang Ngai, Kon Tum and Quang Nam. A portion of the bequest is expected to be used to support programmes for micro credit schemes, health care and vocational training for AO victims.

According to the VNRC, there are more than 2 million AO victims in Viet Nam. Many of whom are sick and living in poverty.

700 billion VND for population control and child-care

Viet Nam plans to earmark nearly 700 billion VND (43.75 million USD) for promoting population control and family planning as well as child-care activities in 2007. More than 560 billion VND of the fund will be disbursed from the State budget and the remaining will be sourced from donors, said a conference held in Ha Noi on Jan. 26 by the National Commission for Population, Family and Children.

In 2007, the population control and family planning programme will focus on tightening inspection over population structure and ameliorating living conditions for the whole population. The country also targets to reduce the birth rate to three per thousand in 2007 in order to keep its population at 85.3 million.

In order to fulfill these targets, chairwoman of the committee Le Thi Thu pointed to the need to speed up information dissemination and encourage involvement of every sector in implementing the population and family planning mission.

Besides, relevant ministries and agencies should continue finalising the legal system and policies on population and improving the quality of the management and information.

Britain agrees to provide Vietnam US$450 million to fight poverty

Source: Associated Press Worldstream

Britain signed an agreement Tuesday September 19, 2006 to provide Vietnam with 250 million pounds (US$450 million; euro355 million) in grants over the next five years to help the communist country fight poverty.

Britain's visiting International Development Secretary Hilary Benn and Vietnam's Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc signed the deal, part of a 10-year development partnership arrangement between the two countries.

"It recognizes the quite extraordinary progress which Vietnam has made in recent years in reducing poverty, lifting 30 million people out of poverty in a generation," Benn told reporters after the signing ceremony.

"It is a success story which has been hidden from the rest of the world," he said. Benn, however, said the aid does not come without conditions. He said it was dependent on poverty reduction efforts, human rights, the fight against corruption, good governance, and financial management reform.

The Department for International Development has provided a total of 190
million pounds (US$350 million; euro276 million) to Vietnam since 1992.