Steering Committee Meeting of VNGO&CC Network

On October 9th 2015, the Vietnamese Non-Governmental Organisations and Climate Change network (VNGO&CC) Steering Committee meeting was held at the office of the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD). The meeting saw the participation of representatives from SRD, the Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD), The Centre for Community Health and Development (COHED), The Centre for Rural Development in Central Vietnam (CRD) and the Research Institute for Climate Change (DRAGON).

Representatives of the network member organisations

Meeting activities included:

(i) Updating the activities of project “Strengthening the role of Vietnamese NGOs in climate change communications and policy advocacy” (coded VM047, funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - DFAT) from January 2014 to September 2015. Each member organisation of the Steering Committee shared some typical activities that were carried out in the framework of the project over the past two years.

(ii) Discussing the general plan for project VM047 until the end of 2015 which emphasizes cooperation with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. It is expected that the final project workshop for VM047 will be held in December 2015;

(iii) Updating the support activities of the network outside of VM047;

(iv) Discussing the election for the chair of the network executive committee from 2016 to 2018, and confirming that SRD will continue as the chair of the network until the end of 2015-- the successor organisation will be elected at the final project workshop in December 2015;

(v)  Discussing the activity maintenance of the network after 2015. The Steering Committee will meet again on details of this issue before the final project workshop.

The Vietnamese Non-Governmental Organisations and Climate Change network was founded in 2008 with the aim of enhancing operational efficiency to respond to climate change through capacity building and cooperation between the Civil Society Organisations and stakeholders. Currently there are about 130 NGOs and CSOs participating in the network throughout the country.

The VNGO&CC network has received financial and technical support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) (known as AusAID) to implement the project “Strengthening the role of Vietnamese NGOs in climate change communications and policy advocacy” in 2014 and 2015. The project aims to improve Vietnam’s ability to effectively respond to climate change through increasing the abilities of Civil Society Organisation networks and strengthening the participation of NGOs in developing policies on climate change.

According to the original project plan, a final project evaluation will be conducted from early November to mid December 2015 by independent experts.

-SRD-