The global financial crisis has had a sharp, negative effect on the export-dependent economies of Asia, threatening to undermine gains made in recent years. Conditions continue to worsen for the working poor and migrant laborers whose hours and wages have been cut, forcing scores to return to their family homes. Rural communities are struggling to absorb returning laborers and make due without worker remittances. Data indicates that migrant workers, one of the most socially fragile groups in developing economies, have been severely affected, particularly women workers in the garment, textile, and electronics industries. Today, The Asia Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation announced a new initiative to alleviate the impact of the recession on the most vulnerable populations in Thailand and Vietnam. The new project will respond to the dire need for social services, training programs, and legal aid education as well as provide small emergency grants to civil society organizations.

Civil society organizations in Thailand and Vietnam are ideally positioned to help struggling workers weather the impact of the global economic downturn. Serving as a voice for society’s marginalized groups, these organizations have also suffered a decrease in funding and are operating with fewer resources needed to improve public services and respond to their communities’ most urgent needs. The project will provide financial support to these organizations and focus on sustainable solutions that address practical and effective community-based recovery.

For instance, in Thailand, the new project will facilitate emergency economic support and social services through the establishment of a Labor Crisis Center. The Center will provide pro bono legal aid and information to workers who have been laid off from their jobs or are facing imminent dismissal. Counseling will be provided through office consultations and through a 24-hour telephone hotline. To advance public policy advocacy, the Center will create an economic and labor information data base. And in Vietnam, project activities will focus on working with civil society groups to help migrant workers access critical public services such as health and legal aid, and to support select rural cooperatives as they respond to the development needs of their communities. The project will also convene representatives from civil society, government agencies, the National Assembly, research institutes, the private sector, and the media for a national dialogue. Participants will discuss key challenges to equitable and sustainable development and share innovative and practical solutions to address these problems.

The Asia Foundation will implement this two-year, $1,750,000 project with support from the Rockefeller Foundation.

For media inquires, please visit our Press Room.

Read the Vietnamese language version of this press release.

Today, The Asia Foundation announced a new grant of $500,000 from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for a two-year project to strengthen the Government of Vietnam’s ongoing anti-trafficking efforts in the Mekong Delta.

Through an integrated, multi-sectoral, victim-centered approach, the USAID-supported project seeks to reduce the vulnerability of communities in the Mekong Delta to human trafficking by increasing awareness of safe migration strategies and increasing the quality of care and support available to victims of trafficking, drawing on best practices from other countries in the region.

To help prevent trafficking, The Asia Foundation and its partner, the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences under the Ministry of Education and Training, will build upon and further refine an earlier school-based safe migration program in An Giang and Can Tho provinces – major trafficking hotspots near the Cambodia-Vietnam border – to reach 40,000 students from at-risk communities. Trainings for teachers and school officials will focus on messages and techniques that can be replicated in other schools and communities. Outreach efforts will incorporate successful materials developed under recent pilot projects such as the Safe Migration for a Better Life handbook and guidelines on how to find a job in major urban centers.

“The Asia Foundation-led safe migration pilot program was practical and useful for students, and information provided through the activities has helped to guide them to safe migration and safe employment,” said Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, director of the An Giang Provincial Education and Training Department.

To assist victims of trafficking, another program priority will focus on improving the rehabilitation process. Given that many victims are in a vulnerable psychological state, there is significant potential for re-traumatization after they are rescued. The Asia Foundation will work with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and service providers – including police, legal professionals, social workers, and health care workers – to draft a policy document that defines a victim’s basic rights as well as outlines best practices for ensuring a minimum standard of care. The Foundation will draw on its experience working with the Cambodian government to develop the recently-released Policy and Minimum Standard for the Protection of the Rights of Victims of Human Trafficking. To draft a victim assistance manual that is appropriate in the context of Vietnam, The Asia Foundation will facilitate consultations among key stakeholders and practitioners. Once the draft is approved by MOLISA, the Foundation will conduct training workshops to implement the new policy.

Trafficking in persons is a high priority issue for the Foundation. In Vietnam, the Foundation has supported a comprehensive counter-trafficking program since 2002 to address both the underlying causes and consequences of trafficking.  Programs are implemented to empower young people to better protect themselves from sexual and labor exploitation as they look for ways out of poverty by providing safe migration and legal rights information as well as with interventions to improve their economic position.

Read more about USAID in Vietnam.

Read more about The Asia Foundation’s work in Vietnam.

For media inquires, please visit our Press Room.

As the primary data source for The Foundation’s EGIs, these surveys collect information about local government regulations and how they impact private sector development. The data contain valuable information that will help expand research and analysis in the areas of good governance, growth, and private sector development.

The data also provides relevant economic governance information to policymakers, business leaders, and citizens. This information creates demand for an improved business environment among the private sector and provides local and national leaders with information about best practices as they seek to improve economic policies.

To request the data or for more information, visit The Asia Foundation’s Economic Governance Index page or contact Nina Merchant, Assistant Director, Economic Reform & Development, at nmerchant@asiafound.org.

conf_recorded_on_jun_25_2009_10-54am_trimmed

The full call (1 hour total) was recorded and is included here for you to listen in. We hope you will find it as engaging and informative as we did! For questions or further information, please contact Nayna Agrawal at nagrawal@asiafound.org.

Asian Perspectives

Global Integration, Global Crisis: Challenges and Prospects for Vietnam’s  Development

Thursday, June 18, 2009
9:30-11:00 a.m.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Choate Room
1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Vietnam’s economic progress over the past decade has been remarkable, and the country was poised to deepen its integration into the global market after successfully gaining WTO membership at the end of 2006.   With the world’s economy beginning its downward spiral in 2007 and no end yet in sight, Vietnam is having to institutionalize market mechanisms while responding to unprecedented global uncertainty.  The Asia Foundation is pleased to focus on Vietnam in its upcoming Asian Perspectives seminar, with the participation of two influential thinkers reflective of a new generation of intellectuals in Vietnam and the Foundation’s Vietnam country representative.   The speakers will provide insights into key challenges facing Vietnam’s economy, legal reform and governance, and important factors in U.S.-Vietnam relations.

Feature speakers:

Dr. PHAM Duy Nghia, Head of Business Law Department, Faculty of Law, Hanoi National University
Dr. VU Thanh Tu Anh, Director of Research, Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, Ho Chi Minh City
Dr. Kim N. B. NINH, The Asia Foundation, Country Representative, Vietnam

Please RSVP to Diana Fernández at dfernandez@asiafound-dc.org or (202) 588-9420 by Friday, June 12.

The Asia Foundation, the premier non-profit organization devoted to Asia’s development, announced today an 18-month project to strengthen public library institutions and support public Internet access in Vietnam, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The award of U.S. $400,715 is the first Gates Foundation grant received by The Asia Foundation. The project will help expand the public’s access to information in rural areas and provide opportunities for Vietnamese citizens to significantly improve their daily lives. The project will complement, reinforce, and broaden a concurrent planning grant from the Gates Foundation to Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).

The Asia Foundation will work closely with its long-term partner, the National Library of Vietnam (NLV), and other public library institutions in Vietnam to expand access to information, especially for disadvantaged groups and communities. Project activities will seek to strengthen the capabilities of public library institutions to create a more welcoming and accessible library environment, and to promote public access to computers and the Internet through mass media, public campaigns, and community events.

Under this initiative, approximately 90 public library staff at the provincial and district levels, and 270 commune staff from 90 selected sites will be trained to educate library patrons on effective use of the Internet, significantly increasing their access to information. To further interest and inform citizens about these new services, local “Internet festivals” and other public outreach activities will be held in Vietnam. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is a rapidly growing service area in Vietnam, with annual growth in ICT penetration nationwide estimated at 8 percent, and Internet access becoming a top demand.

While The Asia Foundation will support public access to computers and the Internet through the development of management and public outreach skills, Vietnam’s MIC will focus on developing and testing models to deliver public Internet access to pilot sites.

The purpose of the MIC pilot program is to learn which tools are most conducive to helping rural Vietnamese improve their lives. In addition to testing models of public access, MIC will take an integrated approach, including access, content, training, and advocacy. The program will focus on 99 pilot sites, primarily located in public libraries and Cultural Post Offices in three rural provinces, and will plan for potential implementation on a national scale.

The Asia Foundation has partnered with the National Library of Vietnam since 1993 on numerous education programs, including the donation and distribution of almost 400,000 English language books to provincial public libraries, research organizations, and educational institutions throughout the country over the last fifteen years.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries initiative is working to open the world of knowledge, information, and opportunity to many more people. Part of the Global Development Program, Global Libraries works with select countries that demonstrate a need and a readiness to help public libraries provide free access to computers and the Internet and training on how to make full use of these tools. The initiative is working to transform public libraries into vital resources that can help improve the lives of millions of people.

Read more about The Asia Foundation’s projects in Vietnam. For media inquiries, please visit the Press Room.