About the INGO Forum
The VUFO-NGO Resource Centre organises and hosts the monthly INGO Forum Meeting, which provides INGO representatives with an opportunity to discuss issues relevant to their work, to share experiences and to better coordinate common activities. The INGO Forum commenced as an informal meeting of INGOs in around 1990. The Resource Centre has acted as Secretariat for the INGO Forum since 1993.
The INGO Forum meeting usually takes place from 15.00 - 17.00 hours on the last Friday of each month in one of the meeting rooms at La Thanh hotel, 218 Doi Can street, Hanoi. Upcoming meetings are announced to members via email, and included in our Calendar of Events.
Meetings usually include announcements and INGO Forum business, followed by one or more presentations and discussion on topics of interest to INGOs working in Vietnam.
The INGO Forum provides a mechanism for INGOs to select representatives of INGOs to serve on the Resource Centre Steering Committee, and to bring the perspectives of INGOs to other forums such as the annual Consultative Group meeting of the Government of Vietnam and International Donors.
Organisation of the INGO Forum
The Resource Centre acts as a Secretariat for the INGO Forum Meeting, setting the agenda in consultation with the Resource Centre Steering Committee, preparing and distributing minutes and other relevant documents, and following up on discussions from meetings when relevant. The chair rotates among the INGO members of the Steering Committee. Minutes of INGO Forum meetings are distributed to members via email.
The INGO Forum meeting is open to representatives of member organisations of the Resource Centre. The Centre welcomes visitors wishing to attend and/or make presentations. In such cases, arrangements should be made in advance with the Resource Centre. This meeting is, generally speaking, not an appropriate venue for private sector presentations or for those seeking employment opportunities.
For more information, please contact the Co-Director of the VUFO-NGO Resource Centre.
Click on the links below to review annual summaries of INGO Forum Meetings
Presenters:
Dr. Peter Horby, Epidemiologist/Avian Influenza Response, World Health Organisation
Dr. Patrick Michaudel, Medical Director, International SOS
Background: The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has been collaborating with Government Agencies and VUFO to revise the existing regulations on the management and utilisation of the assistance from INGOs. They provided a copy of the draft Revised Regulations to the NGO Resource Centre, and requested us to give comments.
Copies of the draft Revised Regulations and our consolidated INGO comments are available from the NGO Resource Centre.
Topics included: introduction of newly arrived representatives; election for Steering Committee and Consultative Group representatives; an update and discussion on Avian influenza and pandemic preparedness; and an update on the Government plan to revise the legal framework for international NGOs.
On the occasion of international Software Freedom Day, the Resource Centre organised a special event in our new meeting room, giving NGOs in Vietnam with an opportunity to learn about useful computer software for NGOs running on Windows, Linux and Mac systems.
More than 40 people attended this event, where they were able to:
More than 60 participants from over 30 INGOs participated in our informal INGO consultation on the draft Socio-Economic Development Plan 2006-2010 in late August. Based on this we prepared written contributions that were presented to the national consultation workshop
on the SEDP on 7-8 September, organised by MPI and World Bank.
For more information, please refer to our page on Vietnam's Socio-Economic Development Plan 2006-2010.
Briefing for International NGOs on the recent National Assembly session - 28 June 2005
Presenter: Mr. Vu Xuan Hong, National Assembly member and VUFO President
Presenters:
Mr. Frank de Caires, Country Representative, CIDSE
Ms. Tran Thi Chung, CIDSE / Community Development Cooperation (CDC)
Ms. Vu Thi Bich Hop, CIDSE / Livelihoods Upland Agriculture (LUA)
Mr. David Purnell, Country Director, World Vision
This meeting had four main items:
Background documents
Co-Director Trine Glue Doan, continue provided an update on subject of PIT and present some selection Group Guidelines and other activities relevant to GCAP and SEDP consultation.
Co-Director, Trine Glue Doan, provided an update on what has happened since the last INGO forum meeting on 5 May 2006. As announced in an email to the Members, it was mentioned that PACCOM facilitated a meeting between COMINGO, INGOs, the General Department of Taxation, and MOF regarding Personal Income Tax issues on Tuesday 23 May 2006. The NGO RC will invite the selected INGO PIT group to a meeting in order to formulate a written statement from the INGO community and propose different possible strategies for moving ahead.
Other topics discussed included:
This first INGO Forum of 2006 introduced the new Co-Director, Ms. Trine Glue Doan, to our Members. It was also an important opportunity for INGOs to comment on the National Programme for the Promotion of INGOs and provide collective feedback to PACCOM. Mr. Phong, from PACCOM, was present at the meeting and assured INGOs that their comments were highly valued.
A second issue discussed was the continued problems that INGOs are having with the tax authorities over the payment of PIT and the ensuing auditing of INGOs. Members selected a group of INGO representatives to attend discussions with PACCOM and the tax authorities in the coming weeks.
“The Changing Development Context, Donors Presence, Aid Effectiveness
and INGOs”
Friday, February 28 from 15.00 – 17.00 hours,
218 Doi Can, La Thanh Hotel, Building. F1, Hanoi
Background:
Since Doi Moi, when Vietnam first began to introduce market reforms, the country has had a very impressive economic growth record, and the overall achievements in tackling poverty issues have been remarkable. The poverty rate has been dramatically reduced from 53 per cent in 1993 to below 19.6 per cent in 2006.
Continued high economic growth remains a top priority for the Government of Vietnam (GOV), the aim is to accelerate the annual GDP to between 8.5 to 9% in 2008 (Prime Ministers speech at Consultative Group Meeting in December 2007), and for Vietnam to become a middle-income country (MIC) by 2010, and industrialised country in 2020.
However, pockets of poverty throughout the country still present significant challenges, with higher rates occurring in the north-west and central highland region, where high concentrations of ethnic minority groups live. But also other and new groups of poor and vulnerable groups are faced with challenges including children, women, people with disabilities (PWD), people living with HIV and/or AIDS (PLWA), migrants, disaster-prone communities, and communities impacted by environmental pollution and degradation etc. Meanwhile, governance issues and environmental challenges are becoming increasingly critical in ensuring sustainable development.
It is likely that Vietnam will achieve it's goal of becoming a MIC by 2010, two years from now. This will lead to changes in the presence of donors and the ODA support to Vietnam. Sweden, is the first donor to have announced that it will enter into a phase out program from 2009 and beyond.
Meanwhile, donors and the GOV have been upscaling the aid effectiveness agenda in Vietnam during the past years through the Partnership Group on Aid Effectiveness (PGAE). These efforts resulted in the Hanoi Core Statement (HCS), a localised statement of the Paris Declaration,e ndorsed in 2005 by GOV and the donor community. The HCS was developed by the PGAE, and was endorsed at the Mid-term CG Meeting in 2005, and approved by the GOV in September 2005. The HCS comprises 28 Partnership Commitments, 14 indicators and 5 guiding principles, the HCS calls for changes in the behaviour of both donors and government towards aid effectiveness agenda.
The changes in the development context, donors presence, and the increasing GOV and donor aid effectiveness efforts raises a number of issues for INGOs, how will the focus and role of INGOs change, how will the funding for INGOs changes, and what how does aid effectiveness relate to INGOs.
Up to 2007, the INGO support to poverty reduction and development has continued to grow. In 2007, there were up to between 500-600 INGOs, implementing a variety of development programmes in all sectors and provinces of the country, with a total contribution of US$220 million (PACCOM figures). The total budget is expected to raise up further to US$250 in 2008.
Some INGOs have started to revise their strategies for Vietnam taking the changing context into consideration. Some INGOs and Vietnamese NGOs have started to pay increasing attention to the issue of aid effectiveness in general. This resulted in the establishment of the Aid Monitoring Group (AMG) in 20071.
However, the question of how aid effectiveness relates to INGOs is still to be discussed more broadly in the INGO community.
This INGO forum aims to address some of the issues and questions relating to “The Changing Development Context, Donors Presence, Aid Effectiveness and INGOs”
The meeting agenda:
1) NGO RC UPDATE - by the Co-Director(s)
UN-EU Cost Norms
PIT
INGO representatives to the Steering Committee
2) BEYOND 2010 – Perspectives on the Changing Development Context, Donor Presence, and relation between the World Bank and INGOs by Martin Rama, Lead Economist, World Bank Vietnam.
Followed by discussion on perspectives for changing donor presence and INGOs.
3) AID EFFECTIVENESS, Government, DONORs and INGOs – Introduction to the Partnership Group for Aid Effectiveness (PGAE), Government and Donor aid effectiveness efforts and preparations for the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. (HLF 3), to be held in Accra, Ghana in September 2008 by Cao Manh Cuong (MPI), Coordinator for the PGAE.
Followed by discussion on perspectives for Aid Effectiveness and INGOs
4) AOB
1. WELCOME – by the Managing Co-Director
2. DEVELOPMENT REPORTS & AID MONITORING
3. NEW INGO REPRESENTATIVES for the STEERING COMMITTEE & to the CG MEETING
4. AOB
Presentations
Background documents
Background
In extension of the February INGO Forum meeting, which focused on Vietnam's changing development context and the presence and aid effectiveness of donors and INGOs, the May INGO Forum meeting focussed on changes in Vietnam's macro-economic situation and the implications for Vietnam's future development. UNDP Senior Country Economist Jonathan Pincus made a presentation on 'Vietnam’s Macroeconomic Turbulence: Causes & Challenges,' which related to his contribution to the recent study: 'Choosing Success: The Lessons of East and Southeast Asia and Vietnam’s Future - A Policy Framework for Vietnam’s Socioeconomic Development, 2011-2020', under the Harvard University, Harvard Vietnam Program.
Following the presentation by Jonathan Pincus, there was a discussion relating to input for the INGO statements for this year's Mid-term CG meeting, including: recent socio-economic developments (macro-economic developments, revised plan priorities and impacts on poor and disadvantage people, including corruption, recent food price surge etc.), Vietnam Business Forum, climate change issues (national action plan, coordination across government etc.), and northern mountain provincial development and aid effectiveness. The draft ideas on INGO interventions were sent out to members on May 28.
The meeting finished with a brief update by the NGO RC on: i) the recent Member and User Survey; and ii) recent developments in relation to Personal Income Tax (PIT).
Agenda
Background
Since Doi Moi, when Vietnam first began to introduce market reforms, the country has had a very impressive economic growth record, and the overall achievements in tackling poverty issues have been remarkable. The poverty rate has been dramatically reduced from 53 per cent in 1993 to below 19.6 per cent in 2006.
Continued high economic growth remains a top priority for the Government of Vietnam (GOV), the aim is to accelerate the annual GDP to between 8.5 to 9% in 2008 (Prime Ministers speech at Consultative Group Meeting in December 2007), and for Vietnam to become a middle-income country (MIC) by 2010, and industrialised country in 2020.
However, pockets of poverty throughout the country still present significant challenges, with higher rates occurring in the north-west and central highland region, where high concentrations of ethnic minority groups live. But also other and new groups of poor and vulnerable groups are faced with challenges including children, women, people with disabilities (PWD), people living with HIV and/or AIDS (PLWA), migrants, disaster-prone communities, and communities impacted by environmental pollution and degradation etc. Meanwhile, governance issues and environmental challenges are becoming increasingly critical in ensuring sustainable development.
It is likely that Vietnam will achieve it's goal of becoming a MIC by 2010, two years from now. This will lead to changes in the presence of donors and the ODA support to Vietnam. Sweden, is the first donor to have announced that it will enter into a phase out program from 2009 and beyond.
Meanwhile, donors and the GOV have been upscaling the aid effectiveness agenda in Vietnam during the past years through the Partnership Group on Aid Effectiveness (PGAE). These efforts resulted in the Hanoi Core Statement (HCS), a localised statement of the Paris Declaration,e ndorsed in 2005 by GOV and the donor community. The HCS was developed by the PGAE, and was endorsed at the Mid-term CG Meeting in 2005, and approved by the GOV in September 2005. The HCS comprises 28 Partnership Commitments, 14 indicators and 5 guiding principles, the HCS calls for changes in the behaviour of both donors and government towards aid effectiveness agenda.
The changes in the development context, donors presence, and the increasing GOV and donor aid effectiveness efforts raises a number of issues for INGOs, how will the focus and role of INGOs change, how will the funding for INGOs changes, and what how does aid effectiveness relate to INGOs.
Up to 2007, the INGO support to poverty reduction and development has continued to grow. In 2007, there were up to between 500-600 INGOs, implementing a variety of development programmes in all sectors and provinces of the country, with a total contribution of US$220 million (PACCOM figures). The total budget is expected to raise up further to US$250 in 2008.
Some INGOs have started to revise their strategies for Vietnam taking the changing context into consideration. Some INGOs and Vietnamese NGOs have started to pay increasing attention to the issue of aid effectiveness in general. This resulted in the establishment of the Aid Monitoring Group (AMG) in 20071.
However, the question of how aid effectiveness relates to INGOs is still to be discussed more broadly in the INGO community.
This INGO forum aims to address some of the issues and questions relating to “The Changing Development Context, Donors Presence, Aid Effectiveness and INGOs”
Meeting agenda
1) NGO RC UPDATE - by the Co-Director(s)
2) BEYOND 2010 – Perspectives on the Changing Development Context, Donor Presence, and relation between the World Bank and INGOs by Martin Rama, Lead Economist, World Bank Vietnam.
Followed by discussion on perspectives for changing donor presence and INGOs.
3) AID EFFECTIVENESS, Government, DONORs and INGOs – Introduction to the Partnership Group for Aid Effectiveness (PGAE), Government and Donor aid effectiveness efforts and preparations for the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. (HLF 3), to be held in Accra, Ghana in September 2008 by Cao Manh Cuong (MPI), Coordinator for the PGAE.
Followed by discussion on perspectives for Aid Effectiveness and INGOs
4) AOB