NGO Resource Centre News - December 1-15

First off this week, we would like to remind you about an upcoming meeting on climate change being held at the NGO Resource Centre on December 14, 3pm-5pm. The meeting will serve as an initial step towards broadening the participation of INGOs, as well as Vietnamese NGOs, in the climate change debate by discussing current NGO climate change-related activities and the need and options for future NGO coordination in this field.

In order to kick start the process of sharing information, we have developed a format for a stakeholder and project database, which when complete will be available on the NGO RC website. To assist us, we would appreciate if you can fill the questionnaire at http://www.ngocentre.org.vn/node/5457 on your climate change activities and return it to [email protected] and/or bring the information with you on 14th December. Please confirm your participation by providing the name of the person attending to [email protected]. For more information on the meeting, please visit http://www.ngocentre.org.vn/node/5457

In other news, the CG Meeting was held last week, during which a record $5 billion was pledged in development assistance to the Vietnamese Government. INGOs had four representatives present at the meeting, which are invited as observers and share one seat at the round-table. INGO representatives are, like the other participants, allowed to make one comment during each session. They also presented the INGO Statement for the CG Meeting, which this year focused on social protection, vulnerable groups, people with disabilities, impacts of WTO, climate change, CSOs and aid effectiveness, legal development for CSOs, and capacity building. For more on the CG Meeting and to access copies of the INGO Statement in English and Vietnamese, we well as the annual report for NGO RC Working Groups, visit http://www.ngocentre.org.vn/node/73

The Vietnam Microentrepreneurs Forum invites all interested parties to the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards Vietnam 2007 Ceremony, which will be held at 8am-4pm on Friday, December 14 at Centre of Woman and Development, 20 Thuy Khue Road, Tay Ho, Hanoi. The Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards is part of a global programme sponsored by Citi Foundation to acknowledge and to highlight the significant achievements of individuals, who have effectively used their loans providing by the microfinance organisations. The 2007 Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards, was launched in July 2007 and saw the participation of 90 participants from many provinces and cities of Vietnam. For more information, visit http://www.ngocentre.org.vn/files/docs/TI_MICROENTREPRENEURSHIP_AWARDS_V...

We would like to inform you that Helen Keller International (HKI) – Vietnam has appointed Dr. Le Ba Quynh as its new Country Director in Vietnam. Prior to joining HKI, Dr. Quynh served as the Program Development Manager at Marie Stopes International in Vietnam. He also worked with Oxfam Quebec, South East Asia Office, in Hanoi as Regional Program Director. Dr. Quynh commenced his work at HKI Vietnam as of 26 November 2007.

There is one working group meetings coming up: the Administrative Working Group meeting will be held on December 20 from 15:00 – 17:00 at the NGO Resource Centre.

See the Calendar section for more details.

All the best from the NGO Resource Centre Team.