Currently, civil society organisations (CSOs) in Vietnam play an increasingly important role in raising awareness and promoting community responsibility in environmental protection. As a result, the project “Establishing a funding foundation for biodiversity protection and environmental sustainability in Da Nang City, Vietnam” (in short, the “Conservation Fund” project) aims to establish the Vietnam Wildlife Conservation Fund in order to mobilise funding sources and increase the capacity of local CSOs focusing on biodiversity conservation and environmental protection initiatives in Central and Central Highland, Vietnam.
In this project, a baseline study was conducted to examine the needs, advantages and barriers of local CSOs (CBOs included) working in the fields of biodiversity conservation and environmental sustainability in Central and Central Highland, Vietnam.
Most CSOs find that financial stability is the greatest challenge that they have to face at the moment because Vietnam is no longer on the priority list for receiving assistance and funds from foreign organisations. The funding cuts will probably result in fierce competition among domestic NGOs to secure their working budgets. The second challenge is the shortage of human resources resulting from the absence of generational transfer planning and low income. In fact, many young and talented people, especially those having considerable expertise and good English skills, are not interested in NGO work.
According to the study, most of the CSOs are relatively reluctant to work with the private sector. Despite potential funding opportunities and previous collaboration with enterprises, these CSOs do not expect to develop this working relationship. The results indicate that there is a difference in the needs and objectives between local CSOs and enterprises when it comes to collaboration. Local CSOs expect that enterprises can become their long-term partners who understand CSOs’ contributions towards community development, aside from financial assistance. Meanwhile, the private sector prefers organising charity activities in order to promote their images/brands rather than supporting CSOs in the sense of community development. This has hindered CSOs in their efforts to interact with the private sector because they are worried that such enterprises might manipulate their work as well as their members and volunteers.
On the other hand, from the enterprises’ perspective, the currently available information on biodiversity and environmental conservation has not demonstrated an urgent need for corporate responsibility. In addition, CSOs have not shown a good degree of transparency in their project organisation and financial management. To promote cooperation between CSOs and corporate, the former need to build more credibility and be more proactive in approaching businesses.
Download the full baseline study report in English and Vietnamese here.
The project “Establishing a funding foundation for biodiversity protection and environmental sustainability in Danang City, Vietnam” (in short, the “Conservation Fund” project) is implemented by GreenViet Biodiversity Conservation Centre (GreenViet, Vietnam) – the lead and Gustav-Stresemann-Institut (GSI, Germany) and co-funded by the Delegation of the European Union to Vietnam.
Visible Impact is partnering with GSI to conduct several project activities.