On August 20th 2019, the Center for Knowledge Co-creation and Development Research (CKC) met with local representatives at the People’s Committee of Quang Dien District, to launch a new project. The project is “Empowering Women to Build a Strong and Sustainable Village” and is based in Ngu My Thanh Village. It is funded by Australian Volunteers International (AVI) and will run for six months. The project is proposed and implemented by CKC.
Attending the meeting, those present were the Director of CKC – Mrs. Nguyen Ngoc Khanh Van, the Chairman of Quang Dien District People’s Committee – Mr. Nguyen Dinh Duc, the Vice Chairman of Quang Loi Commune People’s Committee – Mr. Nguyen Hien, the Head of the Division of Natural Resources and Environment of the District – Mr. Hoang Tuan Nam, the Village Head of Ngu My Thanh – Mr. Nguyen Ty, the Business Development Advisor for CKC – Mr. Philip Thomas and other officers.
At this meeting, CKC listened to the local authority’s instructions on how best to implement the upcoming project’s activities. Speaking at the meeting, the Chairman of the District People’s Committee – Mr. Nguyen Dinh Duc – highly appreciated the efforts of CKC and agreed to co-work with them on project implementation. He also stressed that the project is in accordance with the orientation and planning for the province and district. He noted the “Green Sunday Campaign” launched by the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee at the start of 2019 and the “Say no to plastic bags and single-use plastic products” movement of the District in early July 2019. These campaigns raise awareness of people about environmental protection and action on reducing plastic waste, and helping to build the city of “Heritage, culture, ecology, scenery and environmental friendliness”.
“Empowering Women to Build a Strong and Sustainable Village” Project in Ngu My Thanh Village is funded by AVI and was approved by the Provincial People’s Committee in the Decision No. 1831/QD-UBND on 30 July 2019. The goal of the project is to improve the environment through enhancing public awareness and changing locals’ habits; improving the infrastructure for waste management and separation in markets, wharfs, lagoons and local tourist boats; and providing local women with rattan bags as a replacement for single-use plastic bags. The project aims to build an environmentally friendly community and to attract more visitors to support local tourism.
Quang Dien has potential for services and tourism development based on the Tam Giang lagoon system. The plan for the District is to promote heritage values and the outstanding local culture while preserving and protecting the environment. The project is expected to be a successful model which will spread out to other localities and which will build up “a bright – green – clean and waste-free Thua Thien Hue”.
Article & Photo: CKC
From 9 to 11 May 2019, Center for Knowledge Co-creation and Development Research (CKC) in collaboration with the Institute of Social Science of the Central Region (ISSCR) held a workshop “Promoting Dialogical Social Impact Assessment and Gender Impact Assessment for Sustainable Hydropower Development in the Vietnam Central and Central Highlands”. The workshop was initiated by three Australian Government Scholars alumni in Vietnam (Australia Awards Vietnam) and was funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Alumni Support Fund. The workshop was taken place at the Meeting Hall of ISSCR, Da Nang City.
For more than ten years, the Center for Social Research and Development (CSRD) has worked with development partners and hydro-affected communities in Central and Central Highlands of Vietnam to promote social and gender impact assessments to create positive changes for people and stakeholders. Center for Development Research and Knowledge Creation (CKC) using the research results of CSRD continues to promote the implementation of dialogue models between stakeholders in social impact assessment and gender. This workshop aims to promote cooperation dialogues among stakeholders to assess social impacts and gender impacts in hydropower development and strengthen support for sustainable development of disadvantaged communities in this region. Lateral thinking, social impact assessment and gender impact assessment were the main contents of the conference.
Assoc Prof Dr Ho Viet Hanh (President of ISSCR), in his opening speech, praised the significance of the workshop in making efforts to include different stakeholders in hydropower development in the region. The workshop was led by Dr Nguyen Quy Hanh – an Australian alumni and expert in impact assessment and development studies who has many years of working experience with hydropower-affected communities in the Central and Central Highlands Vietnam.
The conference attracted the participation of 40 representatives from the Central and Central Highlands Vietnam. The sharing, contribution and discussion of stakeholders in the Workshop provided a data source for CKC to develop and publish a publication entitled “Hydropower dialogues: Open mind, Open heart, Open Will” (Dialogue on hydropower: Expanding intellect, soul and action). The results of the workshop include recommendations to help develop future hydropower policies in the direction of promoting sustainable development of affected communities.
Research presented at the Vietnam National Alumni Conference: Celebrating 40 years of Australia-Vietnam Diplomatic Relations: Education for Development: Future Collaboration and Directions, Hanoi, Vietnam 14-15 December 2013.
Agribusinesses are playing an increasingly important role in agricultural knowledge production and use. It encompasses agricultural production, processing and distribution, including seed supply, agrichemicals and farm machinery, and it impacts on all types of enterprises including farms and retail stores, reaching deep into rural areas However the agricultural innovation system in Vietnam has often been conceptualised as outside the mainstream science system and the extension system. Because of this, the innovation capacity of other actors in the agricultural sector – including agribusinesses – is often neglected.
This research investigates the role of private agribusiness in knowledge production and diffusion in the Mekong Delta, the largest and most active region for agricultural production in Vietnam. Data for this analysis was collected during one-year of field research in the Mekong Delta in April 2010-2011, and is part of a larger study implemented under the Water-related Information System for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong Delta (WISDOM) project.
This research first reviews the evolution of knowledge regarding agricultural development, and presents a brief history of agribusiness development in the Mekong Delta. It then examines the expansion of agribusiness into agricultural knowledge diffusion, and the difficulty of resolving the conflicting claims of motivation and innovation to achieve sustainable agricultural development. It concludes that agricultural entrepreneurship should be based on a system that nourishes and fosters interactive learning and innovation for rural communities through the state-university-industry triple helix.