Denmark’s Supporting Projects in Vietnam

Since it’s implementation between 2007 – 2011, the Governance and Administration reform programme with a total investment of US$13.3 million, has been introduced to the four provinces of Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Lai Chau and Dak Nong, creating significant socio-economic improvement, namely; reducing red tape, enhancing human resource capacity, introducing modern management methods and improving the quality of public services. The governance programme has created a partnership between Vietnam’s National Assembly and the Danish Parliament and has also built and supported specialised agencies of the National Assembly of Vietnam on handling complaints, and setting up networking research studies on human rights education at the Human Rights Research Centres at the National University of Hanoi and the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, with the support of the Danish Government, the governance and administrative reform programme will gradually help Vietnam to complete institutional reform, enhance capacity and awareness for managers and researchers of Vietnam, in the process of construction and development of the country, while contributing to the effectiveness of cooperation between Vietnam and Denmark.

 

The second phase of the governance program and administrative reform (period 2012 - 2015) funded by the Danish Government will focus on the reform of public administration, education on human rights and the participation of people, as well as improving accountability. The overall objective of the program is to promote democratic governance, as well as enhancing management skills and accountability. The programme will be carried out with a total funding of VND270 billion.

 

Vietnam is one of the countries most severely affected by climate change and faces a series of challenges related to climate change such as rising sea levels, the impact on the source of fresh water and capacity building issues. Supporting Vietnam in this regard is the highest priority of Danish government. Denmark has supported environmental issues since 1997 and is now supporting Vietnam to cope with global warming and energy efficiency. As the first country to sponsor the National Target Program of Response to Climate Change with the amount of money nearly US$40 million in the period of 2009 – 2013, in March 2011, Denmark ratified the extension of the collaborative research programme between Vietnam and Denmark to three years (from 2011 to 2013) with a total funding of US$8 million. Additional research programmes in response to climate change in Vietnam, with a specific project on climate change providing; solutions to reduce the impact of climate change, promoting training, enhancing capacity of Vietnamese researchers and improving the research infrastructure for a number of domestic science and technology organizations. Vietnam is the only country in Asia where Denmark is implementing this programme. In addition, in November 2011, Denmark signed a joint statement with Vietnam to build a strategic partnership in the fields of climate change, environment, energy efficiency and green growth. This requires continued support for the development and implementation of strategies, programs and action plans of Vietnam in the field of climate change, environment, energy and green growth. Denmark and Vietnam agreed to encourage the use of Danish technology and expertise to the field of renewable energy, water, energy efficient, environment- friendly technologies and gas and oil with low levels of pollution. To promote the green growth agenda in Vietnam, the Embassy has established a Green Growth Team to implement programs in different areas. The goal of the group is to promote the ideas, technologies and Danish technology know-how in the field of green growth in Vietnam, in order to build a partnership between the Danish and Vietnamese companies.

 

Business Development Support Program in the phase conducted between 2011-2013 with a total budget of DKK123 million (equivalent to approximately US$23 million or VND450 billion). With the goal of "Strengthening the competitiveness of Vietnamese non-state enterprises focusing on growth, exports and job creation", the programme will help establish the conditions to support continued growth in Vietnam, in which the private sector plays a key role. Support includes: promoting creativity and applying new technology in small and medium enterprises of Vietnam (Component 1), supporting measures to strengthen the national system of labour safety (Component 2) and raising awareness about the small and medium enterprise sector through economic studies (Component 3). Support for the next stage was built on the basis of achievements and experience gained from Denmark's support for the private sector in Vietnam in the period 2005-2010. Denmark's supporting activities for the business sector in Vietnam for these 3 years are subject to the streamlined implementation of the program structure, enhancing in compliance with national structures and promoting sustainability. The objective of the program, in full compliance with the country’s socio-economic development plan for the period 2011-2015, is the basic national policy framework for development and poverty reduction.

 

Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the Central Institute for Economic Management continue to be the main partners of the program. Support to improve labour protection under the Component 2 will be implemented by the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs through the sector budget for the national program on labour safety and labour hygiene-period of 2011-2015. Component 1 and 3 will continue to be implemented under the successful model implemented in the first phase and in turn by the Global Competition Fund and the Central Institute for Economic Management.

 

In recent years, Denmark has supported Vietnam with a number of education and training projects such as: project "Environmental Education in Vietnamese schools"; project "Cooperation between the University of Can Tho and the University of Aarhus in environmental science "; and the project" Support Arts in Primary education ". In the five years between 2006/10 Denmark and the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam jointly implemented the first phase of the project supporting arts in elementary education and are continuing to implement the second phase during the period 2011-2015. After implementing the first phase of the project, a team of teachers have been trained and become trainers to expand training for primary school art teacher in the provinces and cities of Vietnam. In September 2009, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the high-level delegation of the Vietnamese Government met with the Minister of Education of Denmark and expressed a desire to strengthen links and cooperation between Vietnam and Denmark’s universities. After that, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Niels Brock Business School to implement joint training programmes between Niels Brock Business School and Vietnam’s Universities. The Foreign Trade University is the only university in the country selected to implement collaborative training with the Niels Brock Business School - Denmark. In November 2012 representatives from Denmark’s education system will be working with the Vietnamese Ministry of Education to discuss education in the field of business.

In addition, Denmark has actively supported Vietnamese small and medium-sized businesses through the Enterprise Connect Program (B2B) and Business Support Program. In particular, the Danish government grants US$23 million for business development support programs in the period 2011 - 2013. The aim of the program is to boost competitiveness of non-state-owned enterprises in growth, exports and job creation. With great efficiency, we can see that programmes funded by Denmark have already made an important contribution to help Vietnam successfully implement multiple national targets.