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Vietnam

EXAMPLES OF OUR IMPACT

• USAID provided the main technical assistance for the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement.
• Since 1989, USAID has provided $46 million to help disabled persons, vulnerable children, and orphans.
• USAID’s avian and pandemic influenza assistance enabled Vietnam to build its model national poultry vaccine strategy.

USAID/ASIA SITE
www.usaid.gov/locations/ asia/countries/rdma

CONTACT INFORMATION

USAID Representative
Francis A. Donovan
15/F, Tung Shing Tower
2 Ngo Quyen Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: 844-3935-1260
Fax: 844-3935-1265

Vietnam Desk Officer
Dany Khy
Tel: (202) 712-0733
Email: dkhy@usaid.gov

Y Lam (right) and her grandsons stand among cocoa trees in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. With USAID’s support to the Success Alliance cocoa project, farmers like Y Lam expect a big return on their investment. (Photo: Richard Nyberg, USAID/Vietnam)

Overview

Vietnam, a nation of 86 million people, is playing a greater role in East Asia’s growth and development. Vietnam’s efforts to become more globally integrated have contributed to annual economic growth rates of 6 percent since 2000, enabling the country to reduce poverty by one-third. Vietnam is one of the world’s most rapidly reforming economies, but it still faces significant development challenges. These include HIV/AIDS prevalence fueled by injecting drug use, avian influenza outbreaks that could potentially spread to humans, and the challenges of running an increasingly sophisticated economy while developing legal, regulatory, and capital market systems that meet global standards.

A prosperous Vietnam is vital to maintaining regional stability. USAID’s activities thus strive to accelerate its transition to an open, market-based economy, develop capacities to mitigate the harmful effects of HIV/AIDS, improve vulnerable groups’ access to services, and ensure that environmental governance progresses along with economic and social development. Since 2000, USAID has provided over $200 million in assistance to Vietnam.

Programs

Governing Justly and Democratically
USAID supports Vietnam’s efforts to strengthen the rule of law and improve economic governance. This includes assisting Vietnam in establishing a transparent justice system that is independent of politics, protects human rights, and incorporates international best practices. USAID’s support to the Government of Vietnam also aims to increase the independence and capacity of the legislature and to improve transparency in law making, access to information, and accountability. USAID promotes access for citizens and businesses to basic government services, effective public participation and oversight, and improved governance at the local level. The goal is to encourage an environment that allows citizens, businesses, and investors to benefit from increasingly open, transparent, and effective legal frameworks and governance practices.

Investing In People: Health, Education, And Social Services
The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief declared Vietnam its 15th focus country in 2004. In close collaboration with the Government of Vietnam and other large donors, USAID manages large-scale activities to prevent, treat, and care for people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, USAID provides significant funding to prevent, detect, and respond to avian and pandemic influenza.

USAID developed an anti-trafficking program that provides scholarships for vocational training to at-risk girls and also enhances central-level policy support. In addition, USAID is implementing programs for poor and ethnic minorities living in the Central Highlands to provide greater access to social services, education, and economic opportunities.

USAID helps provide better access to education, health care, employment, and services for people with disabilities by supporting the development of a disability law and the National Action Plan for Inclusive Education. USAID also addresses health issues for people with disabilities in dioxin-contaminated hotspots near the Danang airport.

Economic Growth And Environment

USAID supports Vietnam’s efforts to transform its policy and legal system and develop the capacity to administer an open market economy. It encourages the private sector’s competitiveness through a wide range of initiatives, including helping with the development of the capital market and promoting effective economic policies. USAID collaborated with the Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce and Industry to produce the Provincial Competitiveness Index, which has supported provincial and local government reforms more conducive to the growth of the private sector.

USAID assists with the Prime Minister’s Administrative Procedures Reform, which fosters transparency, accountability, and civil participation. USAID also supports the development of a new legal framework and financing models to mobilize private sector financing to improve Vietnam's infrastructure and promote trade and competitiveness. USAID helps address the development gap between urban and underserved rural areas by promoting broadband Internet connections and by nurturing a high-value cocoa industry in the Central Highlands to boost incomes among marginalized populations.

USAID also supports environmental remediation activities to address Agent Orange/dioxin contamination at the Danang airport.

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