Civil-Society-Organization Approaches to Social and Community Development in Vietnam

Sustainable development calls for extending the creative and responsive capacities of civil society to develop and employ social-change approaches that are feasible within the confines of current political and cultural contexts. Enhancing civil society offers a key strategic pathway for advancing the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, there has been a void in research to date that is aimed at identifying specific and promising non-governmental organization (NGO) influence approaches that promote SDGs. With foreign-donor support, Vietnam has experienced a “mushrooming” and strengthening of registered and unregistered civic development organizations. Although progress is being made and procedural equity is advancing, NGO efforts still exert a limited impact in bringing about equitable community and social development in Vietnam. In general, local NGO social-development roles are constrained by “uncertain and unpredictable” operational implementation of Government regulations and by the lack sustainable funding as well as office and administrative support. Based on insights from interviews with the leaders of two Vietnamese NGOs that stand out in terms of the distinctively strategic influence methods they employ, this contribution introduces and conceptually analyzes several promising civil-society-organization approaches to social and community development in Vietnam. The two highlighted culturally, socially, and politically sensitive NGOs offer inspiring influence methods s that possess potential for wider application. The study findings suggest that implementation by Vietnamese civil-society organizations (CSOs) of action approaches that employ broad-based equality appeals, strategic communication, collaborative community relationships, network coordination, and enhanced and sustained multi-level policy advocacy offer promising pathways forward.