[Vietnam] Open Space #1: The Role of NGO in Handling the Social Issues

Amid the pandemic and the current historic floods in Middle Vietnam, many non-profit and non-governmental organizations emerged and actively contributed to restrict and ease the damage of those disasters. However, there are still many obstacles for NGOs to work in Vietnam such as the legal framework and the awareness of society.

Responding to this issue, Vietnam Open Space held a discussion with seven participants via Zoom meeting on October 31, 2020. The forum invited Ms. Yen Dang, a representative of the Vietnamese youth who has supported the local NGOs and intergovernmental projects.

Yen Dang said that the role of NGOs was very vital to bridge various viewpoints of society with the government policies. Such mediation is useful in finding the best actions to solve the problems emerging in society. Many NGOs also encourage youth to participate more in tackling social issues.

In the future, Yen Dang estimated that corporate NGOs will grow more than individual NGOs because many companies showed increasing awareness to take part in solving social issues and to create partnership with the governments and international NGOs. In addition, new NGOs at the local level will also continue to grow with a various focus on advocacy.

The participants showed their interest in the roles of NGOs in solving social problems. All participants agreed that the young population of Vietnam is at an advantage when the NGOs grow stronger because there will be more room for them to take part in social activities. To conclude the discussion, Yen said, "The youth can engage in the growth of NGOs in three ways: the supporter, the worker or the founder. Now you have every opportunity to support the NGOs that you like. You can share their message on Facebook, you can apply for a position in NGOs or even create an NGO by yourself or with your friends. "