On 27th February 2018, the Leadership of Vietnam Red Cross Headquarters received the Delegation of American Red Cross Headquarters led by Mr. Jono Anzalone, the Vice President in charge of international services, to discuss about the Strategic Engagement Plan of two National Societies for the coming time.
Strategic Engagement Plan Dialogue between Vietnam Red Cross and American Red Cross
Since the first programs supported by American Red Cross in 1999 and then establishment of its representative office in Vietnam in 2003, this is the first time that two National Societies directly involve into the dialogue on the Strategic Engagement Plan.
The American Red Cross is the first partner to share the engagement plan with Vietnam Red Cross. It indicates the true spirit of partnership and the American Red Cross’s willing to maintain bilateral cooperation with the Vietnam Red Cross, even in the context that other National Societies have shifted their priorities to different regions and decided their exit plan.
As said by Mr. Jono: “This visit represents a long-term commitment between American Red Cross and Vietnam Red Cross in the future. The Strategic Engagement Plan has been developed for two years with the American Red Cross’ decision to narrow down the list priority countries as well as the scope of works while at the same time go deeper, with stronger focuses in order to maximize efficiency’’.
Representatives of the two National Societies spent much of time discussing key points outlined in this Strategic Plan. In general, the Vietnam Red Cross agrees with most of the comments of the American Red Cross such as the challenges in the current context and new trends as well as some limitations of the Vietnam Red Cross. Vietnam Red Cross has also realized these issues and been taking actions to improve.
Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu highly appreciates American Red Cross’ efforts and methodology in developing this Strategic Plan, basing on a comprehensive analysis of the working environment of the Vietnam Red Cross, including geographic, demographic conditions, social and political environment, legal status, vulnerability to natural disasters, and emerging issues; priorities of two National Societies; stakeholder mapping and potential donors inside and outside the Red Cross Movement, strategic comparative advantages of American Red Cross in Vietnam, etc.
At the end of the dialogue, two National Societies reached a consensus on the 03 broad goals in coming time: i) Support the organizational development of the Vietnam Red Cross through standardizing the Vietnam Red Cross’s management system and building capacity for its staffs; ii) Increase VNRC and American RC technical leadership in preparedness and response through innovative approaches to mobilize multi-sectorial community engagement/ institutional readiness in CBDRM processes, such as police and fire departments, community health facilities, institutions, infrastructure departments, and the relevant private sector employers in order to better address emerging needs and demographic challenges of the country such as aging trend, the migration of working-age population to urban areas for employment and its negative impacts; iii) Ensure financial sustainability of Vietnam Red Cross: American Red Cross will help the Vietnam Red Cross to develop a robust and diverse network of donors and partners through providing connection between Vietnam Red Cross and private sectors, U.S. multinational corporations with or without representative offices in Vietnam.
Group photo of participants of two National Societies
Reported by Vu Binh