On July 30, 2014, the USAID-fund “Vietnam Forests and Deltas” program and the Network of Vietnamese Non-governmental Organizations and Climate Change (VNGO&CC) ,which SRD chairs, co-hosted the meeting to establish the Network of Vietnamese Non-governmental Organizations and Climate Change in Red River Delta region (Red River Delta VNGO&CC)  in Nam Dinh city.

The Red River Delta VNGO&CC is expected to provide a platform forlocal NGOs based in the Red River Delta region to share their experiences in supporting community resilience adaptation to climate change, and to increase their participation in developing and implementing regional climate change activities/programs.

The meeting was attended by representatives of VFD, SRD, VNGO&CC network and of 13 local NGOs working in the fields of climate change in coastal provinces including Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Ninh Binh, Hai Phong, and QuangNinh.

Representatives of the 13 NGOs all agreed upon the establishment of Red River Delta VNGO&CC after studying the regulation and operating mechanism of VNGO&CC network. Moreover, they reached an agreement that Red River Delta VNGO&CC will become part of VNGO&CC, the nation-wide network. At the meeting, members of the Executive Board of the Red River Delta VNGO&CC were chosen by comment consent. The Executive Board consists of the following organizations:

The Center for Community Development of Nam Dinh province (NCCD) - Chairman,

The Centre for Sustainable Community Development (S-CODE) – Deputy Chief

The Centre for Community Research and Development (CECORD) - Deputy Chief

At the meeting, the member organizations of Red River Delta VNGO&CC also gave comments on the charter of the VNGO&CC network, developed the an activity plan of VNGO&CC in the Red River Delta region, and created a capacity building plan for members of the Red River Delta VNGO&CC Network for the 2014-2015 period.

Assisting networks of local NGOs/CSOs in participatingin climate change response activities is an objective of the VFD program, funded by USAID, and the project "Strengthening the roles of Vietnamese Non-governmental Organizations in Climate Change communications and advocacy" which is being conducted by SRD with funding from The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Xuan Thuan

Provincial Livelihood Officer in  Nam Dinh province (Vietnam Forests and Deltas project)