Environmental policy and administrative management

In the past years, various professional social organizations have been set up in Vietnam. In May 2008, there were 100 professional social organizations in 63 provinces. Most of them are members of local Union of Science and Technology Association and Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Association. They operate in all different social fields such as: eliminating hunger and reducing poverty, enhancing intellectual standards of the people; participating in socialization movements: culture, education, public health, sport, charity, environmental protection, international co-operation and attracting financial support from oversea countries. Professional social organizations which function as a bridge between the government and the people, have the role in educating democratic consciousness, practicing democracy for members, encouraging members participation in solving social issues. The more professional social organizations exist, the better for the development of the society. Social audit and policy advocacy are professional social organizations essential functions that are stipulated in legal document of The Party and State. Social audit and policy advocacy are new in Vietnam but very popular in other countries in the world. These include research, evaluation and impact processes for the policymakers as well as the legislative bodies to adjust, alter or set up appropriate policies more explicitly and effectively. This is a huge mission of professional social organizations in particular and of civil social associations in general for the development of nation. Policy advocacy is the needed by the society and the society will develop if there are appropriate legal policies in place. In the past years, the economy of our country has always maintained the growth rate of GDP at 7-9%. The rapid growth contributes to improving people`s lives and promotes socio-economic development. But this improvement also has raised many challenges for sustainable development. Firstly, there is a reduction in natural resources, including renewable resources and non-renewable; forest resources are increasingly declining, in quantity and also in quality. Second thing is that we become heavily influenced by disasters with increasing intensity due to climate change. Third, environment is increasingly polluted in rural and urban areas because we use too much chemicals and waste toxic substances into the river. The four thing is that we rely more and more on global economy so the setbacks of global economy degradation have effected significantly the young economy in Vietnam. If there are no appropriate policies, the Vietnamese people will bear many difficulties. There is a real and urgent deed for social audit and policy advocacy. When the society develops and the reality changes at any time, older policies become backward quickly so that they must be adapted. The risk of policies being lagged behind the development of society is very large because of the capacity of professional social organizations is limited in this field. It is vital to strengthen the capacity for policy advocacy for professional social organizations in Vietnam. The ability of social audit and policy advocacy of professional social organizations is still limited by a number of basic causes: 1. Policy mobilization is very complicated and requiring intellectual investment, meanwhile the ability to linking and connecting of professional social organizations is limited. 2. Lack of professionalism in the policy mobilization. 3. Inadequacy in the process of policy identification and role promotion. Professional social organizations will perform well the task of social audit and policy advocacy when they fully understand the process of law-making. Organizations must clearly define the roles and the responsibilities of their previous duties assigned during the implementation of all activities. In the upcoming time, the social audit and policy advocacy will be more effective and practical, which will promote democratic process and contribute to the socio-economic development of the country. Project s goals: Strengthening the technical capacity for Union of Science and Technology Association and it s member in doing social audit and policy advocacy. Three pilot provinces are Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh and Binh Dinh with some major activities following: 1. Holding training classes about: The methods for social audit and policy advocacy to heighten knowledge and skills. Main environmental issues such as: biodiversity, climate change, degradation of land, wasteland, environmental pollution, waste management,... 2. Strengthening the effectiveness of social audit and policy advocacy by connecting member organizations of Union of Science and Technology Association. 3. Implementing social audit and policy advocacy activities for 9 projects of three provinces. 4. Sharing lessons learnt among 3 provinces about social audit and policy advocacy

Vietnam