Industrial Relations Promotion Project Quarterly Report: Q3, Year I

The project's primary focus is on providing technical assistance to strengthen systems, processes, and capacity in conjunction with ongoing labor law reforms. The project's timeframe was initially set at two years, but due to probable delays in approval, the role of the project in strengthening systems, processes, and capacity will be less significant. The IRPP project has been working closely with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA) to facilitate the official approval of the project. The project team attended the final meeting of the Project Preparation Team (PPT), where the detailed proposal framework was presented and key areas such as project activities, management structure, and the project owner (Labor Inspectorate) were addressed. The project dossier was finalized and submitted to MOLISA leaders and the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) for review. The project has also been engaging with various stakeholders, including the Vietnam Confederation of Labor, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), and the International Cooperation Department (ICD) of MOLISA. The project team has been working on designing and brainstorming labor-related questions for an in-depth survey on FDI enterprises, which is slated to be completed by mid-May. Additionally, the project has been planning two roundtable talks featuring presentations by the Dean of School of Law, University of San Francisco, with the Legal Department of MOLISA and the University of Labor and Social Affairs. The project has also been working on revising previously discussed activities with the Vietnam Confederation of Labor, focusing on legal advisory services, ADR-related work, and institutional training and capacity building. The project development specialist has had follow-up meetings with VCCI to map out activity areas and proposed cooperation extension between VCCI and other implementing partners. The project has encountered several challenges, including misperceptions and confusion among MOLISA officials regarding the USAID contract process and the role of the project. The project office has explained the USAID contract process and the technical assistance nature of the project to MOLISA officials, but this issue is expected to persist. The project's original task order was also deemed too broad and ambitious, given the two-year timeframe, and the expected impact of the project's outcomes needs to be tempered. The project is planning to start some activities on a low level prior to formal approval, pending notification from the MoLISA/ICD. The project technical team has identified and drafted the scopes of work for many of the international and national consultants slated for upcoming activities. The project director and technical staff have had intensive meetings with Vietnam Confederation of Labor to revise previously discussed activities and agreed on how to update and revise planned activity areas.