Quarterly Report: January to March 2018

The program aims to build the capacity of Vietnamese organizations and individuals through technical assistance and participant training. The program focuses on various areas, including economic growth and inclusion, private sector partnerships and innovation, HIV/AIDS, climate change and disaster risk reduction, disability and vulnerable populations, avian and pandemic influenza, education, and environmental remediation. The program is managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE) under a five-year contract with USAID. The program's administrative highlights for the first quarter of 2018 include the registration of IIE's project in Vietnam and the extension of the project's registration for another five years. The program also issued a task order for financial management technical assistance to PEAPROS for the period of April to August 2018. Component 1 of the program focuses on institutional capacity building for target organizations. The program met with each of its target organizations in the fourth quarter of 2017 and agreed on the delivery of technical assistance inputs during fiscal year 2018. The program followed up with each organization to agree on potential start dates and months for the delivery of agreed technical assistance activities. The program also started drafting scopes of work and budgets for the technical assistance activities. The program worked with VietHealth, USAID/ESDO, and PEAPROS to draft a scope of work for financial management technical assistance. The kickoff meeting was held on March 9, 2018, and attended by representatives from VietHealth, USAID/ESDO, PEAPROS, and the program. The meeting aimed to introduce VietHealth to PEAPROS financial management consultants, review scopes of work, answer questions, and agree on a timetable to commence works. Component 2 of the program focuses on institutional capacity building for potential target organizations. The program designed and developed a participant training program titled "The Organizational Development Trail" (ODT), which was launched on December 12, 2017. The ODT program is focused on developing organizational capacity for performance improvement requiring high-level leadership buy-in from each participating organization. The program selected 10 organizations to participate in the ODT program, including Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population, Institute for Social Development Study, and Vietnam Red Cross. The participating organizations were selected by USAID/Vietnam and had to meet minimum criteria, including being legally registered to operate in Vietnam, being an active organization with a minimum of five permanent staff on salary, working in one of USAID's priority program areas, and being willing to participate in a Training Needs Assessment prior to the commencement of the ODT training program. The program aims to develop the capacity of these organizations to achieve program objectives in various areas.