International Non-Governmental Organizations in Vietnam: A Case Study with Project Gaia

Abstract

In 1986, the Vietnamese government undertook a series of reforms known as doi moi. These reforms were mainly economic adjustments that encouraged globalization through capitalism, international trade, and foreign investment. They restructured Vietnam’s economy from a centrally-planned system to a market economy with a socialist orientation. This presentation focuses on the political and cultural aspects of globalization after doi moi, and analyzes the development of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) in Vietnam. Specifically, it seeks to address the following research question: How has the INGO sector changed with increasing globalization in Vietnam after the 1986 doi moi reforms, and what are the national and local challenges to INGOs currently operating in Vietnam? As a case study, this presentation looks specifically at an environmental INGO called Project Gaia, Inc. (PGI) that works in the developing world to replace polluting biomass fuels, with clean-burning, sustainable, alcohol fuels and stoves. It illuminates the institutional and societal challenges that PGI might face in Vietnam, and the ways that that their international approach might be received by local people