Our History
The VUFO-NGO Resource Centre was established in 1993 to serve the community of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) working in Vietnam and their Vietnamese partner institutions. It exists through a partnership between INGOs working in Vietnam and the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO).
Originally, the VUFO-NGO Resource Centre grew out of a loose network of international NGOs working in Vietnam whose representatives, in the early 1990s, started to meet every last Friday in the month to discuss the practical details of establishing and managing programmes and projects in Vietnam. Since then international NGOs have focused increasingly on sharing information on their programmes and working together to improve the quality of their work.
Today the Resource Centre has approximately 110 member organisations, mostly based in Vietnam. It provides a variety of services to international NGOs, their partner organisations, donors, government agencies, local organisations and others concerned with hunger eradication, poverty reduction and sustainable development in Vietnam.
In 1998, the development of a strengthened partnership began between the Resource Centre and VUFO. This involved an official name change (previously the name was the NGO Resource Centre), and the establishment of a co-directorship and an expanded Steering Committee, all of which has enabled the centre to continue to support the work of NGOs in Vietnam.
The Centre's office is located in the capital city, Hanoi. Its staff includes the managing co-director, administrator/librarian, working groups coordinator and communications advisor. The other co-director works within the People's Aid Coordinating Committee (PACCOM) under the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations. We take on additional staff and volunteers on a needs basis.
Background Reading
- The VUFO-NGO Resource Centre: 10 Years of Partnership between Vietnam and International NGOs
This article was written by the managing co-director of the Resource Centre for a special edition of VUFO's Huu Nghi (Friendship) magazine, produced for the Viet Nam-INGO Conference in November 2003. - Lessons Learned from a Decade of Experience: a strategic analysis of INGO methods and activities in Vietnam 1990-1999
This independent study was commissioned by the Steering Committee of the VUFO-NGO Resource Centre in 2000 to review the previous decade and draw lessons from the experiences and contributions of INGOs. - Forms of Engagement Between State Agencies and Civil Society Organisations in Vietnam (2008)
This report was funded by the UK Department for International Development and the Embassy of Finland and its preparation was coordinated by the NGO Resource Centre.