NGO Resource Centre Newsletter May 15 - 31, 2008

in

Dear MEMBERS and FRIENDS,

Welcome to the NGO Resource Centre Newsletter for May 15 - 31, 2008.

First off this week, we would like to thank all of you who participated in the NGO RC Member & User Survey sent out recently. We received a total of 339 responses to the survey, of which 230, or 67 per cent, were members. Responses were very informative and will help the NGO RC to review the quality of our services and identify areas requiring improvements. A complete analysis of the survey will be presented at the next INGO Forum, which will be held at 3pm at the NGO RC on May 30, as well as our responses to your comments and recommendations. 

In other news, the NGO RC has begun the process of compiling the 2008/09 INGO Directory by sending out a new questionnaire, which combines information-gathering for the Directory and the Agency Personnel List into one process, while adding some fields which we believe will be of great use to our members and their partners.

In addition to generating the printed hard-copy versions, this information will be incorporated into the new NGO RC Online Database, which will only be available via the NGO RC website for members (the organisation listings currently available will still be available to the general public), and will provide a very powerful and easy-to-use tool for networking and coordination among the NGO community in Vietnam.

The NGO RC strongly believes this will be a practical, useful and valuable tool for our members, however there is a catch. Unfortunately, this will mean that this form may take longer to fill in than in previous years, however, the process will be electronically automated and streamlined in 2009, meaning that for most organisations, this process will only have to be done this year.

We greatly appreciate your cooperation in this matter and assure all our members that the extra effort this year required to fill in the questionnaire will result in a wide range of improvements to the database that will provide significant and tangible benefits for the NGO community in Vietnam for many years to come.

In other news, on May 28, the Ethnic Minority Working Group (EMWG), in collaboration with MOLISA, will organise a workshop to share information on poverty reduction projects that members of the EMWG have been implementing in their project areas. If you would like to participate in the workshop, please contact Nguyet at [email protected].

There are four working group meetings coming up in the next few weeks: the Public Awareness and Behaviour Change Subgroup meeting will be held on May 6 from 14:00 – 17:00 at the NGO RC; the HIV/AIDS Technical Working Group meeting will be held on May 21 from 14:00-16:00; the Disability Working Group meeting will be held on May 28 from 14:00-17:00 at the NGO RC; and the WATSAN Working Group meeting will be held on May 30 from 9:00 – 11:00 at the NGO RC.

The next INGO Forum Meeting will be held on May 30, 15:00 – 17:00 at the NGO RC, the tentative agenda includes: a presentation by Carrie Turk, World Bank Senior Poverty Specialist, a discussion of the INGO input for the Consultative Group Meeting, and a feedback from the Members and User Survey. The detailed agenda will be sent out later.

See the Calendar section for more details.

All the best from the NGO RC Team.