NGO Resource Centre Newsletter July 1 - 15, 2008

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Dear MEMBERS and FRIENDS,

Welcome to the NGO Resource Centre Newsletter for July 1 - 15, 2008.

First off this week, the NGO RC Climate Change Working Group held an NGO Capacity Building Needs Assessment Workshop on Climate Change on July 1, in order to develop a capacity building programme tailored to the needs and interests of Vietnamese and international NGOs. More than 100 people attended the event, which provided an opportunity for participants to contribute to determining the priorities and content of a series of climate change capacity building events, and to learn and share about existing knowledge and skills among NGOs. The NGO RC will distribute further documents and minutes from the workshop as soon as they are available.

In other news, we would like to remind our members and friends about the new Information & Communications Technology for Development Working Group(ICT4DEV WG) currently being established by the NGO RC. The ICT4DEV WG will address a wide range of ICT and development-related issues and will be aimed at both IT technicians working for local or international NGOs, and those that specialise in using such infrastructure such as communications officers, information coordinators etc. Coordinated and led by the NGO RC's new full-time IT Advisor, Paul Griffins, the aim of the working group will be to help NGOs enhance their use of ICT to improve the quality of their development work in Vietnam. Through advising, training, sharing resources and inviting special expert guest speakers, the ICT4DEV WG seeks to maximise productivity and communications in the development community in Vietnam by helping NGOs to fully harness the power of ICT in their development activities.

The NGO RC is confident that this new group will be a valuable addition to the working groups operating under the centre and would like to extend a warm invitation to interested parties to become involved. For more information or to receive a copy of the draft terms of reference, please contact Paul Griffins at [email protected]. If you are interested in the ICT4DEV WG, please join the following mailing list:http://mailman.ngocentre.org.vn/mailman/listinfo/ict4devwg

There are three working groups coming up in July: the Landmine Working Group meeting will be held on 9 July from 8am-3pm at the Don Truong Son Hotel in Dong Ha district, Quang Binh Province; the HIV/AIDS Technical Working Group will be held on 16th July 2008  from 14.00-16.00  at Hanoi School of Public Health, 138B Giang Vo St, Ha Noi and the Disability Working Group meeting will be held on 24 July from 2-4pm at the NGO RC.

See the Calendar section for more details.

All the best from the NGO RC Team.