Asian Philanthropy Forum

U.S. - Vietnamese Social Networks

James H. Bao, co-founder of the OneVietnam Network generated a list of US Vietnamese Social Networks on their blog, Vietnam Talking Points. James found five networks and he provides a summary of their work. Please visit their blog to learn more. 

In particular, James writes:

Of the networks I've found, only two came out to be true social network by today's definitions: Viet Circle and Vietmee.com. The rest are better categorizes as community blogs or forums. Of the bunch, Viet Circle offers the most familiar social networking experience. Yet, the site tries to do too much (includes restaurant reviews, event planning), runs an outdated model (think MySpace), and is not actively developed.

The Vietnamese expat community still lacks a true network. With over 3 million people spread across 30 countries, there is a definite need for a network that can bring us together. I have reasons to believe that kind of network will be coming very soon (*wink).

James is talking about the exciting, highly anticipated, OneVietnam Network. The man behind the "network" is Paul Pham.  Paul was part of the team that created the first web-based email service called Hotmail. After the company was acquired by Microsoft Corporation, he went on to work as a server architect for several years, developing the main revenue generating engine for Hotmail called WebCourier.

I can't wait to see the fully functional network because it will be the first of its kind - bringing non-profit groups, volunteers, donors and supporters together on an integrated platform that uses all the tools of social media. This is where the Asian American philanthropy field needs to be headed.  The fact that none of them have a philanthropy background makes it even more impressive. I like the idea of a fresh perspective and a new approach.

Disclosure: I serve as an advisor to OneVietnam Network.

Duy-Loan T. Le, philanthropist and business leader

Talking Points Vietnam (TVP), the blog of OneVietnam Network, has a post on Duy-Loan T. Le, philanthropist and business leader.  Duy-Loan came to the U.S. when she was 12. She taught herself how to read English and within four years, graduated as a valedictorian of her high school.  Duy-Loan then joined Texas Instrument and was eventually elected as a Senior Fellow, a rank equivalent of a Senior Vice President.  She is the only women holding this position in Texas Instrument's nearly 80 years of history.

Duy-Loan has received many awards and recognitions, including the National Technologist of the Year, Times People, Asian American Engineer of the Year, Women of Vision: Leadership, and Top 15 Women in Business.

Duy-Loan serves on the board of the Mona Foundation.  She is a founding member and currently serves on the advisory board of the Sunflower Mission.  Sunflower Mission is a U.S. based non-profit that is committed to improving the lives of the people in Vietnam through educational assistance programs. They have built over 62 classrooms in remote areas of Vietnam, where 90% of the poor live. Through the Sunflower Mission Dao-Le Scholarship Program, over 2,200 scholarships have been awarded since 2004.

Disclosure: I serve as an advisor to the OneVietnam Network.

Asian philanthropy news digest 12/17/09

Vietnam Challenge Fund.  The Vietnam Challenge Fund (VCF) launched last month with an initial budget of US$3 million for 2009-2011.  According to the Saigon Times Daily, the fund is designed to challenge the private sector in Vietnam to propose innovative new business models that benefit the poor. The fund "will help absorb some of the business risks associated with innovative projects that aim to increase employment and income for the poor."  In Vietnam, about 90% of the 86 million people live in rural areas.  The fund will help those in rural areas gain access to capital.

An Interview with Jack Ma.  Jack Ma is one of China's most influential leaders in China according to Time Magazine.  He is founder, chairman and CEO of the Alibaba Group, the holding company of the largest business to business e-commerce platform (Alibaba.com) and consumer to consumer auction website in China (Taobao.com). Jack is also a trustee of The Nature Conservancy's China program.  In this article Jack expresses his thoughts about the attitudes of environmentalism in China, his philanthropy, and why he is passionate about the environment: There are many other things that have inspired me.  When I visited the river where I learned to swim as a kid (I almost drowned in there when I was 12 years old), the water was full of garbage. The water use to come up to my chest and now is just barely above my ankle.  It has almost completely dried up. I thought to myself, "Oh my God, what's going on?"

Supporting disaster relief efforts in Asia: All types of donors wanted

- by Dien S Yuen

Southeast Asia has been hit horribly by a series of tragic events.  It is too difficult to convey in words the lives that were lost and the damage done to homes and businesses.  The Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Western Sumatra... these were already countries with high rates of poverty.

As I look at these pictures, I can't help but feel overwhelmed for the victims.  But since I work at Give2Asia and we are fielding emails and calls from donors wanting to help - there is no time to feel sad.  There are many, many generous donors - individuals, corporations, families, friends - that want to help.  Like all disasters, we encourage donors to think about immediate relief and also long term recovery.

There are many groups like the Red Cross that can provide immediate aid such as clean water and food. As the media attention dies down in the next several weeks though, survivors will also need help to rebuild their homes and businesses.  There are some donors that give because their heart aches as they see the destruction and want to take action right away.  By making a gift instantly, they feel as if they alleviated some suffering of an unknown friend.  While the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia may be far away, pain and suffering are universal emotions we all connect with.

There are also some donors that want to be more strategic and wait until the immediate relief is stabilized so they can see what else is needed.  In-between stages of support - assistance to get life back to normal, clearing of roads, cleaning of homes are required along with finding food, shelter and clean water.  Long term recovery also includes helping survivors rebuild their lives and their livelihood.  This may include micro-loans to business owners so they can purchase supplies again.  There is the psycho-social therapy needs for children, seniors and others traumatized by the disaster.

From Vietnam: Improving Internet Access, One Village at a Time

Dinh Kieu Nhung is The Asia Foundation’s Office Manager in Vietnam where she also manages projects that focus on human resources capacity building.  She writes on The Asia Foundation's blog In Asia, about her recent trip in three provinces in Vietnam to collect data on how to expand internet access across Vietnam. Below is an excerpt; please visit In Asia to read the full post.

It took us much longer than expected to get to Ta Ca, a highland commune in Vietnam’s Nghe An province near the Lao border. Although it was a sunny afternoon, the narrow road from our hotel to our destination, Ta Ca’s Cultural Post Office (CPO), was riddled with potholes filled with slick mud that threatened to send us careening off the road at each twist and turn. The Ta Ca CPO was our first site visit on a tour of 10 such sites across rural Nghe An. We knew we had many long, bumpy roads ahead, but our team, comprised of a representative from the National Library of Vietnam, two representatives from the Nghe An Provincial Library, and myself, was eager in anticipation of what we would discover.  

Since public libraries in Vietnam cannot feasibly reach everyone in deep rural or mountainous areas, such as Ta Ca, the government began adding library books and limited Internet access to the 8,000 CPOs that typically only provided post and telecommunication services to the rural communities. Despite such efforts, an overwhelming 80 percent of CPO users still think of them only as places to make phone calls and send mail, while just 17 percent realize that they provide Internet access, according to a needs assessment report published this month by The Asia Foundation with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Which brings us back to the bumpy road on the way to Ta Ca: Our mission was to interview staff, users, and community leaders to better understand what services public libraries and CPOs are currently offering, the staff’s levels of IT and computer knowledge, and how services can be enhanced to meet the needs of the communities. 

Asian philanthropy news 12/26/08

 

*  A MasterCard survey of 6,019 people across 14 countries found that Indonesia was the most charitable country with 88.3% of consumers planning to make donations.  New Zealand came in second and Australia (66%) came in third in the Asia/Pacific region. 

*  GE Foundation announced a one-year $225,000 grant to the US-Vietnam Trade Council Education Forum and STAR Vietnam to enhance its work to improve the rule of law in Vietnam.  The program will focus on transparency and public participation in the law and rule making process which will strengthen rule of law and should lead to increased economic development and growth.

* Acumen Fund, a global venture capital fund that invests in sustainable, scalable businesses that provide affordable water, housing, health and energy services who earn less than $4 a day announced four new investments in Pakistan.  As of June 30, 2008, Acumen Fund Pakistan's portfolio totaled $6.4 million in committed investments in enterprises focusing on drip irrigation, micro insurance, housing, peri-urban health clinics and other critical needs.

Photo courtesy of Oxfam International

Organizations addressing similar issues in Asia

In Asia, there are many similar development issues that affect the region and its people.  Unfortunately, many do not know of the programs other groups are working on or realize that similar groups like theirs exist.  Often these organizations, spread all over Asia, can gain and improve their work, perhaps even collectively raise funds, if they could share experiences, stories and information.  New engaging issues or solutions such as microfinance now have platforms for such exchanges while there are more basic development issues which do not have similar opportunities.

In my work at Give2Asia, I am able to interact with many organizations all over Asia.  Recently, I came across three organizations doing similar work in three different countries.  If we introduced them to each other and nurtured them to address their issues on a regional or even global level, could we not dramatically improve the number of lives they touch so much more effectively?

Life saving heart surgeries for improverished children

It is estimated that one of every 100 children is born with a heart defect, and of those nearly one-third need corrective surgery.  Children's Hope in China, Child's Dream in Thailand, and East Meets West Foundation in Vietnam help provide access to life saving heart surgeries to children from underpriviledged backgrounds.  You can read about these organizations and the donors who are supporting their programs at the Give2Asia Forum.

- Nishita Bakshi

Photo courtesy of Give2Asia: Liu Da lives in Henan Province, close to the Yellow River.  Liu Da was diagnosed with congenital heart disease when he was 8 months old.  Children's Hope covered the entire fee for his surgery and he is now completely recovered.

Resources and links for July 17, 2008

Bringing Bangladesh into the internet age (Intl Herald Tribune, Global Ed. of NY Times, 7/9/08)

A group of Bangladeshi expatriates tackles the issue of digital divide in Bangladesh where less than 1% of the population has internet access.  Always On Network Bangladesh worked with SOMA Technology in San Francisco to develop a service based on a cellular phone technology called W-CDMA.  The technology is suited to Bangladesh's conditions of heavy monsoon rains, winter fog and densely packed urban areas.  The company will provide free internet services to schools and will also cover rural areas.  See also: Bangladesh makes internet use free for primary schools.

US NGO eyes private tie for environmental impact (Thanh Nien Daily, 7/8/08)

East Meets West Foundation will be seeking cooperation with the private sector to make positive environmental impacts in Vietnam.  The Ford Foundation awarded EMW US$99,000 to develop a pilot action research program to deal with the effects of climate change for the poorest of the poor.  Vietnam ranks fourth on the list of countries most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. 

Bruce Lee Museum (New York Times, 7/8/08)

Real estate tycoon and prominent philanthropist, Yu Panglin will be donating the house where Bruce Lee lived before his death in 1973 for use as a museum.

All shook up: How the earthquake changed China (Newsweek International Edition, 6/30/08)

Article describing the winners and losers of the rebuilding efforts, including the emergence of philanthropists who are giving their time and expertise.

Intel launches philanthropic project in China's Sichuan (the Inquirer, 6/24/08)

Intel launched a company sponsored project dubbed "Iworld" to rebuild and restore services in earthquake affected area.  Iworld will set up 200 teched-out 'e-classrooms' equipped with Intel Inside computers and super high speed internet connections.  Chipzilla employees, supplemented by Intel Foundation will also donate $6.9 million.

Diaspora giving to Vietnam: interview with Ivan Small

The following interview was first published in Asian American Giving in April 2008.  It was also translated into Vietnamese and published in Voices of America.

As of 2005, there are some three million Vietnamese living outside of Vietnam, with approximately half of those living in the United States. Vietnamese-Americans, many of whom are still culturally and emotionally connected to their country of heritage, are increasingly giving back to their families and communities in the form of formal and informal remittances.

The United Nations International Fund for Agriculture & Development put the total estimated amount of remittances to Vietnam at US$6.8 billion in 2007 – over 11.2% of the country's GDP. Vietnamese-Americans comprise a considerable proportion of those making remittances to Vietnam. Le Xuan Khoa, an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University who has written several papers about the Vietnamese-American community and engagement with Vietnam, believes that proportion to be 2/3 of total remittances made to Vietnam.

The significant impact of diasporic giving has received increased attention from various stakeholders, including: diasporic community leaders, multilateral aid agencies, NGOs, policymakers, and government bodies. The UNDP and Ford Foundation are two stakeholders that recognize remittance flows as a powerful development tool. This year, the Ford Foundation will support a discussion on diasporic giving to Asia, including Vietnam, through the Asia Pacific Philanthropy Consortium's (APPC) fourth biannual conference. The conference, titled "Diaspora Giving: An Agent of Change in Asia-Pacific Communities?" will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam in May 2008. The conference will examine "the potential of diaspora giving as a change agent in their communities of origin" and promises to bring together 120 stakeholders to share best practices, discuss challenges, and formulate recommendations.