Australia will support Vietnam to strengthen its institutions and train its future leaders, so they are equipped to manage future shocks and regional challenges. The new Vietnam-Australia Centre (VAC), situated in the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics will be the centrepiece of these efforts. The VAC will strengthen collaboration in leadership and innovation to enable Vietnamese and Australian experts to pursue solutions to shared regional challenges and to protect international rules and norms. Australia’s cyber security program will assist Vietnam to navigate challenges and opportunities in the digital sphere while driving economic growth.

Australia will promote social cohesion by enhancing Vietnam’s awareness of human rights standards and ways to protect the most vulnerable. Australia will work to prevent and respond to violence against women and children, ensure gender equality is central to recovery efforts and promote inclusive recovery. We will deliver training to strengthen Vietnamese law enforcement, including promoting the role of women in police management. We will continue our whole-of-government efforts to reduce transnational crime in the region.

Australia will help Vietnam’s planners manage the pressure of rapid economic restructuring necessary for recovery, including by strengthening food, energy and water security. We will strengthen local resource planning and water delivery, with a strong gender focus. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research will continue to foster research connections and Australia will provide grants to support agricultural resilience.

Australia Awards

This activity is implemented through the Aus4Skills program.

The Australia Awards Scholarships in Vietnam is delivered through the Aus4Skills program and aims to improve the quality of human resources in Vietnam through long term study in Australia. These scholarships equip leaders with skills and knowledge to personally drive change and influence development outcomes in Vietnam. They also strengthen public institutions and promote linkages between Australia and Vietnam. Priority areas of study include governance and economic growth, infrastructure and transport, water and sanitation, education, gender equality, agriculture and rural development, regional stability and human rights, disability support, climate change, innovation and health.

Aus4Skills also enables implementation of the Australian Alumni in Vietnam Strategy 2016-21.

Related documents

Related links

• Australia Awards–Vietnam
• Government of Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training
• DFAT: Australia Awards
• DFAT: Australia Awards Fellowships

The Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index

This activity is implemented through the Aus4Reform Program.

As part of Aus4Reform, from 2017 to 2021, Australia will be the main sponsor of the Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI), with $2.9 million over three years representing approximately 70 per cent of overall PAPI funding.

PAPI is the largest time-series national governance and public administration performance monitoring tool in Vietnam exclusively based on citizens' experiences. Since 2009, PAPI has captured and reflected the experiences of nearly 89,000 citizens with diversified demographic features.

PAPI is a policy monitoring tool that measure provinces' performance of governance and public administration (i.e. outputs of local governance, public administration and public services that are experienced by citizens at the provincial level) based on experiences and feedback of citizens (men and women) randomly selected from all 63 provinces in Vietnam.

PAPI mirrors six dimensions of government performance: (i) participation in elections and policy making at the local level, (ii) transparency in decision-making, (iii) vertical accountability, (iv) control of corruption in the public sector, (v) public administrative procedures, and (vi) public service delivery. PAPI has helped different national stakeholders to understand how governance and public administration in Vietnam has changed over time and suggested ways to address governance bottlenecks. As such, PAPI provides a 'gold mine' of data for policymakers and researchers to triangulate government-business-citizen assessments of policy implementation so as to inform subsequent policy reforms and government performance improvement.

Related links

• Viet Nam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index

Supporting Interventions to Eliminate Violence Against Women and Children in Vietnam during COVID-19

This activity is implemented through the Aus4Equality program.

To prevent and respond to violence against women and children, ensure gender equality is central to recovery efforts and promote inclusive recovery, Australia is providing funding to three UN agencies (UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women).