Strengthening of the partner organisation and capacity building Vietnam Cooperative Alliance and Bac Ninh Cooperative Alliance are key participants in this experience-sharing project. There is collaboration with the parallel Hue Cooperative Alliance project and the results are expected to be role-models for future cooperative alliances in Vietnam. The experience will be well documented and further spread to all provinces that are interested in developing their business activities. The leaders and management in Bac Ninh get tailor-made training and ongoing support to strengthen their self confidence and decision making processes. The two unions are now up and running and the last phase in the project for 2009 is to make sure that the unions keep on developing and functioning with the help of a strong board and positive result also after the end of the project. Budget: 400 000 SEK (2009)

Strengthening of the partner organisation and capacity building The main component of the project focuses on organisational development of VCA and the participating province alliances, by improving their methods and tools for supporting the development of local cooperatives. The project includes important elements of capacity building. Primarily when it comes to the 4 “strategy development teams” (VCA plus 3 provinces), which are responsible for the project implementation. “On the job” training in strategy and organisation development for these project teams is important parts of the project. The training activities/workshops in the project, as well as strategic planning, are oriented towards the strengthening of the local cooperative societies. Development objective: to contribute to poverty reduction, job creation and the development of a democratic culture in local cooperatives. Budget: 600 000 SEK (2009)