Vietnam Digital Government Academy for Local Innovation Leaders (DGA) Initiative

Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management, Fulbright Vietnam University (FSPPM) is honored to be the strategic partner for implementing the Vietnam Digital Government Academy for Local Innovation Leaders (DGA) Initiative.

The Digital Government Academy (DGA) Initiative is central to the program's objectives under the "people" pillar of the Disruptive Technologies for Public Asset Governance (DT4PAG) program funded by the World Bank with the support of the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) to address innovation frictions in provincial governments and promote successful digital government transformation. The DT4PAG program will support digital government transformation through a set of complementary People-Process-Technology (PPT) engagement pillars.

FSPPM will design and execute specialized skills-building programs for provincial leadership and for provincial officials, focusing on both foundational skills and functional skills. The foundational skills will include, among others, knowledge and practical examples of leadership, government as a platform, technology management, and change management, among others. The functional skills will equip government officials with practical knowledge to be more effectively tackling the digital challenges in public asset governance. The DGA's training courses for local government leaders and officials will be designed and executed in a complementary fashion.

FSPPM also serves as a Center of Excellence (CoE) to drive innovation, best practices, and knowledge sharing on digital transformation. It is envisaged that FSPPM will take a central role in the co-creation of the Vietnam DA's curriculum, in partnership (where suitable) with other CoEs.

The engagement principle of the DT4PAG is to work with local governments that show a strong interest in addressing PAG challenges with the help of technology platforms and data innovations. Each year, the DGA aims to cooperate with 3-5 provinces/cities to implement the training programs.

MUSP Project (Mekong - U.S. Partnership - Master in Public Policy)

Under the framework of Mekong-U.S. Partnership-Master in Public Policy (MUSP-MPP) program, a five-year grant of US$800,000 from the U.S. Department of State, from now to 2026 for 20 rising young public officials from Mekong countries, starting with Laos to attend Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management (FSPPM) for a Master degree in Public Policy – Policy Analysis (MPP-PA).

With the aim of providing skills to increase local capacity while enhancing trust and building cooperative relationships among the participating countries and young public sector professionals, the MUSP-MPP program will be open to three cohorts from Laos with six (06) fellows in the first year, and seven (07) fellows in each subsequent year. The U. S. Department of State through participating country Embassies will actively engage in selecting the most promising public officials. At the end of the 5 years, 20 participants will obtain the Master Degree in Public Policy.

Read more on this initiative here.

Natural Capital Management Program Project

Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management has received a five-year programmatic grant of US$1 million from two companies, Galaxy Studio and Dragon Capital to launch "Natural Capital Management" Program. The grant will enable the university to advance research, hold dialogues on policy responses, offer executive education programs and classes on Natural Capital Management issues.

The Mekong River Delta region, and Vietnam, today is facing the ever-changing conditions and impacts of multiple pressing issues. Rapid economic development at the expense of the environment has resulted in serious environmental pollution. It is of utmost importance to identify the most serious challenges facing the region, analyze, and communicate them to the public, policy makers, and other stakeholders to take proper actions.

For the first annual topic of the 5-year plan, the gift will propel the Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management (FSPPM) to address critical issues and policy responses in the Mekong River Delta region. Specifically, FSPPM will advance their research on the following key priorities: agriculture transformation, energy, air pollution and public health, climate change, flooding, regional infrastructure, and transboundary cooperation.

Read more on this initiative here.

Thua Thien Hue Master Plan Project

At the end of 2021, Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management participates in the Bidding Consortium to implement Thua Thien Hue Master plan project for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2025. The project began implementation from December 2021.

Throughout the implementation process, the FSPPM project team worked closely with the consortium and representatives of Thua Thien Hue province to complete the inception reports, mid-term reports and final reports of the Master Plan. FSPPM has organized many field trips to understand the current status and strategic issues affecting the TTH Master plan in the coming period. In April 2023, the project team, in collaboration with the Consortium, established working groups to have a final round of discussions with the Departments and Districts in TT Hue to consolidate the strategic options for the Master Plan. In the QIII/2023, the project has entered its final stage, which is to submit the comprehensive report to the central authorities for feedback, aiming for planning approval in Q4, aiming to put the Master Plan into practice in 2023.