AsiaDHRRA continues to support Viet Nam Farmers Union (VNFU) in building capacity of leaders and staff in policy advocacy by providing technical and program assistance in the launching of the Phase 2 of the project entitled “Building capacity of VNFU leaders and staff in Policy Advocacy, Phase 2” last December 11, 2013. The conference held at VMQ Hotel in Hanoi aimed at raising VNFU leaders awareness on the importance of policy advocacy in the changing agricultural landscape. The project is supported with funds from the Belgian government cooperation under DGD through Agricord.
 

A planning workshop followed in December 12 and 13. Phase 2 of the project aims to develop the skills of 40 selected participants from VNFU Headquarters in Hanoi and from different Provincial Farmer Unions who will undertake an 8-day Training or Trainers (ToT) on Policy Advocacy and Constructive Engagement in February 2014. Beginning April, ToT participants will conduct training workshops on policy advocacy and constructive engagement at the district and commune levels.


Policy advocacy is now among VNFU’s 7 key tasks approved by the 6th National VNFU Congress held last July 2013. Policy advocacy is a new key task of VNFU. Policy advocacy is not only a task of VNFU at national level, but at all levels of the organization. Constructive engagement is the framework of VNFU’s policy advocacy with government and the private sector. As a new task, there is a need to raise the level of awareness and knowledge of VNFU leaders to be able to help them carry out the task effectively.