GENERAL INFORMATION
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE CENTRAL VIETNAM (CRD)

I. GENERAL INFORMATION 

The Center for Rural Development in Central Vietnam (CRD), Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry (HUAF) was established in 1995 under Decision No. 73 / QD-TC by Hue University.

The head office of CRD in Hue

The beneficiaries of CRD’s activities are the poor, vulnerable people, ethnic minorities, especially women and children.

Despite being a unit of HUAF, CRD’s staff is recruited from member schools of Hue University that makes difference in the organization and personnel of the Center. At the present, CRD has 45 staff including 30 part-time officials mainly selected from HUAF, some from University of Economics and University of Science (major in sociology), and 15 full-time officials are good and excellent graduates from various training fields of Hue University. Therefore, CRD has favorable conditions to establish interdisciplinary working groups to meet the requirements of rural development activities.

CRD is entitled to make decision independently and has been operating as a local non-governmental organization. The organizational structure and operation of CRD are shown in the following diagram:

II. VISION AND MISSION

Vision

CRD will become a leading organization in Vietnam for sustainable rural development, contributing to eradication of poverty, improved environment and ecology, enhanced equity and democracy.

Mission

CRD is responsible for conducting researches, trainings, technology transfer and policy advocacy in order to enhance capacity of the community, social organizations, community organizations, and local officials on livelihoods improvement, environmental and ecological protection, social equity and promotion of democracy

Core values

CRD will pursue the development path on the basis of core values that have been developed and maintained, including:

– Professionalism

– Creativity and innovation

– Dedication, wholeheartedness, responsibilities and faithfulness

– Transparency, prestige and high quality

Target groups

The poor, ethnic minorities and vulnerable groups especially women and children

II. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE:

CRD has been working in two main fields: Consultancy and Development.

As for human resources, CRD has 10 full-time staff and many lecturers of HUAF and other member schools of Hue University working part-time for the Center. The staff is well-qualified to meet the requirements of rural development, hunger eradication and poverty reduction (HEPR) programs in the areas. Recently, over 50% of CRD staff has post-graduate degree, mostly from abroad.

III. FIELDS OF ACTIVITIES

CRD has 3 main fields of activities:

• Sustainable agricultural development towards value chain approach.
• Disaster risk management; climate change adaptation and mitigation.
• Natural resource governance and biodiversity conservation.

Cross – cutting themes:

• Good governance
• Child protection
• Gender equality
• Traditional culture

IV. CONTRIBUTION TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT, POVERTY REDUCTION AND HUNGER ERADICATION PROGRAMS IN THE CENTRAL REGION

CRD has contributed to rural development and HEPR programs in the Central region  that are presented in main activities as follows:

Building projects and conducting fund-raising for localities: 

From 1995 to 2020, CRD has carried out 175 projects in 200 communes of 200 districts, mainly in 8 central provinces from Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen and Dak Lak with a total budget of VND 190 billion.

Building people’s capacity for HEPR: CRD has conducted a number of activities to enhance people’s capacity, namely:

1) Capacity building for communities via training classes:

• There have been approximately 48,000 participants (including farmers and officials of all levels) taking part in training classes held by CRD to improve capacity in both production and management.
• CRD has also established 52 models of production development and those of agricultural production towards climate change adaptation. Besides, CRD has organized 613 on-field workshops with the participation of 18,500 farmers to evaluate the results of production and share experiences in applying state-of-the-art technology advances.

2) Organizing study tours

CRD has organized 60 study tours for 1,650 people of communes to learn and share experiences in different fields to develop production (excluding domestic and international study tours for CRD staff and University lecturers).

3) Carrying out development researches: Over the last years, CRD has conducted 44 researches in 3 main fields:

• Researches on production development and livelihood improvement
• Researches relating to climate change
• Researches relating to policies

On the basis of research results, CRD has published 19 books and 58 scientific articles in Agriculture and Rural Development Magazines, Journal of Science of Hue University and other national and international academic journals.

4) Other fields of activities relating to HEPR:

Emergency relief: CRD has implemented emergency relief in the aftermath of natural disasters to approximately 50,000 beneficiary households at 50 communes in 4 provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam.

Information exchange: CRD regularly holds national workshops/conferences on an annual basis in order to exchange information and experience with different partners in related fields.

V. CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY

Apart from contributions to production, CRD has also been actively contributing to the development of the University in some aspects as follows:

Improving capacity of the university staff, thereby helping improve teaching quality

• CRD has organized a number of study tours in many districts of the country and neighboring countries for hundreds of University staff.
• CRD also provides further training for outstanding students to build qualified human resources for other departments of the University when needed.

As a result, the University added bachelor’s degree program in Extension and Rural Development in 2002 and post-graduate program in Rural Development in 2008 in order to meet society’s needs. CRD projects have been a favorable condition for students of Department of Extension and Rural Development to practice and do research.

Transferring technological advances into production and serving as a bridge between the university and society

Many technological advances have been successfully transferred and applied in production; various models have been established and replicated in localities in the Central. Technological advances have helped increase crop and livestock productivity and minimize diseases, and as a result contributes significantly to improve people’s income.

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

International cooperation is one of the Center’s strengths. CRD has been cooperating with over 35 international organizations in recent year.

VII. NOBLE AWARDS

Add: 102 Phung Hung street, Hue city
Phone: (0234) 3529749 – ext 0; Fax:  (0234) 3530 000
Email: office@crdvietnam.org
Director: Truong Quang Hoang, PhD.
Phone: 0905.365.135. Email: hoangtq@crdvietnam.org