CWD provides services to support comprehensive development of women. Its services include physical and psychological support for vulnerable groups of women and children, particularly women and children experienced Gender based violence (GBV) including domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual harassment, and so forth. I want to emphasize these mandates because these harsh works considerably require qualified and passionate human resources. Besides, working environment play crucial role as decisive factors to keep staff working with CWD.

In fact, CWD annual reports reveals the regular staff turnovers. However, recently, it has reported that increasing numbers of experienced staff denied to continuously working for CWD, many of them working for CWD from 5 to 11 years. Behind the scenes, there are many excuses for this. Firstly, the salary policy does not encourage staff’s contributions. According to financial report, the annual benefit lightly increases, but mainly budget is used for re-construction and equipment, not improve staff’s payment. Additionally, CWD working environment is harsh and high pressure, staff work overloads and over regulated working time, but no extra pay for their extra hours. Particularly, administratively management for staffs of social programs is inappropriate to their contribution. Lastly, in the competitive trend, CWD should be more active and innovative to keep their resources, which includes also personnel. Its history remarks many good staff work for their competitive partners due to their attractive payment and less pressure working environment.

I learnt from that, human resource is extremely important factor to maintain quality of services, also save administration and training fees for new staff who we are not sure if they can survive in harsh working environment for long-term or not. Enhancing resilience of staff benefit organisation in competition with others in network.

My question is that, to fulfil its mandates of support people in community to eliminate their challenges and living difficulties, CWD should find how to retain their staff by consolidate their resilience from their duties. Therefore, they will find how to positively transfer their positive energy to clients and make more contributions for this organization.

The arena of development is marked as the essential evolution of humankind. Makuwira (2014) affirms that development shapes the world with benefits for human’s well-being and ensure social equality. However, Escobar (1995) claims development becomes effective tool of the hegemonic regimes to serve economic and political purposes.  Then, it causes damages of well-beings, impoverishment, social evils, corruptions, and environment  destruction, etc. (Costanza et al., 2014).  This concept is relevant to failures, disappointment, crime, or delusion (Sachs, 2009). Thus, its meaning is transformed and confronts to plenty of arguments.

In the case of CWD, a great number of its staff and leadership believe that development benefits people. In their way, development means earning projects or run fundraising activities to serve women in community. It is reason why CWD only focus on the advantages of information to provide for women. On the other hand, they also believe that what they implement are all good for women. It also means that some project budgets are partly spent for administration and management while lack of budget to implement activities to serve women and communities.

In development discourse, the term of governance plays crucial role to ensure social function on right track. According to (Battersby, 2017),development discourse also is defined as bureaucratic processes and formal executive. World Bank also describes this term in correlation with legitimate rules, political stability, accountability, corruption control, voices of democracy and participation in upstream decision- making process.   Reported by Freedom House (2018), in the trend of global democracy crisis, degradation of political rights and civil liberties then are highlighted over the span of ten years until 2017.

In practices, CWD is first designed as non-business unit with revenues. This unity consists of 2 distinguish parts of hospitality services for VWU’s events; social programs to serve women in community. In beginning, CWD was governmental invested for the great construction of its building. As affirmed by its policy, CWD promised to use a part of its benefits for social programs. However, until now, this organization declares no benefits in its process of operation, all budgets for social programs are depends on international sponsorship and recently small enterprises and philanthropists. That challenges the social programs to ensure its sustainability and innovation in competition with other organizations in network.

My question is raised about ‘transparency’ in implementing policies of CWD that ensure that community benefit from their operation, and preventing economic purposes under the name of development projects.

Nothing should be considered once you are a strange person coming in one organisation. As a newcomer, you are eager to discover new things as people, its cultures, its stories, or its strengths and potentials. For me, I am not a strange person to CWD, but I am at the current role of outsider to thoroughly explore angles of this organisation.

Why I am not strange person to women movement

Because CWD is my second home that I have dedicated my youth there to work for women rights and struggle for my gender since 2005. As my early desire, I have worked for Vietnam Women’s Union. There, I perceive that Vietnamese women meet myriad challenges in their development. The main reason is the great influence of Confucian values on Vietnamese cultures that prioritizes the male in higher positions in society and family.  As one of community members, I also was educated that I need to marry a husband and lay my life on him. However, since I was a girl, I though a lot of what so-called equality.  It seems not right once my parents prefer my brother than me. They believe that a son will be decision-maker in family while a daughter should live in her family-in-law and has no right to raise her voice. That why, they invest more education in my brother and take care him until now. I early feel something unfairness and their dependence. My desire to work for women stems from that.

I am outsider

It is admitted that the ideology of Confucius affects the characteristics of individuals in society. if this person is not powerful enough to escape herself from traditional thinking, a path will continue to treat women with the same way. Once I participate the master course of international development, I do not work for CWD and have opportunity to witness what CWD is currently implementing. Reviewing all existing information services for women give me a comparison to the first designed services. The definition of development contains diverse layers of meanings. At the same time, it notices consequences of development progress. Accordingly, the information service for women should provide more information concerning about urbanization, climate change, environmental contamination and so forth.

My train will bring you to Vietnam where you will witness our practice on women issues in development. You will have the opportunities to experience one integral part of Vietnamese women’s movement by following my steps.

My name is Luu Nguyet Minh, International Development Master student at the last semester. The two year course definitely makes changes in my perpective of development. Plus, two year living in Australia tht make me recognize its great illustration and authentic practices on ID for a comparison in Vietnam

If you expect an extend of stories that show you how the development make influences women in a third world- country, please take the free ticket to my train. it will bring you great opportunities to witness the development when it serves women’s rights.

My blog narrates a part of stories of Centre for Women and Development, one suborinated organisation of Vietnam Women’s Union. Follow its partly action, you will define your understanding in international development practive in Vietnam.

I hope through my blog, you will take free:

• The mechanism of operation and practices development in Vietnamese culture.
• How development eventually happens in Vietnam
• Vietnamese women’s movement in international development’s practices
• Findings to fill the gaps in Vietnamese services to support women’s development
• My view to yours for further idea in perpective of indevelopment