Training Need Assessment of Vietnamese Business Associations

The project “Capacity Building on trade policy for Vietnamese Business Associations”, managed by Eurocham is funded under the EU-Vietnam MUTRAP III project. MUTRAP III aims at strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) in its core responsibilities of trade policy making, WTO coordination, regional and free trade agreements and implementation of integration commitments and competition policy.

The business associations lack the understanding to provide meaningful input into trade policy making and to inform their constituencies about the implications of trade integration, free trade agreements (FTA's) and business opportunities. They lack professionally trained staff and funds to carry out their own research agenda that could be addressed through small grants.

One of the main driving forces could play the capacity building on trade policy for Vietnamese Business Associations and their members to make them fit for an improved dialogue between private sector and Government. Especially in times of new trade treaties, anti-dumping cases, Government requires more operational input than ever to deal with related issues. Members of Business Associations in Vietnam are not involved in the private sector vs. Government dialogue as mature partners due to their lack of understanding, experiences in trade issues and commitment to overcome administrative hurdles within their organizations and financial concerns.

The project aims at strengthening Vietnamese business associations to increase their capacities to become an efficient consultation partner for the Vietnamese Government. Another objective is to increase the ability of Vietnamese Business Associations to provide efficient assistance to their members on EU related trade issues.

Towards these objectives, a training programme will be implemented, addressing the capacity building needs of eight business associations in Vietnam, including CBA, HASMEA, HAWA, LEFAS, VASEP, VCCI Ho Chi Minh City, VITAS and YBA. To start, a training needs assessment to understand the organizational and training needs of Vietnamese Business Association has been carried out. The specific needs in terms of training and capacity of business associations and their members needs are assessed in order to develop a train the trainers programs. The TNA constitutes the basis for the formulation of the training manuals and delivery of training courses for staffs of the eight business association in 2010.

Under the commission of Eurocham, Economica has completed the training need assessment and is in the process of preparing the manuals for the training courses.

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