Environment and Development

Ford Foundation Announces Important Series of Grants on Environmental Research and Public Health in Vietnam

HANOI, November 9, 2006 — The Ford Foundation has announced a commitment of $2.2 million to build understanding of environmental hazards in Vietnam and bring critical health services to people living with long-term disabilities.

The new funds are part of a long-term effort to support grantees working on these issues, and place emphasis on dioxin. Grants will support research to help identify dioxin "hot spots," pilot projects to develop new clean-up technologies, and survey research and public health programs to understand and address the health needs of people living with disabilities.

Foundation officials hope that the rigorous research that results from these grants can help increase knowledge about the issue of dioxin in Vietnam and inform solutions that address its impact on people and the environment.

"Building understanding about how environmental concerns affect people's lives and health is an important part of our work around the world," said Charles Bailey, head of the Ford Foundation office in Hanoi. "In Vietnam there is a real desire to make progress on these issues among everyone concerned."

The foundation is working in partnership with other nonprofit organizations and Vietnam government agencies and plans additional grants for the coming year.

"Our grants support fact-based research and medical and social programs for the disabled," Bailey said. "They reflect our determination to help ensure that critical health services are reaching the people who are most in need."

Some grants already approved include:

• Vietnam Public Health Association ($175,000)
  To design, test and implement public health interventions for residents of Bien Hoa

• National Steering Committee 33, Government of Vietnam ($462,800)
  To help contain the spread of dioxin around Danang airport and to assess how to protect the health of people living in the surrounding communities

• Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation ($450,000)
  To conduct a survey of health needs of people living with disabilities in eleven provinces and design medical interventions to meet these needs

Foundation officials also hope that the grants can help spur new collaboration and partnerships with a broader array of international funders and organizations.

The Ford Foundation began making grants in Vietnam in the early 1990s, and opened an office in Hanoi in 1996. It currently makes about $9 million in grants per year in Vietnam to help reduce poverty, strengthen education, promote arts and culture, improve sexual and reproductive health and rights and advance regional and international cooperation.

The foundation supports Vietnamese community leaders and policy makers who are tackling local development challenges, and helps make sure they are connected to the latest thinking and best training from around the world.

First Round of Grants
Vietnam Public Health Association	$175,000
National Steering Committee 33, Vietnamese Government (2 grants)	$462,800
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation	$450,000
East Meets West Foundation	$25,000
Institute for Social Development Studies	$170,600
Support to send Vietnamese scientists to international science symposiums on the environment	$34,000

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The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has worked with courageous people on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.