An internal evaluation of SLU’s research and capacity development collaborations in Vietnam is taking place from October 2019 until the end of February 2020. The purpose of the evaluation is to learn from these past collaborations, and to identify and document results generated through them. The evaluation will be conducted by a consultant, who is for the moment making a site visit to Vietnam.
Evaluator Solveig Freudenthal, with expertise from Swedish development cooperation, is now on her way to Vietnam to meet with participants in past and present SLU-Vietnam collaborations, within the sectors relevant to agriculture, rural development, and forestry. She will start her visit in Hanoi on 19 November, and then continue to Hue, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho. (Time plan)
The evaluator has since October been tracing collaborations and key persons. A somewhat challenging task, since SLU has been engaged in a diversity of collaborations with Vietnamese actors over the years, starting already at the end of the 1970’s. Collaborations are ranging from long-term engagements within the frames of larger Sida/SAREC supported collaborations, to smaller research projects undertaken by individual researchers in Sweden in collaboration with individual researchers in Vietnam.
So far, Solveig has identified some 70 Vietnamese MSc and PhD graduates, and several other key persons in Vietnam and Sweden. A web-based survey targeted to the Vietnamese graduates has now been sent out, and Solveig will also soon meet with many in this group.
- We are looking forward to the survey responses which will be very valuable to make the evaluation as relevant as possible, Solveig says.
- I welcome those in Vietnam who have collaborated with SLU, or vice versa, to get in touch, she continues.
Ewa Wredle (left) being interviewed by Solveig Freudenthal about the long-term collaborations MEKARN (Mekong Basin Animal Research Network) I and II. Photo: Ulrika Huss Melin
Interviews has been ongoing since October with key persons in Sweden. One such person is Ewa Wredle (Senior Lecturer at the Department of Animal Nutrition and Management at SLU) who informed about the MEKARN (Mekong Basin Animal Research Network) I and II programmes (2001-2018). MEKARN I focused on sustainable use of natural resources in integrated, small-scale livestock-based systems. MEKARN II aimed to improve livelihoods and food security in the lower Mekong Delta – Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. From 19 November it’s SLU collaborators in Vietnam’s turn to be interviewed.
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