USAID Strengthening Provincial Capacity is a five-year, $12.5 million project that will strengthen the capacity and build the sustainability of institutions providing leadership and capacity building training to provincial level leaders. On February 27-28, the USAID Strengthening Provincial Capacity project organized CLA Pause and Reflect sessions in Ho Chi Minh City with the School of Government/University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (SOG/UEH) and Startup Vietnam Foundation (SVF). With USAID assistance, these organizations provide quality economic governance training to provincial government officials on leadership, management, and economic concepts. The Pause and Reflect sessions provided an opportunity to analyze the progress of SOG/UEH and SVF’s capacity improvement activities; address challenges to strengthen the outcomes; and identify lessons learned from implementation.

So What? USAID will use these Pause and Reflect sessions to inform future project programming and respond better to the needs of the local institutions. By training provincial government officials in Vietnam, USAID will help bolster the country’s Journey to Self Reliance.