Climate Action Vietnam Project #28921

Narrow The Gap - Crossed paths for social impacts

by LIN Center for Community Development

Project Report | Mar 12, 2020
Stories of your impact & introduction of Narrow The Gap 2020 - Planet for the next Generation

By Kelly Vo | Head of Corporate Partnerships & Fundraising

Community Philanthropy workshop

Dear our invaluable supporters,

It is that time of year when we have the pleasure of letting you know what the impact of your crucial support has been for the nonprofits through Narrow the Gap Community Program! The unfortunate circumstances surrounding COVID-19 have temporarily impacted many of our planned activities, however we nonetheless wanted to highlight some of the extensive impact which your support has made possible in the past year.

We are particularly proud of the capacity building workshops we held in the summer which were attended by more than 30 participant nonprofits, who were trained in writing project proposals, working effectively with the community and donors, and building and managing budgets for community development projects. These skills are crucial in ensuring that nonprofits can have a long term impact and not fall victim to so many of the difficulties faced by grassroots nonprofits that lack capacity.

Ms Thao, representing Teach for Vietnam, attended our event focusing on Community Philanthropy. She told us that her fundamental take away from the session was the realization that nonprofits have to “put community in the center and change from [viewing themselves] as beneficiaries [to viewing themselves] as partners and leader”. Ms Thu, who works for Knowhere Makerspace Educational nonprofit, attended a sharing day on proposal writing told us that she discovered a new approach during the day as “the guest speaker emphasized that to get the grant, [it was not about persuading LIN], but about persuading the community”.

Much of what the Narrow the Gap program aims to do is create networks and community buy in for the work being done by nonprofits and therefore it is also important to highlight the experiences of the people who volunteered for Narrow the Gap in the past year. Ms Huong who is a member of Grant Allocation Committee highlighted this in her testimonial, saying “It’s so lucky for me to have a chance to read a lot of projects from small, medium, and big organizations in varied areas in the whole country”. Khanh, who has volunteer with Narrow the Gap since March 2019, summarized exactly what LIN’s purpose is: “working with LIN’s staff in many activities made me realize that the best thing I can do for communities is not money [or] material things, it is knowledge, capacity, network, and what [is] most important is belief”.

That is all for now. Moving forward, we are also excited to kick off this year campaign titled "NARROW THE GAP 2020 - PLANET FOR THE NEXT GENERATION” working towards the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nation.

Narrow The Gap Community Program 2020 drives towards THE PLANET SET OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs), including:

GOAL 6: CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION

GOAL 12: RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION

GOAL 13: CLIMATE ACTION

GOAL 14: LIFE BELOW WATER

GOAL 15: LIFE ON LAND

In 2020, Narrow the Gap aims to provide 9 grants with a total value of more than $35,000 (~900 millions VND) to local nonprofit organizations which are addressing issues in Vietnam.

We believe in people effecting change for themselves. By providing financial, capacity building, networking support to local nonprofits who are addressing these environmental issues through Narrow The Gap, we aim to support the community leaders to test and improve the needed solutions for their own communities.

We hope you will continue to support Narrow The Gap in 2020. Grassroots movements such as these depend on grassroots support, and that's why we really need your help!

There are many ways for you to get involved either donating directly to Narrow The Gap on GlobalGiving or even create your own fundraiser to support Narrow The Gap by clicking here (it is a very simple step by step process)

If you have any questions about Narrow the Gap, please do not hesitate to contact me directly at kelly.vo@linvn.org.

Vo Ngoc Tuyen (Kelly)

Head of Corporate Partnerships & Fundraising

Links:

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Dec 10, 2019
You have made this possible in 2019!

By Vo Ngoc Tuyen - Kelly | Head of Corporate Partnerships & Fundraising

Rise of the Floor, one of three selected projects

Dear valued supporters,

On 26th October, Narrow The Gap Community Day was successfully organized to select 3 outstanding projects which were awarded with a grant of up to 150,000,000 VND per project, for Round 2, 2019. Click here to read more about three projects.

After almost 1 month of open online voting from the public and community there had been a total of 9,358 votes received. This Round of Narrow the Gap had 6 finalist community development projects that are solving diverse issues relating to education, gender, green energy and people living with a disability. At the event, representatives of 6 organizations had the opportunity to pitch their projects and discuss details directly with attendees and the Grant Allocation Committee. Many realistic questions related to the project were raised enthusiastically by the audience.

We sat down with two selected projects to learn about their journey with Narrow The Gap, and what impacts the program has on their projects & community.

Sy, CEO of Frogleap, one of three projects which received grants this Round, shared with us:

"In 2016, a member of Frogsleap introduced us to the LIN Center (LIN) where she was working. The first support we had from LIN was a warehouse to store our program materials, and Frogsleap gradually became more and more connected with LIN's activities;, taking part in Narrow The Gap program 3 times, joining annual networking events or trainings for nonprofits from 2016-2019. We came to significantly appreciate the term "local people addresses local's needs" from all the trainings & connections with other nonprofit organizations and businesses organized by LIN. This message was then often mentioned in our team discussions about how to choose the right way for running our organization or volunteering, so far increasing the belief and motivation of team members in volunteering until now. This is the reason for Frogsleap to keep trying in our ways to voluntarily support the community until now."

Ms Mong from PFLAG, another project selected to receive the grant this Round told us:

"In 2017, I started to engage with LIN's Narrow The Gap program, hoping to find more funding for our activities. This is the first social project that my organization ever wrote a proposal for. I learned a lot from the program's training sessions about writing proposals. It made me realized that I was not so good at writing projects and social programs, thanks to trainings provided by Narrow The Gap, I have improved a lot. It helps me become more confident in thinking, testing my abilities and the most great encouragement is enabling my positive thinking "Never give up, there will be better luck next time."

In 2019, at the beginning, I still wasn't decided whether to participate or not because I felt that I was not good enough and that my internal organization was still not ready. But after I've joined LIN's Impact Accelerator program, I learned and gained the energy, I decided to write a project to find more funding for the organization.

When the project got selected, everyone in our community is very happy, with all the support & encouragement. The thinking of every individual in the group has changed to be more positive, more diligent, more active and more united. My organization puts away all the individual interests to unite & focus on the project. My team received a lot of support and connection from Narrow The Gap. We were able to organize more activities for the community thanks to the connections with other organizations."

We also asked one of Grant Allocation Commitee members for Narrow The Gap, Round 2, Mr Son from KPMG Vietnam (one of our key partners & sponsors for Narrow The Gap), what he thinks about the program, he said:

"The Community Event is very useful for the community to better understand what social projects are dealing with, and have a more comprehensive view of funding coming from the community, from donors. How to help specific projects. Also, it is an opportunity for sponsors and businesses to identify the aspects that they are capable of supporting such as professional knowledge, finance, and in kind support; creating conditions for them to have the opportunity to interact and connect with social organizations. 6 projects have their strengths and challenges. For this year, the ability to write project proposals and presentations of organizations is quite equal, the access issues are also very diverse.”

This is our last report of 2019, one year has been gone with many different emotions, everyday we are happy, touched, inspired and encouraged by many amazing people in the community such as yourself. We definitely could not have come this far without your donation support. Thanks to you, we were able to provide a total of 9 grants to local nonprofits who working restlessly to address local issues in Vietnam and improve the lives of many underprivileaged communities in 2019.

Please stay tuned for more exciting updates about our upcoming plans and activities of Narrow The Gap 2020 with the theme "Planet" following the aspiration of 17 Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. We hope you continue to accompany us on this journey!

For more information and real time updates from Narrow The Gap, please follow our page at https://www.facebook.com/NarrowTheGapProgram/

If you have any questions about Narrow the Gap, please feel free to contact me at kelly.vo@linvn.org.

In the meantime, we wish you a meaningful & joyful holiday season with your loved ones!

Sincerely,

Vo Ngoc Tuyen (Kelly)

Head of Corporate Partnerships & Fundraising

Links:

About Narrow The Gap 2020

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Sep 12, 2019
When local people addresses local needs!

By Vu Ngan Giang Tran | Head of Corporate Partnerships & Fundraising

One of the installed solar power systems

Dear GlobalGivers,

Hello again! It has been three months since we updated you about the winners of Round 1, Narrow The Gap 2019. In last August and September, we visited two of the winning projects to listen to people on the ground who are working restlessly to serve their communities and those directly benefited from these projects.

Round 1 Narrow the Gap 2019

Mr Hoai - Chairman of the Disabled People Club in Soc Trang Province, project manager of ‘Supporting small-capacity solar power systems for poor households in Chau Thanh District, Soc Trang Province’ shared:

"Because I used to live in a house without electricity, when I volunteered in the remote areas of Chau Thanh district, Soc Trang province, I found many poor households who also did not have electricity like I used to. So I wanted to develop a project to provide solar power to support these households. [I] was introduced to Narrow The Gap Program by Vice Chairman of the Disabled People's Association of Can Tho City, I decided to write the project proposal and was lucky to eventually win the fund. I had to figure out how the project would last as long as it could.

After the solar power systems were installed, all the households are very excited. Electrical systems have helped change their lives. They have switched from using only kerosene lamps to electric lights from the solar power for night-time activities. Seeing this happening, our project team feels very happy. Talking about difficulties, the most difficult time when creating project is to survey the households in needed. Because with one leg of disability, it is difficult for me to access households in remote areas as the road is not convenient for people with disabilities, and checking the information provided by households always needs support from the local authorities.

From working on this project, I personally gained more experience in buying and using batteries that [are] durable and economical, working with local authorities and improving training for local technical support people."

Ms Lai, in Chau Thanh, Soc Trang Province, from one of 10 households which received the solar power system under the project shared: “I'm 87 years old this year. There are four people in my family, I'm the main worker in my home. My husband is sick and can't go to work. We have two children, one of whom is living with disabilities, the other works for other people. I used only oil lamps before, but now I can use the solar lights thanks to the project. I feel very happy. Our family is poor. I have only been able to buy one lamp. If I have money, I will buy more lights."

Narrow the Gap team also met the leaders of ‘Project Incubator for Young Social Entrepreneurs - PISE - Project’ in Can Tho province - the project aims to support equal opportunities for students in the countryside.

The first summer camp of PISE was the summer camp at Nguyen Quang Dieu gifted school. The event provided 15 mentees who are students in Dong Thap and some students in other areas. PISE has also launched 5 sub-projects. The initial success of PISE does not only support 15 mentees to build 5 sub-projects, but also the individual mentees who are inspired to study and do useful activities for the community, and who have improved knowledge and skills through the training and mentoring programs of PISE.

Round 2 Narrow the Gap 2019

As for Round 2, we will have the results of the 6 finalists on September 20, 2019 from the help of our skilled volunteers in Grant Allocation Committee. The informed finalists will present their projects on Community Day, 26 October 2019 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Please stay tuned for more updates from our final 6 projects as well as Community Day event where you will learn about the full result and this round's winners in our next report!

Your important support and donation allow this program to continue. Thanks to you, we can ensure local nonprofit organizations in Vietnam will continue to receive the necessary support and funding opportunity from Narrow The Gap!

For more information and real time updates from Narrow The Gap, please follow our page at https://www.facebook.com/NarrowTheGapProgram/

If you have any questions about Narrow the Gap, please feel free to contact me at kelly.vo@linvn.org.

Sincerely,

Vo Ngoc Tuyen (Kelly)

Head of Corporate Partnerships & Fundraising

Links:

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