Vietnam shares its local governance experience

The “Partnership for Democratic Local Governance in Southeast Asia” (DELGOSEA) conference arises from the ASEAN Charter’s stipulations on promoting citizen rights through law-governed states. It also works towards the ASEAN Community’s foundation in 2015.

The cooperative DELGOSEA network aims to strengthen local governance in Southeast Asia and incorporates representatives from local governments, associations, experts, and civil leaders.

DELGOSEA has coordinated with ASEAN member nations since 2010 to carry out a project with the participation of 10 associations for public administration from Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

This year the project welcomes Laos, Brunei, and Singapore as new participants.

ACVN has proactively sought to become one of the project’s main partners. Vietnam can cite a range of successes, such as citizen involvement in Vinh City planning and decision-making and institutional management in Lang Son City.

Pilot projects, such as Tay Ninh’s administrative government models promoting small and medium-sized enterprises, or Thai Nguyen’s tourism-driven economic development, have also seen significant results.

Vinh described ACVN’s contributions to the DELGOSEA network, sharing its urban governance experiences and fine-tuning the Bangkok Declaration on local governance in ASEAN countries.

This year’s conference attracted 30 DELGOSEA members representing 10 ASEAN countries, 20 government officials, 10 communication agency representatives, and 10 ASEAN tertiary education institution representatives.