Today’s site visit was a little different than the others thus far. We visited the VinaCapital Foundation, an NGO operating in Vietnam. This was less of a visit and more of an open conversation with Mr. Rad Kivette, CEO. Rad was born and raised in North Carolina and has been in Vietnam for the past 25 years. He offered us many interesting and insightful points of view about the foundation and Vietnam itself when comparing it to other nations. His passion and care was very clear for both the country and the people for which they help. The foundation itself has many programs/initiatives operating all throughout Vietnam. They focus on helping underprivileged women and their children and attempt to help them in many different ways. One of these is Heartbeat Vietnam, a program that helps provide heart surgery’s for Vietnamese. Mr. Kivette provided a fascinating stat that they can preform one of these surgery’s for $4,500 USD in Vietnam. In the US, a similar procedure would cost in excess of $100,000 USD. Not only that but they are done to the same success rate as ones in the US. He told us that doctors they bring in to train are fascinated how they are able to do this so efficiently. Not only that but they then train these doctors so that this can be replicated.
However, what I found the most interesting part of today was they way in which they measure the success of their programs. Mr. Kivette told us that each women, child, or family that part takes in a program is followed up with 5 years later. This check-in looks at their economic position. The message we repeatedly heard was healthy children, healthy mothers, healthy Vietnam. With healthy children come healthy mothers, with healthy mothers come more healthy children, this then creates a healthier Vietnam. Bringing this back to the check-in, it helps see the effect they are having and how they are effecting Vietnam. My favorite stat from the day came from this portion. Mr. Kivette shared that 68% of the families they help move above the poverty line and into the middle class within those 5 years. This blew my mind and helped make this message very clear. By helping at these levels they are helping set Vietnam up for a much brighter future.
The effect the VinaCapital Foundation is having on Vietnam is great. Their approach is helping set up Vietnam for a brighter future. It’s very inspiring to see an organization in a developing nation like Vietnam, doing the work they are doing. It make you hope that others can follow their model and help other nations the way they are, setting them up for a brighter future.
