Today, our scheduled switched up and we started with a site visit to Vina Capital Foundation, a nonprofit with the mission to empower young women and improve children’s lives in Vietnam. Founder Rad Kivette gave us a presentation on Vina Capital’s impact over the years and the issues in Vietnam that they’ve addressed. Some critical issues Vina Capital has addressed that particularly stood out to me were healthcare access to children with congenital heart disease, access to clean water, and women’s empowerment.
Addressing congenital heart disease in young children was especially impressive to me, and I was even more surprised after the presentation. Vina Capital has dealt not only with the recent cases of heart disease in children, but also the backlog that has been developing for years. I think it’s incredible how they’ve been able to develop their program and brought some of the best surgeons to help these kids.
It’s interesting to consider how Vina Capital is different from groups in the US. Vina Capital seems to work very closely with the government to help support their goals of benefitting individuals. This appears to lead to a much more significant impact from their actions and expands upon their capabilities. In the US, nonprofits are less involved with government officials but may still even support different political initiatives.
Moving forward, one of their biggest goals is women’s empowerment in rural Vietnam. Many women are underprivileged as a part of the culture in Vietnam which leads to tension between respecting tradition while promoting a culture more equitable to women. While their plan is to continue to educate girls on their rights and what they can do, the pushback they face from those communities is certainly a significant obstacle in the years to come.
P.S. we went on a water bus tour and saw the city’s beautiful lights!