grantees » Anh Pham Ti Lan

As a coordinator at the Vietnam Rivers Network (VRN), Anh is a dedicated, inspirational, and adroit team player and leader, with an entrepreneurial streak. At the VRN they depend totally on donor funding, and Anh assists with drafting the proposals. As an organisation reliant on only donor funds the risk is extremely high, and longevity unpredictable. Anh, seeing the single revenue stream as a problem drafted a “social enterprise” concept framework which in theory would allow the organisation to be self-funding. To develop her idea further and improve her report writing skills, Anh through the VRN, and along with Centre for Water Resources Conservation and Development, Vietnam (WARECOD) approached the JWH Initiative for support.

Her application was successful and Anh began her training immediately with an IELTS English training course at British Council in Hanoi. Once she had the necessary language skills, she was then able to attend workshops in the US and UK. The first being a workshop hosted by Pacific Institute in San Francisco, titled – Multiple Use Water Services: a Potential Framework for Water Sector Interventions. She followed this with a short course at the world renowned Schumacher College, where she completed a course in “Ecology, Scarcity and the Gift Economy. After the course, she said “I gained a more completed overview of the links between ecology and the economy…this was the first time I learned that todays economy is very dependent on our ecology…and I was so inspired to meet Satish Kumar.” 

With the support of the JWH Initiative, Anh was able to gain the international exposure that built her confidence and consequently benefited the organisation as she is now able to represent them at regional and international events and workshops. Her improved language skills have strengthened her grant writing ability and she is now working towards realising her “social enterprise” concept and says “all the skills and knowledge I have acquired, play a huge part in my professional development.”