Vietnam strengthening provincial capacity

As part of a consortium with Chemonics and Portland State University, J.E. Austin Associates (JAA), since 2025 part of Civitta, implemented the USAID-funded Vietnam Strengthening Provincial Capacity (SPC) activity. Our team worked with two Vietnamese institutions, the School of Government at the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (SOG/UEH) and the Startup Vietnam Foundation (SVF), to improve the responsiveness, quality, and sustainability of economic governance capacity improvement offerings available to provincial officials across Vietnam.

Provincial officials across Vietnam needed higher-quality, more responsive economic governance support, but the institutions providing it faced their own sustainability and capability gaps:

• SOG/UEH and SVF had limited market orientation, making it difficult to identify and respond to what provincial officials actually needed
• Both institutions relied on business models that constrained their ability to scale and sustain quality service delivery
• Provincial officials were tasked with implementing an ambitious national development agenda, but had limited direction on how adapt it to their regions
• Vietnam’s national IR 4.0 strategy created urgent demand for provincial capacity on innovation and digital transformation: a gap no existing offering adequately addressed
• Long-term sustainability of both institutions was at risk without structural change to how they operated and generated revenue

Our team applied a demand-driven, institutional coaching model across three project phases, working in parallel with both SOG/UEH and SVF:

• Phase I: Business model review (2019)

We worked closely with SOG/UEH and SVF to review and enhance their business models to support sustainability. This included helping these institutions identify market needs, develop appropriate products and services, and implement operational improvements. Institutional business models and capacity strengthening plans were accepted by each organization in December 2019.

• Phase II: Business model update and organisational development (2020-2022)

Our experts worked with both institutions to continuously update their business models and implement activities and organizational reforms in accordance with the models.

For SOG/UEH there was a particular focus on supporting plans to become an autonomous school within UEH. This entailed developing new systems and operational processes, establishing ‘agile teams’ within SOG/UEH to handle continuous adaptation, and improving processes and dividing responsibilities for business model implementation across staff.

We supported SVF to adapt to market changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This included pivoting to new products and service delivery models tailored to the needs and priorities of new clients and funding sources including provincial government agencies and international donor organizations while maintaining a commitment to SVF’s core organizational mission of supporting local entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Our team worked with SVF and SOG/UEH jointly to engage provincial government officials in identifying demand for services as part of a market needs assessment. Through workshops, coaching, and pilot field exercises, we helped local partners identify pain points for provincial officials and develop solutions – either through existing offerings or new product development.

• Phase III: Innovation and Digital Transformation course (2021) 

In the third and final year, we partnered with Portland State University to develop a four-day course on Innovation and Digital Transformation (I&DT) for policymakers. Our team led development of an introductory module providing course participants an overview of I&DT principles, trends, and context.

Throughout the project, our team provided institutional coaching across a wide range of areas: market needs assessment, marketing and outreach, leadership during institutional change, and public-private dialogue. Coaching activities were supplemented by structured training, practical application, and partner support.

• Operationally and financially sustainable business models developed for and implemented by SOG/UEH and SVF on the basis of support provided over the course of three years
• SOG/UEH and SVF both achieved operational and financial sustainability following our assistance
• SOG/UEH positioned on a path toward autonomous school status within UEH, with new agile team structures and operational processes in place
• Provincial officials engaged in market needs assessments, generating actionable insights for service development
• Four-day I&DT course developed and delivered for provincial policymakers in partnership with Portland State University
• Both institutions strengthened in their ability to deliver high-quality, market-responsive services to provincial officials independently

1. Institutional sustainability requires an effective business model, not just capacity building: Training alone doesn’t make institutions sustainable. Our approach focused on the underlying business model – how SOG/UEH and SVF identify demand, develop products, and generate revenue – which is what enables lasting impact after project closure.

2 Business models need to be adaptive to be effective: The COVID-19 pandemic created disruptions to service delivery and operations as well as to the markets being served by SOG/UEH and SVF. Our team assisted both organizations to update their business models to new realities, ensuring that they were responsive to a changing external market and new internal conditions.

3. Demand-driven means starting with the client, not the curriculum: Market needs assessments with provincial officials grounded all service development in real demand,ensuring that what was built actually matched what provinces needed, rather than what was easiest to deliver.