The Influence of International Organisations on Child Protection Policy in Vietnam

This thesis investigates the role and influence of child-focused international organisations (IOs) on child protection policy in Vietnam in the years between 1990, when Vietnam ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and passage of the national Law on Children in 2016. The investigation encompasses the ways in which international and domestic actors have interacted in child protection policy-making, the strategies used by IOs, the global child protection norms promoted by IOs, processes of norm diffusion and the extent to which global norms have been accepted, rejected or modified in Vietnam’s child protection system. The thesis draws on literature about the development of Vietnam’s child protection system, international organisations, norm diffusion and child protection policy, and applies a qualitative research methodology involving an organisational document review and 27 interviews with senior representatives from Vietnamese government departments, international organisations and local civil society organisations. The findings are that child-focused IOs, notably UNICEF and the large international non-governmental organisations, were highly influential in the development of Vietnam’s child protection policy and service system between 1990 and 2016. During this time, phases of legislative reform, policy development and service planning were undertaken to develop the first nationwide, state-administered child protection system. A conducive political environment fostered cooperation between IOs and the government of Vietnam, and receptivity to foreign ideas, that contributed strongly to child protection system development. IOs used their authoritative position as norm creators and technical experts to introduce global norms, standards and model programs. IOs used a range of strategies to advance their ideas including agenda setting, policy transfer and insider advocacy. Government officials maintained firm control over policy decisions and regulated the activities of IOs while being largely receptive to IOs’ ideas. Local, independent civil society actors were excluded from policy-making processes. The thesis also finds that IOs contributed to, and perpetuated, a dominant globalised ideal childhood that has been highly influential in policy-making for children. Many global norms regarding children’s rights and child protection have been uncritically adopted in Vietnam while others have been mediated and localised by local beliefs and structures. Indigenisation of global norms is found to have been inhibited by a failure to involve local civil society and limitations on public discourse