In response to the request from the Central Committee of Organization and Personnel of the Vietnam Communist Party, GRIPS had a special three-month training and research program for senior officials of the Vietnamese government from April 3rd to June 29th, 2017. Five selected senior officials of the Ministry of Justice, Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Can Tho Branch, The Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, Vietnam News Agency and Central Vietnam Women’s Union participated in the program.

This training program aims to deepen the understanding of leadership and policy making through lectures, site visits and research activities. In the program, participants attended some of the regular courses of GRIPS and visited several agencies, local government and private companies.

For the research activities, each participant wrote a policy paper on specific subject such as “Supporting SMEs in Mekong Delta Region in the Context of Globalization”, “Assistance of International Non-Governmental Organizations in Vietnam”, “State Management of Public Administrative Service Agencies”, “Improving the Implementation of Environmental Policies in Vietnam” and “Effectiveness of work-life balance policies on Japanese Women’s participation in labour force”.

Along with their research topics, participants conducted interviews with experts and practitioners of the field to study Japanese experiences and challenges. Their research activities were supported by the program director, Prof. Masahiro Horie (Senior Professor and Director of the Executive Development Center for Global Leadership), Vice-President Prof. Kiyotaka Yokomichi, Prof.Emeritus Prof. Hisayoshi Hashimoto, Associate Prof. Yasuyuki Watanabe of GRIPS, as well as Prof. Hikaru Kobayashi of Keio University and Prof.Yuko Tsukasaki of Taisho University.

Participants also attended the training program for Vice-Ministerial level officials of Vietnamese government, which was provided at GRIPS in April 2017. During this program, they visited Ehime Prefecture and had a chance to visit Japanese companies and local government. At the end of the three-month training program, one-day trip to Kamakura city was organized to explore Japanese historical and natural beauty.

On the last day of the program, participants presented the final paper of their research works and completed the three-month training program after receiving feedback and advice from their advisers.