Established in 2008 in Vietnam, MSD focuses on creating an enabling environment for CSOs, and for children, youth and people with disabilities through capacity building, advocacy and services. It has 10 full-time staff and a network of volunteers throughout Vietnam. Before 2015, MSD relied on foreign funding and international aid for 90% of its income. In 2015, with the release of the SDGs, MSD entered a new partnership for global development effectiveness, deciding on a new five year strategy (2015-20) to diversify its funding sources with a target of reducing reliance on international funding from 90% to 70% of its budget.    

Theory of Change

Civil society groups can progress the realization of  Sustainable Development Goals by partnering with businesses, even in environments that are hostile to domestic resource mobilization for social causes.

Activities

MSD has embarked on capacity building programs for CSOs to engage in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and advocacy for an enabling environment for CSOs. It has also promoted CSO partnerships with businesses on CSR, SDGs and child-friendly development, as well as a series of education programs and promotional campaigns on the rights of children and youth, women and people with disabilities. As part of its fundraising drive, MSD organized outreach to the business community in 2016, approaching companies, business associations and chambers of commerce to raise their awareness of CSOs and how CSOs could work with the business community to develop CSR and CSV (corporate shared value) strategies, and create programs and products focused on children, youth, education, health and the environment.

Results

Faced with a challenging Vietnamese environment where businesses know little about CSOs and carrying out effective CSR, MSD has helped businesses with their CSR and shared value strategies by educating them about CSOs and how to forge partnerships on CSR and CSV strategies. MSD also helped design programs focused on children and youth that would lead to long-term partnerships with the business community. Currently, MSD has exceeded its fundraising target substantially, reducing its reliance on international aid to about 50%. The other 50% comes mostly from contracts with businesses, with a small amount from crowdfunding and service provision consultancies. Regarding crowdfunding, MSD used the Global Giving platform to pilot a crowdfunding campaign focused on supporting street children in Vietnam and was able to raise the minimum amount of USD 5,000 required by Global Giving.