For a number of years the Ford Foundation carried out grant making in Vietnam from its offices in Bangkok. It was granted a license to establish a representative office in Việt Nam on 8 October 1996. Two years later the Foundation’s offices in Bangkok were closed and all Foundation programming in both Việt Nam and Thailand is now conducted from the Hà Nội office. During the first five years of the representative office, 1997-2001, the Foundation approved 227 grants totalling US$31.4 million to Việt Nam programs that include both grants to Vietnamese institutions and foreign institutions working for the benefit of Việt Nam. Grant making continues at a level of US$7 million a year. The Foundation’s efforts in Việt Nam are currently focused within five fields: International Co-operation; Poverty Alleviation in the Uplands; Sexuality and Reproductive Health; Social Sciences; and Arts and Culture. The Foundation seeks to respond to the development needs of Việt Nam in these areas by contributing to the enhancement of skills and problem-solving ability of Vietnamese researchers, policy makers, and practitioners working in critical social areas. The solutions that Việt Nam devises for addressing its development challenges must be uniquely Vietnamese, but Foundation grantmaking seeks to create access to the best thinking and training worldwide and to support innovative development experiments in the country. While emphasising quality, the Foundation also wishes to encourage greater equality of opportunity. Thus the Foundation works with grantees to ensure participation by men and women from diverse communities and at all levels of society. In 2001 the Foundation launched the International Fellowship Program (IFP) in Việt Nam. These Fellowships support post-baccalaureate degree study for up to three years anywhere in the world in any one of 11 fields. The IFP gives priority to people from groups historically underrepresented in higher education. Further information about the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program can be obtained from the Center for Educational Exchange with Việt Nam in Hà Nội, which manages IFP on behalf of the Foundation. In the field of Arts and Culture the Cultural Identity and Arts Management Initiative has been active in supporting artistic and cultural vitality in Việt Nam. Foundation support has encouraged artists and writers to become more effective in establishing a meaningful relationship with the public by combining a focus on issues of cultural identity in the context of social change with sound market-based management and outreach programs. As an example, the Performing Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has successfully used a grant to bring rural high school students in direct contact with tuồng and chèo artists and their performance traditions. In 2000 the Foundation made six grants totalling US $1 million to the then Ministry of Culture and Information and four affiliated research and training institutions for building an effective curriculum in arts administration within a market economy; Visiting Arts has been assisting the Ministry in the management of the international components of this important project. Foundation grant-making is currently being used to assist the revitalisation of the Vietnamese film sector, principally through training, in order to support the emergence of an independent film industry. The Ford Foundation's Hà Nội office houses a useful library of works on Việt Nam and South East Asia: