ABSTRACT
This chapter explores everyday conflict and cooperation in international aid projects in Vietnam. In times of war it is recognized that humanitarian assistance can either support peace or exacerbate conflict (Anderson 1999), but in times of peace the contentious nature of aid projects is seldom acknowledged or taken into account in project design and management, or in recruiting, training, managing and supporting project staff. Handling conflict is part of the everyday work of development projects, but everyday conflict has not attracted much attention in development theory and there has been little investigation of conflict encountered within, or caused by, international projects (Barbarini 2006). Most of the large body of research on the impact and effectiveness of
international projects is undertaken from the point of view of outsiders, such as international donor organizations, rather than project owners or beneficiaries (Crooke 2003: 132). One of the identified weaknesses in development research is ‘the silence of the partner organizations within the recipient countries’ (Chapman and Kelly 2007: 4). I agree with Michelle LeBaron that ‘a central precept of conflict for those who work across cultures, is to explore how local people think about conflict, and what their “common sense” of conflict tells them to do about it’ (2006: 13). I have worked in the design, management and monitoring of many inter-
national projects in Vietnam over a period of more than twenty years. Some projects have been in health services, some in policy development and some in community development. Some have been located in Central Ministries and some in remote rural locations. I am fortunate to have had long-term opportunities to work with and learn from individual Vietnamese colleagues over a number of years and to develop close working relationships with them. Vietnamese project managers are well placed to understand the everyday realities of conflict and cooperation in their own organizations and country. Their views are of interest and relevance to their Vietnamese and international colleagues and their approach to consultation and negotiation draws on a long tradition of Vietnamese mediation.
