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Our Man In Hanoi, Our Man In Vietnam, Hanoi Our Man, Vietnam Our Man In Hanoi, OurManInHanoi.com

In 2004, after a dozen years working in journalism, PR and assorted office-based off shoots, I decided it was time for a change and signed up to VSO. As ever, I got lucky, firstly when I was sent to the greatest city in the world, Hanoi, and also when I was asked to take up a post as fundraiser for the wonderful street kid organisation, KOTO. My job was to find the cash needed for them to move to a new restaurant after the lease was up on the old one.  Such is the nature of life in Vietnam, what we had hoped to do in a matter of months took over two years, before this wondrous day.

Story so Far

In 2004, after a dozen years working in journalism, PR and assorted office-based off shoots, I decided it was time for a change and signed up to VSO.

As ever, I got lucky, firstly when I was sent to the greatest city in the world, Hanoi, and also when I was asked to take up a post as fundraiser for the wonderful street kid organisation, KOTO.

My job was to find the cash needed for them to move to a new restaurant after the lease was up on the old one.  Such is the nature of life in Vietnam, what we had hoped to do in a matter of months took over two years, before this wondrous day.

Job done it was tempting to stay forever in Vietnam but I decided to keep on moving so, after I said goodbye to KOTO, I did stints in Nicaragua, back home in Newcastle and later in Cameroon.

The, not always happy, Cameroon spell was again with VSO and was enough to make me realise that I had done enough moving around and it was time to put down roots.

So, I made the decision to move back to Hanoi.  KOTO trainees I had worked with before had become used to foreigners coming and going and would repeatedly ask me “How long you come back for?”

I’d tell them: “Forever”.  And I meant it.

However, not part of the plan was for me to meet someone wonderful and get engaged.  The wedding is set for October 2010.

So life is good.  Best yet.

Hanoi continues to change and while there are days when it irritates me beyond belief – there are also days when, driving around on my bike, it moves me to tears.  I love this place.

Just a couple of other things to bring you absolutely up to date:  I originally returned to a job editing a local online newspaper.  When they lied about assistance with work permits and later about the hours they would guarantee, I quit.

Once again I was extremely lucky and I was offered a job by the very good people of Mandarin Media.

I’ll try to update this page as life continues to change.


Social Media

Working with tiny NGOs without communications budgets can really focus the mind.

However, it’s arguably the best way to learn about social media.  Largely free and with a world-wide reach it has since become essential to all NGOs.

For the grass-roots NGO it is a life saver.  Online activity can build relationships and develop a narrative that can be followed from across the world.

More importantly through words, pictures and movies you can demonstrate you are what you say you are – you can be transparent, accountable and interactive.

Social media gives your supporters a stake in what you do.

If used skilfully, responsibly and with the needs of your stakeholders in mind, tools like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube can ensure supporters have a larger emotional investment in your NGO than ever before.

We’ve always requested support – now we are in a better position to attract it and give more in return.


Work

In an 18-year career, I started in local papers before moving onto a public relations consultancy.

The position was followed by posts as a communications manager in the public sector and as a public relations account manager in a branding consultancy.

My original two and a half years in Vietnam was spent with street kid NGO, KOTO.

Since then I have worked out of the press office at Newcastle City Council where I was public affairs officer.  Then in 2008 I accepted a posting in Cameroon to work again as a fundraiser – this with an HIV/AIDS NGO.

Increasingly my expertise has been in social media.  Particularly demonstrating how charities can use various tools to build relationships with donors and partners while increasing transparency.  More information here.

On my return to Vietnam I worked as an editor for an online newspaper before accepting an account manager post at Mandarin Media.

Souce: ourmaninhanoi.com

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