The Consultative Institute for Socio-Economic Development of Rural and Mountainous Areas (CISDOMA) is a Non – Governmental Organization (NGO), established under Decision No 25/QD-TW issued on 22/5/2000 by the President of the Southeast Asian Research Association of Vietnam (SEARAV). Through consultancy and co-operation in implementing sustainable development projects, CISDOMA’s activities are aiming at:

  • Enhancing capacity, increasing income, and improving life quality of the disadvantaged groups, especially ethnic minority people, women and girls, poor farmers and other vulnerable groups;
  • Strengthening capacity of local organizations in planning and implementation of programs on poverty reduction, especially in rural and mountainous areas of Vietnam; and
  • Providing inputs and feedbacks on strategy and policy development processes for sustainable socio-economic development of rural and mountainous areas.

Since its establishment, CISDOMA has carried out various intervention projects at grassroots level, and researches and surveys on the topics relating to sustainable agriculture, climate change adaptive livelihoods, value chain and capacity building for ethnic minority communities. CISDOMA is founder of the Civil Society for Food Security and Poverty Elimination Network (CIFPEN), and active member of several networks at regional and national level including Agroecology Learning Alliance in South East Asia (ALiSEA), Land Alliance (LANDA), FORLAND, Agriculture Coalition, etc. In addition, the institute has been actively engaged in different policy forums relating to rural development issues.

Currently, CISDOMA is implementing projects and providing consultancy services on capacity building, research and assessments on the following topics:

  • Climate Change and Climate Change Adaptive Measurements;
  • Sustainable Livelihood and Market Connection for Small-scale Farmers;
  • Sustainable Natural Resources Governance and Land Governance;
  • Gender-based Approach, Woman’s Rights, Participatory Approaches in Development, and
  • Proposal Writing, Project Cycle Management, and M&E of Development Projects and Programs.