I am delighted to announce that inpages will be selling my book here in Saigon.

People ask me what I do for a living; what exactly is my ‘job’? I’ve written about this before. However, this news item—as unbelievable as it is—is the reason why I’m still employed in my field. 

Not long ago I spent time in Cambodia at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS) as part of a five-week residency to do research and writing on women and war. When I had originally applied to CPCS I was clear about my theoretical approach: feminism. (Technically it was feminist poststructuralism, since you asked.)

Activists hung this glorious banner on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The banner, albeit briefly, joined the bronze plaque on Liberty’s pedestal. That plaque is carved with Emma Lazarus' poignant 1883 poem, "The New Colossus"

When I was growing up a popular slogan was:  

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              If you’re not mad you’re not paying attention

You could find it on bumper stickers, buttons and T-shirts. Mine was on a button pinned to my green canvas ‘army’ bag I had all throughout junior and high school. It resonated with me because not only did it seem true, it felt true.

As I look back on the past year, my lens is ‘radical hope’. It’s Dominican Junot Díaz’s advice and comfort to his very sad and scared sister in a letter the author wrote her shortly after the US presidential election last November.

What a month it’s been. I was wrong; the polls were wrong; the pundits were wrong. There has been a maelstrom of emotion surrounding the recent US election, as you are no doubt aware.

By the time you read this month’s column, there will be a new president-elect of the United States. She will have earned every debate, every speech and every vote that put her there.

Tourism affects, directly or indirectly, many of us in Vietnam. That number of ‘us’ is also increasing because tourism is one of the biggest and fastest-growing economic sectors in the world, contributing nearly 6% of the globe’s GDP. Tourism is so important the UN has declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

During the summer silly season media outlets tend to report on the goofy or frivolous simply because most law courts and government administrations are not in session and everyone’s on holiday. There’s usually just no big (read: important) news.

Not that long ago, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg pledged to give away his gazillions of shares of the company he famously started in his pyjamas. Add to this fray the recent Brexit vote in the UK and the never-ending US presidential campaign, and you could say I’ve had plutocracy on the brain for a while now.

By the time you read this, another graduation will have been celebrated at KOTO. This year three classes of young men and women proudly walked across the stage as they received their certificates, the triumphant culmination in their two-year journey with KOTO. If you’re not familiar, KOTO provides vocational hospitality training to youth who come from highly disadvantaged circumstances.

We’ve looked at ill-defined terminology before. The non-profit sector not only loves its jargon (MEAL policy, anyone?) but what about those popular — and hazy — words that sound like they really nail something on the head, but upon closer inspection collapse under the weight of their lofty ambitions. ‘Building capacity’ or ‘sustainability’ or ‘delivering impact’ (ack!) are all suspect terms and rightfully so. They’re overused and defined so broadly as to become meaningless. I’ll offer up ‘empowerment’ to demonstrate what I mean.

One in three women and girls on this planet do not have access to a toilet when they menstruate, and 70 percent of women feel stigmatized or ashamed about their period.

I’m not judgmental,” said the woman working for an NGO in Cambodia. “But I just don’t understand why they don’t seem to get it.” She works handing out soap and toothbrushes as part of a community health project and the “it” is using said items for the improved hygiene results the NGO was counting on. The locals had their own ideas and were instead selling said hygiene improvements.

International Women’s Day (IWD) is observed every Mar. 8 and is, according to the UN, a “time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women” in the quest to achieve gender equality, and women’s empowerment and rights.

As we head into the Lunar New Year and debts are paid off and homes swept clean to ensure health and success in the coming months, the UN has also done a bit of housekeeping. Put your thinking caps on. Quick! — name the UN’s new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the next 15 years. OK, can you name the old Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? Something about poverty and water, right?

I love bandwagons. It appears the objective of making a difference in the world is not just well, making a difference in someone’s life, now it’s about making the greatest difference.

Researchers in several different experiments have hooked up the brains of people while donating to their favourite charity and—whammo!—did the scientists have their socks knocked off. The test subjects’ brains lit up, mimicking the same physiological reaction as a hit of cocaine or nicotine. I always thought doing charity was a trip, but it turns out, for some it’s addictive. Those warm fuzzies (the feel-good factor) are very real.

At this time of year our thoughts turn to holiday gift-giving (ack!). It may be that you’ve got family for whom you’d like to buy something ‘authentic’ or ‘meaningful’. Perhaps it’s client gifts, staff recognition or end-of-the-quarter teambuilding loot you’re after.

What I’d urge you to do is to reconsider purchasing handicrafts.

Over a coffee the other day I had a delightful conversation with a woman who, a few years ago, had been stationed in Guinea with a nonprofit working in microcredit and poverty alleviation. She was circumspect regarding the effect her international organisation may or may not have had, but she was grateful for her time overseas for what it had ended up teaching her.

Utilitarian bioethicist Peter Singer is in the news annoying both the animal rights activists who aren’t hardcore enough for him and the charities who don’t deliver enough programme impact. He has a new book out, but what got me thinking was hunting — the predatory manoeuvers of man on man and man on beast.

I recently gave a talk on utilizing ‘innovative partnerships’ as a way to solve ‘human capital’ issues within the hospitality and tourism industry. But I was reluctant to pepper my talk with ‘innovation’ or ‘innovative’ and instead used the word ‘progressive’.

Not that long ago I attended an event where a couple — both foreigners — were decked out in the Vietnamese national dress: she, an ao dai and he, an ao gam, both in headgear. While the evening had great music and dancing, it was neither a wedding nor a state function. Why were they dressed up in another culture’s national costume? “Because it’s fun!” was the breathless reply.

We’ve been told that you cannot make money while helping the poor because that is morally repugnant. But I believe you can ‘do well’ by ‘doing good’ and balance a social agenda with a profit agenda.

A colleague recently asked me about the best way to ‘use’ volunteers. Uh oh, I thought, this is always tricky, but here’s what I said.

I recently wrote — with some glee — about rogue NGOs. Now we’ll look at some good NGOs and reasons to be optimistic about development.

I love this month because it’s my sister’s birthday. I hate this month because it also means International Women’s Day on the 8th.

I had another column written for this month, but a recent government declaration regarding Article 10 in the Law on Enterprises made me jump for joy and write this instead.

Heavens, looks like those who should know better are up to it again. By that I mean the continuing fallout from charities that aren’t quite walking their talk.

Over meetings with child-rights partners who work on anti-trafficking initiatives, I was asked — and not for the first time — why I do what I do (the questioners naturally were in happy favour of my ‘altruism’). But my answer perplexed them greatly.

A community development group I belong to has been lately discussing power dynamics. It got me thinking about a country director I once knew. She did not arrive at her new posting full of ‘can do’ ideas and attitudes about how to (quickly) ‘fix’ things within that ailing organization.

NGOs are in the news with jet-setting executives being grounded and dire warnings that reputations are in jeopardy because charities can’t control their boardroom and C-suite extravagances.

Excesses? Tell me that paying a single person US$534 million [CHECK] a year is not excess. More like obscene. That ignoble distinction goes to Leon Black, chair of private equity group Apollo

Philanthropy has become an umbrella term for just about any type of benevolent activity. But what about corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social enterprise? Is there a difference? Welfare capitalism, corporate philanthropy, ethical investing, charity and yes, CSR, are all terms used to signify ‘doing well’ financially with ‘doing good’ socially.

Keen readers will note this month marks the first anniversary of this column. And like a newborn in her first year of development and growth, I’ve been learning to focus my vision, reach out, explore and learn about the things around me (whee!).

It’s no secret I love a good international day, especially the lesser known ones that don’t come with their own celebrity endorsement (ack!). This month will see the celebration of World Population Day and that’s got me thinking about a few things.

In the rabble and noise created by nonprofits vying for donors’ limited attention and ever-shrinking funding pools, an enterprising NGO needs a plan — a brilliant plan!

All industries have their impenetrable jargon and Orwellian weirdness and nonprofits are no different (ack, ‘synergise learnings’!). But there’s one word in particular that makes me grit my teeth. It’s time to lose ‘beneficiaries’ for once and for all. No really; all of them.

When I was a working journalist it was drummed into our heads that “If it bleeds, it leads.” This means tonight’s top stories will always be about death, mayhem and tragedy. ‘Feel good’ stories were saved for the end of the broadcast or ghettoised in the Lifestyle section of a newspaper. So-called ‘puff’ pieces lacked tension, human drama and (so we were told) compelling narrative.

International Women’s Day is a major day of celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women around the world. Vietnam has much to celebrate in its efforts to tackle domestic violence and sexual discrimination. Commemorative days are crucial to raising awareness of situations that affect women and children, like human trafficking.

Here’s the question every charity dreads: “How much of my donation goes to your overhead?” And the answer should be: not enough. There’s a welcome discussion in the industry about the “overhead myth” and while I’ve grumbled about it for years, a shout out to activists (like Dan Pallotta and his “equal rights for charities” manifesto), who are challenging funders about where the money goes.

I shouldn’t be surprised by how many people regularly ask me what they can do to “help” somewhere. What I’m not surprised about is how hard it is to be socially conscious.

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Eat that delicious, but kinda endangered fish; do tofu instead. Throw out that dead battery; drat, find someone, somewhere to recycle it. Motorbike three blocks for an errand; sigh, walk.

Likely you’ve noticed the evolution of the Pullman Saigon Centre Hotel going up in the western end of District 1. George Pullman was a Victorian industrialist who in the mid-19th century invented the railway sleeping car, lavish hotels on rails. George fancied himself a benevolent man to boot, building his workers a “company town” just outside of Chicago, unsurprisingly named Pullman.

When I’m asked what I do for a living, I invariably try different approaches to the same answer. People intuit I ‘do good’, or something, but they’re not quite sure how.

In a previous column would-be volunteers were given tips on how not to make nuisances of themselves. This time, it’s the nonprofits’ turn to take it on the chin for how they mess it up with volunteers.

What you need to know before you buy that family a goat

If your social life currently revolves around food and drinks (raise your hands) and you’re looking to shake it up a bit, your thoughts might turn to volunteering. Or perhaps you’re a visitor wanting a different overseas experience. Here are a few things to keep in mind.