GSPIA Interns’ blogs

Je suis présentement à mi-chemin de mon stage et le ton de mon travail a complètement changé. D’abord, ma superviseure vient tout juste de partir, alors les dernières semaines ont été complètement occupées par le besoin de créer des récapitulatifs et des rapports qui permettront de faciliter l’intégration de sa successeure. En plus de cette succession, toute notre section, qui s’occupe de la communication externe, a été occupée par la Fête du Canada. Ainsi, j’ai dû créer du contenu spécifique à la Fête du Canada pour la page Facebook, mais également des ébauches de discours qui seraient prononcés par l’ambassadeur dans les médias et lors d’évènements en plus de communiqués de presse et autres types de communication. Tout cela nous a tenus bien occupés.

Je dois avouer que durant cette période, j’ai eu un peu de difficulté à m’habituer à la façon de travailler de certains de mes collègues vietnamiens. Je crois qu’il s’agit de mon plus grand choc culturel. Cependant, tout cela s’est estompé, car nous avons réussi à nous faire comprendre et à nous adapter.

J’ai eu la chance de participer à une célébration de la Fête du Canada non-officielle et décontractée à laquelle beaucoup de familles d’expatriés vivants à Hanoï se sont jointes. J’ai eu la chance de voir l’ampleur des Canadiens qui vivent à Hanoï et toutes les raisons qui les ont poussés à déménager et s’installer à l’étranger. Durant cette période, il y avait également beaucoup de soirées et d’événements organisés par des diplomates. Durant celles-ci, j’ai pu rencontrer des expatriés venant de plusieurs pays à travers le monde comprenant le Canada et occupant différents postes au sein de diverses organisations. Cela m’a permis de découvrir ce que font les différentes missions diplomatiques, organisations internationales et ONG au Vietnam et comment ceux-ci opèrent dans les pays étrangers.

La période de l’été dans une ambassade canadienne est très particulière, car il y a un grand roulement de personnel. Environ un tiers des employés canadiens quitte le Vietnam, souvent vers la fin juin et les remplaçants n’arrivent qu’au début août. Donc, durant un mois, il existe un certain vide et cela est également le cas pour les autres missions diplomatiques.

J’ai réussi à développer des capacités de base en vietnamien en dehors du classique « bonjour » et « merci ». Il est primordial de savoir compter, pour pouvoir acheter ou marchander ici. Je reconnais aussi les différents plats et je suis donc capable de faire des choix en ce qui à trait à ce que j’aimerais manger. J’ai fait un long chemin depuis mes débuts et aller manger est maintenant un plaisir plutôt qu’une aventure terrifiante! Il y a tant à découvrir à Hanoï et à l’extérieur. Je ne rentre jamais directement à mon appartement, je tente toujours de découvrir un nouveau resto ou un nouveau quarter d’Hanoï, car chacun à son charme propre. Cela m’attriste de savoir que je ne pourrais pas tout goûter (la nourriture est délicieuse!) et tout voir. Je fais des voyages à l’extérieur d’Hanoï toutes les fins de semaine, je recommande chaudement Sapa et Mai Chau, c’est un tout autre Vietnam!

J’ai aussi réussi à me faire des amies vietnamiennes qui m’ont amenée voir les lotus en fleur et un autre avec qui je découvre de nouveaux quartiers de la ville tous les mardis. Rencontrer de nouvelles personnes est toujours intéressant, car visiter un pays c’est aussi apprendre à connaître ses habitants.

Je suis attristée de constater qu’il me reste à peine un peu plus qu’un mois et demi. Tout passe trop vite et j’aimerais pouvoir ralentir le temps.

April 14, 2015
Well time at the Embassy here in Hanoi is rapidly wrapping up, as I finish my placement in two days. Reflecting back on my time, I can say that this was an experience that pushed me out of my comfort zones in a few different ways. Firstly, the work that I was doing at the Embassy consisted of tasks I’ve never had experience in before. Working with social media, digital diplomacy, and publicity is not something I’ve ever had to deal with directly before, and that pushed me a little out of my comfort zone in terms of developing new ways of communicating and using different social media tools. Secondly, I had forgotten the ups and downs of living abroad as more than just a backpacker – of having to adapt and make a mini-life for oneself in a foreign place, without the comforts of your home, friends, and family. There were definitely days that I longed for a reliable internet connection, the certainty that my clothes weren’t going mouldy, and quinoa. But I think that’s what the kids these days label #firstworldproblems. Despite those moments, I am going to miss the calmness, kindness, and laid-back nature of Vietnamese people. I’m going to miss seeing people giving alms at the pagodas and temples, and the spirit of community that people share. I’m even going to miss the adrenalin rush that you get almost every time you cross a road.

In my last week at the Embassy, I was able to do a bit of work on the Human Rights file that is provided to the Government of Canada on the state of human rights in Vietnam. Unfortunately, the report instructions came in only days before I am supposed to leave, and so I will sadly not be able to have too much time to work on it. Despite that, I was able to still do some very interesting work regarding the human rights climate in Vietnam. Specifically, I was reading into the areas in which Vietnam has shown progress in supporting human rights, compared to the areas that are still in need of more serious commitments. Religious freedom is an area of concern, as is journalistic freedom and internet freedom. Although I didn’t get a chance to really work in depth on these issues, it is truly fascinating to see how the Government attempts to suppress dissent, how the citizens react (or don’t react), and to discuss the anticipated outcomes with colleagues at the Embassy.

Of course, the embassy internship was a great experience for me, and I am really thankful that GSPIA has been able to support students in going on these placements. It has been so interesting to get an insider’s look at life in the foreign service. Over the past four months, I’ve been able to have many great conversations regarding Canada’s role abroad. Out of this, I am sure I have developed a more nuanced understanding of the way Canada engages bilaterally, not only with Vietnam, but more generally around the world.

I was lucky enough to travel around the region a little bit, and spent some time in Laos and Cambodia. I was surprised at just how different the countries are from Vietnam, most obviously the economic growth of Vietnam compared to its neighbours. It is clear that Vietnam is a quickly developing country with rapid growth. The poverty in Laos and Cambodia is more blatant than in Vietnam, as well as things such as lacking infrastructure and unemployment. I am leaving Vietnam with some deep thoughts on the reasons behind this, and the role, if any, Vietnam could play in helping to economically strengthen the region. I am also considering my own role as a tourist, and whether there is such a thing as responsible tourism, and what that might look like. Ethically, I am uncomfortable with the idea that Laos and Cambodia seem to depend mainly on tourism, and many people in the cities derive their livelihood solely from tourists. I think that more sustainable and empowering ways of economic growth need to be established and supported. It was really troublesome, especially in places like temples and pagodas, to see so many tourists who were disrespectful of the culture, which they had traveled to see. The commodification and consumption of culture in this way seems to be extremely unsustainable as an economic model, as well as damaging to the cultural heritage of these countries.

Despite this, the process of introspection was also something I am thankful to have had in my embassy experience. Overall, I will really miss Southeast Asia, the friends I made in Vietnam, and of course the food and coffee.

March 30, 2015
Things at the Embassy have been getting progressively busier and there has been lots to keep me occupied. One of my big tasks was coordinating and organizing the Canadian embassy’s participation in festivities for Journée internationale de la Francophonie on March 20th. We had a social media campaign on Facebook leading up to the event, promoting La Francophonie, and advertising for a festival we were participating in. The all-day Francophonie festival was held at one of the (many) universities here in Hanoi. Besides it being a sticky hot day, it was good fun. Just like us GSPIAns, the students were really excited about all the free stuff we were giving away. In the end, we gave out 400 Canada baseball caps, 1000 Canada-themed keychains, and dozens of maple cookies. We also had a hockey shoot-out contest that people really seemed to enjoy.

One thing that I’ve found really challenging about working at the Embassy here in Hanoi is that the work I do is very different than what I had anticipated, as well as different from my interests and skill set. Most of my work is focusing on public affairs and social media. It has been an exercise in understanding how this role fits in to the broader Embassy priorities. And indeed, the Ambassador and the rest of the staff place a very heavy emphasis on the importance of social media in connecting with people, getting across Canadian priorities, and being a way of transmitting soft messaging on human rights, democracy, and gender equity. As I mentioned too in my previous blog post, it’s a way of expanding my skill set and getting experience in something I’ve never worked on before.

Time management has been especially key here, as slow days can be very slow, but busy days are extremely packed, with lots of competing priorities and tasks, from different team members who need something attended to immediately. Prioritization has been important, as well as communication to team members as to what I can feasibly manage within a given time frame. That said, I think things have been pretty smooth, with no deadlines missed and no tasks unfinished. Sometimes I have to eat at my desk, but bahn my sandwiches are delicious and portable, so that’s not a huge problem.

It’s been really great to have the opportunity to travel around Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Hanoi is really wonderful, but it’s very busy, noisy, and hectic. It’s been nice to go a little ways out of the city to the calmer countryside, that’s a little quieter and slower, and the air is a bit less polluted. I also had the opportunity to go to Cambodia for a week over the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday. That was an absolutely phenomenal and unforgettable experience. It was also really interesting to talk to Cambodians about the civil war, and compare that to the experiences of Vietnamese I have talked to about the Vietnam war. It is really moving and such a privilege to meet people who have lived through those times, and are willing to share their thoughts and feelings on sovereignty, politics, freedom, and human rights.

I am at the point now, after almost 3 months, that I actually have the hang of being in Hanoi! It’s a bit difficult to acclimatize with the language barrier being so huge. But I now know some very basic phrases, I know how to properly pronounce my address to taxi drivers(much more difficult than it sounds), and I can identify more than a few foods which I know I like. I know my way around a few of the downtown/central districts pretty well, and know lots of different shops, restaurants and bia hois! (Bia hoi translates to ‘fresh beer’ – it’s basically just a keg of draught beer, than can be anywhere from barely drinkable to deliciously thirst-quenching, all for around 5000 Vietnamese dong per glass, which is about 30 cents Canadian.) I’ve done a fair bit of exploring the city, getting to know my neighbours, and meeting new people. Still, bun cha remains my favorite food, and I’m still on a quest to find the best Vietnamese coffee. I haven’t tried dog, snake, pigeon or ox penis yet, but who knows…. Maybe by the next blog post.

Warmest,
Noelle

I am just about at the halfway point of my internship at the Embassy in Hanoi. By now, Hanoi is home away from home, and the chaos and intensity of the city are no longer confusing or alarming. The first thing, surely, that had my eyes glaze over after I arrived was the traffic. Non-stop and coming from all directions, to the rookie, the roads seem to have no rules and no order. Like lots of things in life, the trick is to make a decision, commit, and confidently, steadily, move forward. A colleague told me a great metaphor for this the other day: you are a stone, the motorbikes are the river. They will find a way to flow around you.

Apart from that, the ease of ordering and purchasing food in English was something I realized I had taken for granted. While it is exciting and adventurous to wander into an alley and sit down at a tiny street food table and just smile and nod to whatever pot is cooking nearby, it is still a gamble. Luckily, I’ve only had a couple of negative experiences. And by now, I know what bun cha is, where to get it, and that it is the most delicious thing in the world.

The staff at the Embassy are very friendly, welcoming, and helpful. The work that has taken up the bulk of my time so far is the social media file. This includes lots of time spent online, finding sources and ideas for Facebook posts for the Embassy’s three official pages (Vietnamese, English, and French), while ensuring our posts promote the goals of the Mission and voice the core values of Canada. The Embassy recognizes the importance and relevancy of connecting with the Vietnamese people via social media, and much emphasis is placed on continuously improving engagement on Facebook. Having had no formal experience in social media or marketing, this has been a great learning experience, as it is a new way of writing, thinking, and researching.

I have been able to work on speeches and interview responses for the Head of Mission, H.E. David Devine. Again, this has been a rewarding experience in developing new writing skills. It takes a bit of finesse to find the appropriate things for our spokesperson to say, that simultaneously support the relationship between Canada and Vietnam while also affirming Canada’s commitment to human rights, democracy, and equality.

I had the opportunity to attend a policy forum on development strategies for Vietnam’s ethnic minority population. This event was sponsored by UNDP and Irish Aid, and was a great way for me to see the process and outcomes of high level discussions such as these. It was really interesting to speak with people who have worked in development in Vietnam for years, and had many positive things to say about the growth in recent years, as well as critiques and fears about the potential slowing of that growth, and how that might play out for ethnic minorities as well as the Vietnamese majority in the future.

Learning so much about Vietnam’s history, people, culture, and politics has been truly fascinating and given me such an enormous appreciation of the country. Whether it is visiting museums and landmarks, asking Vietnamese friends an annoying amount of questions, or getting impromptu political science lessons from colleagues at the Embassy, I have learned so much in a short time. As a one-party state, but still trying to assert its presence and power on the global stage, Vietnam is truly a unique case. While the Communist party rules the country, there is little room for critical discussion or dissent among the population. However, the symbolism of the party, very strong among the older generation, as the monolith that secured Vietnam’s independence and unity may be fading as the younger generation seeks more in terms of human rights and freedoms.

Noelle Jaipaul

Being in Vietnam sometimes makes me realize how Canadian I am. Want to know what phrase I use the most? Xin lổi (pronounced: sin loy). It means sorry/excuse me.
12 weeks. 12. Mười hai (okay, now I’m just showing off). Time is passing by so quickly. I wake up every Friday so happy it’s the weekend - amen to half day Fridays- but also incredibly sad because it means I am that much closer to going home. People keep asking me if I miss home and my family. Of course I do, but I have a Hanoi family now and I know leaving them will be heart wrenching. What is also heart wrenching will be not driving a motorbike anymore. It’s probably the most fun thing I have ever done. So liberating.
My internship has its ups and downs. One thing I can say is that I always like the work I’m doing. Since my last post, I have written more reports, mostly on social media, and remarks for the Ambassador including the opening speech for the Hanoi Run for Children. Also cool was creating a presentation for the Ambassador to present at the British University. I thought of Professor Finnie the entire time and his lectures on ridiculous “government decks”.
Perhaps the problem is consistency. Some days I have so much work that I have to skip lunch. Other days I am doing the few tasks I have veeeerry slowly while jamming to Lorde. I suppose this is okay, and it is a good time to work on personal things such as your MRP (unless you’re extremely unmotivated by your topic and trying to find inspiration like I am).
There is something I like to call the “buts” of Vietnam. If you can guess, with every positive here you will find a negative. Please enjoy some of these examples:
Hanoi is beautiful with its culture and people, but it’s polluted with garbage covering most streets. Seeing rats and cockroaches is so normalized that it is almost worrisome to me that people treat it so casually.
Hanoi has amazing food, cafes, and shops. But I have been refused service simply because I am a foreigner. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does it is shocking and disappointing. Some Vietnamese people are very reluctant to serve foreigners because they cannot speak English and don’t want to go through the hassle of trying. Perhaps this is a fair reason, but when bún chả (a delicious meal) is involved, it can be infuriating. Good thing there is a million places to get bún chả.
Hanoi is free of beggars. But this isn’t because poverty doesn’t exist. Despite the fact that the national poverty line has decreased from 58.1% in 1993 to 7.8% in 2013, the income inequality gap is rising. According to a new study by the World Bank, Vietnam’s poorest are earning 38.5% more since 2010, however the rich are earning 40% more since 2010.
So why are there no beggars? I was very shocked when I travelled to Saigon to see the street filled with pan-handlers; children, women, disabled people with bloody exposed injuries. You do not see this in Hanoi and that is for two reasons (the latter more than the former). Firstly, the population is bigger in Saigon than it is in Hanoi (11 million versus 9 million) and secondly the same kind of police authority that exists in the north does not have as strong (or arguably existing) presence in the south. Anyone begging in the streets of Hanoi are scooped up and brought- as I have been told by a colleague- to the outskirts of town. Out of sight, out of mind.
Needless to say, despite the “buts” of Hanoi- especially the ones that are politically charged- I love this crazy dirty city.
Tạm biệt!
P.S. To new interns, Kuala Lumpur and Siem Reap are MUST SEES. Amazing. Just amazing.

Xin chào!

This may be the only Vietnamese phrase I can say without being stared at through eyes of utter confusion.
Let’s try one more time phonetically: “sin-giao”.
I have been living in Hanoi for 8 weeks. It seems like only a few short weeks ago I arrived here late on a Saturday night paralyzed with fear of the unknown that is Vietnam. I had a good cry…  for a week. The hardest part was the language barrier and the feeling of a loss of independence. Little tasks such as crossing the street and finding food were suddenly challenges I did not feel prepared to tackle.
*To new interns: indulge in the pride you will feel from tiny, mundane accomplishments. They will get you through the first weeks.

The mission in Hanoi is small and close-knit with 10 Canadian-based staff and 20 local based staff. The Vietnamese staff is wonderfully warm, friendly and always curious about me. And I am equally curious about them.*To the new interns: develop relationships with the Vietnamese stuff as much as the Canadian based staff. I think most interns at the different missions will have more or less the same kind of work i.e. reports, meeting minutes, etc. So I will only highlight the things that I have done or am doing that I personally think are cool enough to share. Managing the Embassy’s social media presence on Facebook. This involves finding content for posts, drafting them, translating them to French, writing weekly statistics reports, etc. Our Vietnamese, English and French Facebook pages combined have 55k followers and are growing each week.
I have drafted remarks for the Ambassador on a few occasions now, including one for a CEDAW event with UN Women, another for the Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health exhibition. It is very satisfying to hear your words spoken to a crowd of distinguished guests, trust me. I have written and published a report on My International. I got good feedback from other SEA missions, so I am proud of this feat. I attended the World Disasters Report Launch by myself, i.e. I was the Canadian representative at this event. Being as neurotic as I am I researched some basic stats in case I was asked what Canada’s contributions to natural disasters has been. Good thing I did because a young reporter asked me exactly that question and I answered like an excited child at show and tell. I have also been very fortunate to have travelled within Vietnam. Halong Bay, Sapa, and Ho Chi Minh City (A.K.A. Saigon). I may have had a trip booked to Myanmar, and I may have become deathly ill and had to cancel everything and lose all my money. But I can’t talk about it because it makes me want to curl up into a ball and weep.

I have trips booked for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Siem Reap, Cambodia in the oncoming weeks and I am so excited to see what is outside of this crazy country.
Before I sign out, here are some quick rules I have learned:
Rule #1: You will be stared at all the time. It really freaked me out at first but I now know that this staring habit most Vietnamese people have comes from a place of pure curiosity. Who I am? What am I doing here? Harmless stuff ladies and gentleman.
Rule #2: Don’t be embarrassed to try speaking Vietnamese and using your hands for helpful gesturing. Embarrassment is not a thing here. People openly pee in the streets here, so you’re good.
Rule #3: If you want to look like a backpacker/foreigner, wear the elephant haram pants, loads of knitted bracelets and the iconic “Viet Nam” tank top. I am guilty of owning all of these, but never wear them all at once.

Live by this rule if you want to be semi-cool in Hanoi.
Sabrina over and out.

In talking to past interns before leaving for my placement, everyone commented that your time will quickly fly by. They were not wrong! Somehow I only have two weeks left at the Embassy here in Hanoi.

The last month has been relatively quite as most people are on vacation and the number of official events and conferences has really tapered off. Nonetheless, my day -to-day time at work has remained quite busy. Managing the Facebook pages continues to be one of my primary tasks. Apart from just creating the content and publishing on the pages, I have been assembling several reports on our social media successes over the last six months, focusing on the impressive popularity of several of our posts on LGBT rights to demonstrate how social media can be used as an effective advocacy tool. Incorporated into a larger report on how the Embassy has been supporting LGBT communities in Vietnam, we recently shared this report on My International and directly with many relevant stakeholders. It has been very exciting to see the positive feedback it has generated, and we were recently notified that it has been flagged by the ministry as a report of interest.

I have also had the opportunity to work on the Embassy’s human rights database over the last month. Although this project involved a lot of data entry, I was also tasked with working with the IT staff on formatting the structure of the database so that it will have both descriptive abilities and the ability to produce analytical trend reports. There has also been discussion of sharing this software with other likeminded embassies once we have things finalized. This project has been very rewarding as its successful completion will facilitate the Embassies capacity to advocate on behalf of the rights of prisoners of concern and where I feel that my work could have a lasting positive impact.

In true end of term spirit I have also spent these last weeks writing an Intern Report for the next GSPIA intern, and updating the instructions for the various projects that I have worked on over my term here. Doing so has provided me with time to reflect on my time at the Embassy in Hanoi and become very sentimental.

At this point I am very sad to leave. While the work was interesting and engaging, it was the amazing Embassy staff that has made this experience really special. I will sincerely miss battling the insane Hanoi traffic on my bicycle every morning to make sure I arrive at least 15 minutes early so that I have time to cool down and try the myriad of market-fresh fruits and traditional treats that the office staff bring to the kitchen every morning to share. I will miss eating $3 plates of chicken and rice and discovering new street food venues over the lunch hour and exploring new parts of Hanoi with coworkers after work. I am also not ready to leave this city. While very overwhelming at first, I have grown to love the highly regulated chaos that is Hanoi. Its unpredictable weather, its small but highly revered lakes, its  innumerable street side soup and coffee shops, and the early morning ballroom dancers in Lennon Park all make this city wonderfully complex and exciting.

After two months, I have now settled into daily life here in Hanoi. I have almost mastered my numbers, greetings, and direction terms in Vietnamese, all of which are essential for daily activities like getting to work, grocery shopping, and making connections with local people. Nonetheless, daily life continues to present fun and interesting challenges and experiences.

At the Embassy, I have become very proficient at managing the Embassy’s social media presence, which is one of my primary jobs. While this seemed like a relatively mundane task at first, I have found it increasingly interesting the more I have engaged with it. On one hand, I have had a chance to practice and improve my writing for social media, which requires a very different skill set, and which I believe will become more and more useful as government agencies and NGOs turn to social media as key public affairs platform. On the other hand, I have learned a lot about techniques for using social as an advocacy tool, which requires striking a delicate balance between promoting (at times sensitive) embassy priorities, and presenting them in a way that is catchy, fun, and easily digestible. In order to achieve this balance, me and one of the other Embassy staff created a fun and interactive Facebook campaign that engaged local audiences while promoting important issues like LGBT rights, research and innovation, Northern development and Canada’s Aboriginal peoples. It was very exciting to see that this campaign was hugely successful, and my report on our advocacy success within this campaign received positive feedback from numerous other Canadian Embassy’s who are also focusing on social media as a public affairs priority.

I have also had the opportunity to represent Canada and the Embassy at several official events, including an LGBT Rights seminar, a panel discussion on implementing the Convention Against Torture (which Vietnam has recently ratified), and press conferences at the National Assembly. While none of these conferences fell directly within my portfolio at the Embassy, they each provided fascinating insights into different facets of diplomacy, the Vietnamese political system, and what it means to represent Canada as a member of the Foreign Service. They also provided me with the opportunity to meet officials from many other countries, along with UN representatives and officials from the Vietnamese Government. At one event where I was representing the Embassy alone, I was even asked to give a TV interview on the Canadian Embassy’s stance on the South China Sea, which I quickly and awkwardly declined. All in all, after my first two months here in Hanoi, I feel that I have become an effective and important member of our small team and I am looking forward to the opportunities that the second half of my coop term will present.

After having spent the last eight months living in Canada’s orderly and well manicured capital city, relocating to the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi was a pretty big change.

The first week of my internship at the Canadian Embassy in Hanoi stand out as a series of little accomplishments, that, to someone on their first trip to Asia, were impressive and rewarding victories. Some such victories included learning to divide any price by 20,000 instantaneously, discovering which taxi companies are trustworthy and which are to be avoid, realizing that pho is a breakfast food, and most of all, learning to cross the street! While all of these obstacles (not to mention the at times impenetrable language barrier) could have hindered my ability to enjoy myself and my surroundings, they did not. Each of these little adventures, and the innumerable other ones that come with living in a very foreign country are all part of the amazing and overwhelming experience that is living in Hanoi.

Moreover, my ability to navigate these daily challenges was hugely facilitated by the amazing staff working at the Embassy, both Canadian and Vietnamese. As a relatively small mission with around 10 Canadian staff and 20 Vietnamese staff, the Embassy in Hanoi provided in instant community of friends and supporters. When I showed up on my first day without any lunch (grocery shopping seemed an insurmountable challenge after only one day in the city), I was was welcomed into the kitchen by the Vietnamese staff who fed me a smorgasbord of homemade Vietnamese dishes that are routinely brought and shared for breakfast and lunch.

On the more serious side, my first week of work at the Embassy was occupied with lots and lots of learning. I was provided with briefs on everything from trade, to the Vietnamese political system, to human rights, and was given time try and familiarize myself with the Embassy priorities and projects. Along with these briefs I had the opportunity to meet with people from different sections at the Embassy to get face to face briefings, picking their brains with my millions of questions. My early days were also very focused familiarizing myself with the Embassy’s social media strategy and procedures. Specifically the managing of the three Facebook pages, which I will be managing for the duration of my time at the Embassy.

Facebookin’ Ain’t Easy

What!? Someone posted a negative comment on our Facebook page? Emergency team meeting:  what do we do? “I say we delete it”, suggests one colleague. “But, wouldn’t that be considered internet censorship”, asks another. “After all, a fundamental part of our Human Rights advocacy in Vietnam is promoting the freedom of expression, association and of the press.” Good point! By consensus, the comment stays, we are now open for criticism.

One of the main components of my work at the Embassy of Canada to Vietnam is to manage the social media outreach program, as I like to call it. Basically, I research and create content for the embassy’s Facebook page. Why is this important? Please, allow me to explain.

Vietnam is the fastest growing “Facebook country” in the world! In 2013, 11.5 million Vietnamese “liked” Facebook for the first time, almost one million per month. Considering that 1/5th of the population or 20 million people are now connected to Facebook, the total user base more than doubled in 2013. Despite the existence of home-grown social media/networking site like ZingMe, Facebook has become the de facto social media/networking platform for Vietnamese from all walks of life - from students, to small business owners, to high ranking party officials. Facebook has allowed Vietnamese people to connect with each other in ways that were previously unimaginable and has provided both Vietnamese and International businesses an unparalleled platform from which to market their products. Even embassies are getting in on the action!

The Embassy of Canada to Vietnam first opened a Vietnamese language Facebook page in 2010 and now has nearly 12,500 fans, 88% of which are under the age of 24. Amazingly this growth has occurred despite the fact that Facebook has been haphazardly blocked throughout Vietnam since 2009. Though the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has never explicitly banned Facebook, local Internet service providers began to redirect traffic away from the website shortly after Facebook launched a Vietnamese language interface. The CPV has denied allegations that it has deliberately blocked Facebook; instead, insisting that state run internet service providers (ISP) are working with foreign companies to solve a fault blocking connections to Facebook’s US servers. Either way, unlike in China where certain sites are blocked at the ISP level, in Vietnam they are only blocked at the DSN level, meaning that it is relatively easy to circumnavigate the firewall. All that you need to do is change your DNS provider to one of that is publicly available or access Facebook using a mobile device. Making reference to China’s “Great Firewall”, some have referred to Vietnam’s attempt at internet censorship as being more like a “Bamboo Fence.”

While the CPV may not have the resources or the demographic weight to insulate itself à la chinoise, it certainly has the political will to crackdown on anyone who may abuse their “democratic freedoms” by using the internet as a means to criticize the government. Effective September 1st 2013, Decree 72 effectively prohibits the use of Internet services and online information to oppose the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; threaten the national security, social order, and safety; sabotage the “national fraternity”; arouse animosity among races and religions; or contradict national traditions, among other acts. There is also uncertainty regarding the legality of simply sharing or quoting information from local or foreign news agencies. In conjunction with the rise of Facebook there has been an increase in the number citizen journalists, online activists, and political bloggers – the main cause of concern for the government and therefore the main target. In 2013, Vietnamese courts have convicted and imprisoned at least 46 bloggers or democracy activists on national security charges, more than twice the number in 2012. And, the crackdown continues. As of November 13th, according to Decree 174, the government will administer a fine of 100 million dong (4,740 USD – equivalent to a middle class yearly income) to anyone found to be using the internet to spread “propaganda against the state” or “reactionary ideology”. It is no wonder that Reporters Without Borders considers Vietnam to be an “enemy of the internet”, right up there with Syria, Iran and China.

So why is it important to properly manage the embassies Facebook page? Facebook is a both tool of public diplomacy and a tool of trade promotion, a direct link to the hearts and minds of hundreds of thousands of young and intelligent Vietnamese. At the same time, we are able to advocate for Human Rights, raise awareness of Canada as a world class study destination, and promote Canadian products such as seafood and Ice-wine. In between the photos of beautiful Canadian landscape and giant lobsters we remind our fans that despite having higher levels of education, in Vietnam women are paid an overall average of 75% of men’s wages. Knowing that the CPV is currently considering a bill that would de-criminalize same sex marriages, why not show our fans that Canada’s first legally married same sex couple are still happily married 10 years later? Our approach is subtle, but sometimes the most effective form of advocacy is most subtle. In early 2012, Canadian Ambassador to China David Mulroney posted a photo of his Toyota Camry on the embassy’s Wiebo account (Chinese version of Facebook). Surprisingly, it went viral! Chinese users both mocked and questioned his choice of vehicle, suggesting that mid-level Chinese government officials would never drive such a cheap car. When Ambassador Mulroney explained that in Canada, only minister or deputy minister-level officials have government-subsidized vehicles what followed was an extensive online discussion about Chinese officials’ misuse of government funds. This is exactly the outcome we are looking for, we want to engage young people and initiate discussion on important topics related to Canada’s priorities in Vietnam.

Facebook in Vietnam is now too big to fail and it will only get bigger. There is no way to stop it. A full ban would create a massive social vacuum and would solicit an enormous amount of public criticism. Besides, internet freedom and freedom of expression promote innovation and economic growth, something that CPV must strive for in order to maintain legitimacy. While I do not suspect that the CPV will dare deprive Vietnamese people of beloved Facebook, I do suspect that internet censorship and monitoring will continue to worsen as more and more people go online to voice their criticisms. On the bright side, maybe Vietnam can lend Canada some of their expertise in this area, after all, the Canadian government is currently looking for a firm that “continuously monitors social media content on a daily basis in near real time and (can) provide web-based, online media metrics and reporting capabilities.”

Andrew