Social Work, the State, and Civil Society in Contemporary Vietnam: On an NGO Working with Street Children

In a thriving yet highly unequal contemporary Vietnam, civil society organizations have become indispensable in caring for street children and their families. NGOs are thus challenging the state's monopoly on social solidarity and advocating for effective recognition of their social work initiatives. What is the nature of the projects initiated by these NGOs? What professional approaches underpin their work with beneficiaries? What does the defense of social work reveal in the political context of a regime that remains socialist and centralized? Is street work the site of a civic struggle? To answer these questions, a socio-ethnographic study was conducted over five months, closely observing the work carried out in several neighborhoods of Ho Chi Minh City by field workers from the Th¿o ¿àn organization. The issue of street social work in Vietnam offers a window into the complexity of the educational, social, and political challenges linked to the economic transformations the country has been undergoing for over thirty years.