As senior scientist and Country Coordinator Minh Ha is responsible for leading the overall program in Vietnam, ensuring the quality, integration, planning and implementation of ICRAF activities including RUPES.

Minh Ha first joined ICRAF as a PhD student in 1996 and holds a PhD degree on soil science from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Sweden, where she also worked as a researcher and lecturer. She initiated the ICRAF Vietnam program and office during her postdoc program at ICRAF Southeast Asia in 2000. Working overseas for many years gave Minh Ha insight into the great need for establishing bridges between Vietnamese people and the international community. Her vision is for ICRAF Vietnam to play a strategic role in South-East Asia. 

When asked about the motivation for her work Minh Ha says, ‘I am very proud of Vietnam, that’s what drives me—I believe in my people.’ She affirms the hard-working and dynamic nature of Vietnamese people but feels that, due to many years at war, Vietnam hasn’t developed to the level it should be. ‘Through focusing on enhancing research quality and linking Vietnam with the world, ICRAF Vietnam will bring agroforestry research in the country to a global level’, she said.

After many years with the organisation she believes that the warm family spirit and professionalism is one of ICRAF’s biggest strengths.

Email: m.h.hoang@cgiar.org 

Alba joins ICRAF Vietnam's research team with a focus on the Rewards for, Use of and Shared Investment in Pro-poor Environmental services (RUPES) project. Later she will also work with the Reducing Emissions from All Land Uses (REALU) project. She joins the organisation after completing an eight months internship as an Environmental Technical Assistant with IPADE in Hanoi.

Firmly believing effective research cannot be done from an office alone; Alba is looking forward to being based in Ba Be National Park, Bac Kan province. She appreciates ICRAF's strong links to the field and the opportunity to undertake a role that requires a lot of interaction with local farmers. She loves to see the community not only aware of the research but involved and taking ownership of it. Working alongside other staff and national partners she will assist the community in Leo Keo village to incorporate rewards for environmental services into their community planning. She will also help to facilitate the preparation of agreements to reward the expansion of bamboo-based agroforestry on shifting cultivation land. This work will form part of the foundation for incorporating rewards for environmental services in other communities nationally and internationally.

Growing up next to the forest Alba is passionate about protecting it and has, for many years, sought to work in an international development context. To this end she completed a Masters of Environmental Science in 2010. She feels that agroforestry provides a balanced approach considering both the sustainability of the environment and the livelihoods of the poor.