Seminar updates Fair Finance Asia programme

Speaking at the event, Oxfam’s Senior Programme Coordinator on Governance Nguyen Thu Huong said the event was designed to help social organisations gain an insight into issues regarding water and energy governance, mining and coal-fired power plants, take fair financial approach to relevant projects, and discuss the specific role of partners and Oxfam in particular. 

Representatives of the Vietnam Mining Coalition, the Vietnam Sustainable Energy Alliance and the Vietnam Rivers Network were briefed about the outcomes of a training course on fair finance in Asia and Vietnam in January 2018. 

They also shared updates about the meeting on fair finance in Asia in Siem Reap, Cambodia in April 2018. 

In order to promote financial fairness in banks, the programme’s advisor Andrew Well Dang suggested scoring and ranking banks in terms of data openness and socio-environmental safety policies, making in-depth studies on linkage between banks, finance and socio-environmental risks in the fields of mining, energy and land.

Participants proposed improving the capacity of social organizations and offering technical support to community-based organisations to follow global standards on environment. 

They called for joint work between domestic and regional social organisations to evaluate the transparency and accountability of financial-banking organisations and investors, as well as sharing experience with Asian countries to look toward fair financial approach to water and energy governance, and mining.