Mekong Development Research Institute (MDRI) has been commissioned to carry out a USAID-funded project called the “National Perception Survey”. This is a nationwide public opinion survey in urban regions of the country with a designed national representative sample size interviewed yearly over the next 5 years.
Under USAID’s new Evaluation Policy, the Mission is working to maximize its development impact with measurable results and accountability. In order to meet its designed objectives, the Mission seeks to implement a comprehensive Vietnam Monitoring, Evaluation, Survey Services (VEMSS). Among a broad range of evaluation and monitoring services conducted, the National Perception Survey serves to provide a novel angle on how the Vietnamese public perceives USAID’s assistance over the past years. Furthermore, the survey builds upon earlier ones to analyze trends in attitudes – taking into account the gender factor in its questionnaire – towards national issues, people’s lives, values and social perceptions, as well as elicit information on their awareness of the development priorities in Vietnam. With the information collected, the Mission will be further informed for the implementation of its Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS).
With its full scope of work on this assignment, MDRI is hoping to reveal an answer to one of the country’s biggest questions: “What are the social values these days?” It is anticipated that the analyses will bring about insights for a number of institutions and businesses looking to shed light on where the nation is heading in this era of globalization.