The Australian Consulate-General Vietnam (HCMC) recently organised a tour of Vietnam for the Australian-ASEAN Council Board. The Consulate-General requested that Ms Sarah Day (SP Advisor – Australian Volunteer) at Da Nang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy, and representative of Trinh Foundation, welcome the Board to the university and present on her work in Vietnam and how she is developing links between people and institutions in Australia and Vietnam.

The Council Board consisted of five visiting board members who were accompanied by DFAT staff from Australia and HCMC Post. Da Nang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy were extremely proud to host a visit from the Council Board and expressed their thanks to the Australian Government for the provision of an Australian Volunteer to work to develop the Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) training program at their university, the first in all Vietnam.

Sarah was able to share with the Council Board about the extraordinary work of Trinh Foundation over the past 10+ years and how she has supported this work over the past year and a half while volunteering within the Australian Volunteer Program. Sarah spoke about the current project TFA is working on with key stakeholders to deliver the first Master and Bachelor of SALT in Vietnam. Sarah discussed the huge contributions made by a great many volunteers from Australian partner organisations including University of Sydney, University of Newcastle, Charles Sturt University, Australian Catholic University and Speech Pathology Australia.

The Council Board were extremely impressed with the ongoing work of TFA and the outcomes that the organisation has been able to achieve through the service of a great many volunteers from within the profession. They encouraged Sarah and all involved with TFA to continue with their meaningful development work into the future. The TFA Board will consider how they are able to continue to connect with and access the support of the Council into the future.

For further information about the Australian-ASEAN Council