On September 3, 2026, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc signed Decision No. 1702/QD-TTg approving the Scheme on “Strengthening International Cooperation on Older Persons for the 2026–2031 Period.” What is particularly remarkable about this Scheme is not merely the expansion of international partnerships and programs concerning older persons, but how Vietnam explicitly defines international cooperation as an integral component of its national capacity to adapt to population ageing. The Scheme embeds international cooperation on older persons within the comprehensive national strategy for rapid, sustainable, and inclusive development, aligning it with population affairs, healthcare, social protection, foreign relations, and international integration. Concurrently, it marks a profound paradigm shift: from viewing population ageing primarily as a burden and pressure to recognizing it as an inevitable megatrend, as well as a new opportunity and driver for development.
This also reflects an emerging reality across many nations: population ageing is not a challenge that any country can solve entirely within its domestic borders alone. Crucial matters such as long-term care (LTC), caregiving human resources, old-age income security, employment and skills in an ageing society, assistive technologies, and the silver economy are shared puzzles that many countries are collectively trying to address. Therefore, international cooperation helps Vietnam tap into external knowledge, expertise, technology, and resources, while systematically building up its internal capacity and the long-term resilience of domestic systems. More importantly, this dynamic is increasingly two-way: Vietnam is not only adopting international experience but is also progressively contributing to regional and global agendas, initiatives, and normative standards on ageing and the rights of older persons.
From “Relieving Pressure” to “Adapting and Unleashing Potential”
A policy highlight of Decision No. 1702/QD-TTg is its emphasis on shifting mindsets: from viewing population ageing predominantly as a burden to recognizing it as an inevitable trend, an opportunity, and a new catalyst for national progress. This does not dismiss the inherent challenges of ageing; rather, it introduces a more balanced approach: simultaneously strengthening care and social safety nets while actively creating conditions for older persons to continue participating, contributing, and sharing in the dividends of development.
From an international cooperation standpoint, this perspective is paramount. Complex domains such as long-term care, care workforce deficits, age-friendly employment, lifelong learning, accessible living environments, assistive technology, and the silver economy all transcend the scope of any isolated program. International cooperation, therefore, goes far beyond simply “receiving aid”; it encompasses policy exchange, technology and knowledge transfer, institutional capacity building, and sharing Vietnam’s own grounded experiences with the region and the wider world.
This vision is clearly articulated in the Scheme: leveraging international resources, knowledge, expertise, technologies, and proven models to refine national policies and elevate service quality, while simultaneously bolstering Vietnam’s domestic resilience and sustainable adaptability. This must be seen as a reciprocal process where Vietnam acts as both a learner and a contributor.
Within the HelpAge global network, VIOBA has actively contributed to critical processes such as the drafting of the UN Convention on the Rights of Older Persons, the 5th review of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA), and the development and pilot testing of the ASEAN Active Ageing Index (AAAI) in Vietnam. The 2026 working visit to Vietnam by the delegation from the ASEAN Centre for Active Ageing and Innovation (ACAI)—which included assessing the feasibility of the AAAI—serves as a recent testament to how international cooperation is increasingly centered on co-creating regional knowledge, data, and policy tools.
From National Policy to Community Networks: A New Role for Intergenerational Self-Help Clubs
Within this landscape, the Intergenerational Self-Help Club (ISHC) model occupies a prominent position. A noteworthy element of Decision No. 1702/QD-TTg is that the Scheme does not just speak broadly about researching and replicating good practices; it explicitly identifies the ISHC model among those selected for piloting and nationwide scaling-up, tied directly to mobilizing international resources and ensuring financial, human, and managerial sustainability.
More strikingly, the Scheme establishes a specific target: at least 20% of the ISHCs selected to join international cooperation programs, projects, or models will receive technical, financial, or livelihood support from international partners. This represents a major policy signal: it creates a well-defined entry point for community-based models to function not merely as project implementation sites, but as structural components within the broader cooperation ecosystem on ageing.
However, this 20% target must be understood correctly. It is neither a blanket promise that 20% of all ISHCs will automatically receive foreign funding, nor a requirement that every club become an international project. Its true value lies in the State officially designating a proven community model as having high potential to connect with international knowledge, resources, technology, and expertise. This will require selected clubs to demonstrate operational excellence, real community demand, sound governance, and the capacity to generate sustainable impacts.
The Greatest Opportunity: Beyond Resources to Model Enhancement
Evaluating Decision No. 1702 solely through the lens of financial mobilization would overlook its deeper significance. The far more transformative opportunity lies in upgrading and institutionalizing the ISHC model through international cooperation.
For any community-based model to thrive over the long term, it needs much more than short-term grant funding. It requires empirical data to prove efficacy, transparent governance frameworks, well-trained staff and volunteers, appropriately standardized care and support protocols, transparent mechanisms for resource management, and the flexibility to adapt to shifting community dynamics. As such, international cooperation adds multi-layered value: transferring knowledge and technology, training human resources, refining livelihood interventions, strengthening monitoring and data systems, and connecting local clubs to regional and international initiatives.
Crucially, Decision No. 1702 directly confronts the question of sustainability, stipulating that model selection, piloting, and replication must guarantee long-term viability in terms of finance, human resources, and governance. This does not imply that existing community models were unsustainable; rather, it provides a timely opportunity to consolidate and upgrade established foundations, thereby reducing reliance on cyclical project grants and deepening integration within local administrative systems.
From “A Vietnamese Model” to “Shareable Global Experience”
The ISHC model can also be viewed from another vantage point: not merely as a recipient of external aid, but as a home-grown Vietnamese practice capable of enriching international policy dialogues on community-based ageing. Its prominent inclusion in a national international cooperation scheme reinforces the ISHC’s status as a quintessential “practical ambassador” of Vietnam in people-to-people diplomacy—especially as this community initiative has demonstrated its effectiveness and sparked strong interest and replication inquiries from developed countries.
Over years of growth, the model has integrated multi-faceted functions on a single community platform: health promotion, care support, socio-cultural activities, livelihoods, and intergenerational engagement. It is precisely this integrated nature and the ability to mobilize community assets that make the model a compelling reference point for other countries seeking affordable, scalable, and adaptable ageing solutions.
Decision No. 1702 creates the institutional space for such grassroots experiences to be synthesized, documented with rigorous evidence, and shared across regional and global platforms. This marks an important elevation in the model’s stature: from a localized initiative created to address immediate community needs in Vietnam, the ISHC is evolving into a validated practice contributing to global discourse on ageing. The objective is not to “export” the model rigidly, but rather to share its core principles—community empowerment, mobilizing local resources, bridging generations, and enabling older persons to live independently and actively within their communities—so that they can be adapted to diverse cultural and socioeconomic contexts.
Opportunities for Civil Society and Social Enterprises: From “Bridges” to “Ecosystem Builders”
The Scheme emphasizes the leading role of the State while explicitly encouraging the active participation of the Vietnam Association of the Elderly, local communities, the private sector, and public-private partnerships (PPPs). This creates vital space for civil society organizations, technical agencies, and social enterprises to engage more deeply in translating policy into viable, ground-level solutions.
For specialized agencies with technical expertise in ageing, their role extends far beyond simply matching a foreign donor with a local club. More critically, they serve to “translate” global knowledge into context-appropriate solutions for Vietnam, supply empirical evidence for policy formulation, design and pilot innovative models, train the workforce, develop measurement systems, and link community networks with strategic resources.
This is precisely where VIOBA Social Enterprise and organizations with extensive on-the-ground experience with ISHCs can maximize their unique strengths: bridging policy and implementation, evidence and practice, and community needs with external resources. The true value of this role does not lie in simply “landing projects,” but in ensuring that international inputs are successfully converted into enduring, systemic domestic capacities.
The 2026–2031 period will serve as a crucial testing ground to assess how effectively these forward-looking policy directions translate into tangible, systemic, and community-level changes. For the ISHC model, the primary opportunity ahead is not merely expanding donor counts, but elevating operational quality, strengthening evidence generation, standardizing core components, and scaling up what has been proven to work.
A country that adapts successfully to population ageing is not simply one with more standalone programs for the elderly. It is a nation that intentionally restructures its systems so that people can live longer, healthier lives, receive dignified care when needed, remain actively engaged, and thrive in an all-age-friendly society. In that sense, Decision No. 1702/QD-TTg stands out not merely as an international cooperation scheme, but as a defining signal that population ageing is finally being placed in its rightful context: at the very core of Vietnam’s overall development and international integration.
