The Social Work Education Enhancement Project (SWEEP) successfully implemented a third Leadership Academy and on January 6th-8th, in Hoi An, Vietnam. The purpose of the event was to support effective leadership and preparation for collaboration among Rectors and Deans of key universities with social work programs in Vietnam. The leadership training was followed by a convening of 24 leaders across eight SWEEP partner universities as well as leaders from the Vietnam Association of Schools of Social Work and Vietnam Vocational Training Association and Vocational Social Work (VVTA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the project’s funder. National leaders in social work agreed to form a consortium to continue notable advances in social work that have taken place over three-years of the SWEEP project. Toward the end of the convening, participants commented publicly about how the SWEEP project profoundly impacted progress in the development of social work education in Vietnam and help to launch leaders on a path for ongoing collaboration. SWEEP team members included: Alice Hines, Principal Investigator and Director; Ed Cohen, Co-Principal Investigator; Laurie Drabble, Faculty Expert Leadership Academy; Tuan Tran, Vietnam SWEEP Coordinator, Hoa Nguyen, and Thao Nguyen, Vietnam SWEEP staff.
During the final day of the national convening of leaders in social work education, Tuan Tran received an award from the Vietnam Vocational Training Association and Vocational Social Work. He was lauded for his commitment and tireless work to further the development of social work education in Vietnam.