Mekong - U.S. Partnership
State Magazine Mekong Connections Article
State Magazine highlighted Mekong Connections in their April edition. Mekong Connections, a three-year program funded by the U.S. Department of State under the Mekong-U.S. Partnership (MUSP), concluded in September 2023. The program promoted good governance and transparency in public policy in the sub-region with grants to 12 local organizations for community-based projects. The grants provided…
MUSP-Master in Public Policy (MPP) at Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV) (2021-2026)
The MUSP-MPP program was developed in response to the mutual need for finding a new way to build trust and engagement with Mekong countries. Through this five-year joint program, up to 14 early to mid-career Lao civil servants, aged 25-35, will be selected in total to attend Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management at…
Enhancing Equality in Energy for Southeast Asia (E4SEA – under Clean EDGE Asia) (2020-2026)
Improves gender equality in the energy sector, which supports both a sustainable and secure energy sector and overall women’s empowerment. To achieve this goal, the activity supported by USAID works to: 1) increase diversity of the energy sector workforce, 2) support inclusive workplace environments, and 3) increase promotion and leadership opportunities for women in the…
Track 1.5 Policy Dialogues (2021-2024)
The Partnership Policy Dialogues are a series of six multi-day conferences that will take place from 2021 – 2023 to explore solutions to key policy and sustainability challenges facing the Lower Mekong. The conferences will explore themes that include connectivity, energy and infrastructure, non-traditional security, transboundary water governance, and nature-based solutions. Tying the conference experiences together are cross-cutting values of inclusivity, resilience (including climate), and collaboration.
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Resident Legal Advisor for Counter Wildlife Trafficking (CWT) (2018-Present)
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training has a Regional Resident Legal Advisor (RLA) for Counter Wildlife Trafficking, based in Vientiane, Lao PDR, to enhance the capacity of Lao PDR, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam to combat illegal wildlife trafficking. Currently, the RLA’s primary…
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Seed Trade Capacity Program (2019-2024)
The Seed Trade Capacity Building program, led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, aims to develop the seed sector building institutional capacity for research, innovation, and new seed technologies; promoting and enabling policy environments for seed trade; and facilitating cooperation and partnerships with the private sector in the Mekong Region.
Mekong One Health Innovation Program (MOHIP) (2022-2025)
MOHIP, a program implemented by Michigan State University, is improving public health security in Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam by strengthening use of the One Health approach in Mekong countries. This program aims to connect U.S. health experts with Mekong researchers to create a transnational health security network in the Mekong sub-region to enable…
Wonders of the Mekong (2017-Present)
The USAID-funded Wonders of the Mekong project applies research, capacity building, and outreach to solve conservation and development challenges in the Mekong sub-region. These challenges include overexploitation of natural resources, habitat degradation and fragmentation, flow modification, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and pollution. The project engages in simultaneous efforts to gather and synthesize environmental data, conduct…
U.S.-ASEAN Smart Cities Partnership WiSE/Water Program (2020-2024)
Water Smart Engagements (WiSE) Program pairs U.S. and ASEAN cities, water districts, and utilities for collective capacity building and innovative technology familiarization. Three such cities are from the Mekong region, including Vientiane, Lao PDR which partnered with Hillsboro, Oregon; Phuket, Thailand with Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam with San Francisco, California.…
NASA – Strategic Hydrologic Agricultural Remote-sensing for Environments (SHARE) Program (2020-2025)
Through a broad array of established, transparent, and tested tools and trainings, the NASA SHARE program enables cooperative management of transboundary waters by deploying remote sensing tools to monitor water levels, land use changes, or drought/flood forecasting. The U.S. Department of State intends to support deployment of SHARE in river basins where remote sensing applications…
USAID Mekong for the Future (MFF) (2020-2025)
This project aims to increase community actors active and meaningful participation in the natural resource governance processes across the region by identifying and understanding those actors’ strengths, limitations, priorities, and needs, and providing the relevant and needed training and capacity building support. MFF seeks to strengthen community networks and coalitions and improve their ability to…
USAID SERVIR-Southeast Asia (2023-2028)
Under the MUSP umbrella, USAID, in collaboration with NASA, supports climate resilience studies, providing early warning of dramatic changes in regional water and disasters, air quality, food security, weather and climate, and land cover and land use, with a focus on the Mekong sub-region.
