Conversation with Giang Dang

Speaker: Giang Dang

Development With Local Resources

Lifelong resident of Vietnam, Giang Dang came from a traditional background in development. After some years of working in a multi-national aid organization, she started to notice a need for depth of local connections and started Action for the City in Hanoi. Showing how small scale actions can affect change through community's inter-connections, Giang is a champion of minimizing consumption of resources, reducing transportation emissions, and promoting green spaces and organic urban agriculture.

Giang has been an active advocate for civil society in Vietnam for the past decade as a senior trainer and consultant for the Center for Community Empowerment and as Education Program Manager for Catholic Relief Services. Giang holds an MA in sociology from Catholic University of America, Washington DC. In 2008 Giang was selected by Asia Society as Young Asian Leader.

Five Questions with Giang Dang

What Makes You Come Alive?

Working creatively to bring people together for livable cities

Pivotal turning point in your life?

When I first graduated from college, I was working for a research on why children left home and became street children. I was interviewing a boy about his dream, and he said "A pair of shoes". It knocked me completely, because at the time I was dreaming of becoming a diplomat. I thought "Wow, there is plenty of work to do to make the world a better place". The boy was my true teacher.

An Act of Kindness You'll Never Forget?

When I was growing up, we were poor. There is a man who worked with my parents. He was a boss, so he had more food than the rest of us. He often came to our house and gave me his food. Through many years I enjoyed some extra food from him, and I never forget that.