Vietnam is perhaps one of Southeast Asia’s most politically resilient countries, having sur vived poverty and war while struggling for self-sufficiency and diversity. The country has significantly risen from the debris of the Vietnam War and the difficulties from the trade embargoes, becoming the world’s leading producer of products such as rice and coffee.

However, Vietnam has yet to truly open the space for civil society and the media, which on several occasions proved to be effective instruments towards people’ s exercise of their human rights and access to resources, including land and culture. The Social Policy Ecology Research Institute (SPERI) is among the many  organisations who have managed to make some breakthroughs in community development, notwithstanding the rather limited and unclear parameters for non-government organisations. Mainly involved in policy lobbying, SPERI has been advocating equal rights to resource use and management; security of social relations to avoid conflicts; and sustainability in resource use and secured living environmental quality. It has had a special focus on ethnic minorities, who have been asserting their claim over their ancestral lands in 16 highland provinces and coping with an expanding cash economy. Among SPERI’s lasting contributions lies in the peace and abundance the Xinh Mun community is currently enjoying.