The provincial People's Committee has closely followed government decrees to develop a legal framework and synchronised action plans. It issued a programme to strengthen cooperation and mobilise foreign NGO aid for the 2020–2025 period. The province has actively collaborated with the Department of Foreign Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Committee for Foreign NGO Affairs, and the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations to carry out related activities.

According to Nguyen Van May, Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the department has advised the province in developing a bilingual (Vietnamese-English) list of priority projects seeking NGO aid. This approach has helped donors easily access and understand Son La’s development priorities while enhancing transparency and accessibility for international partners. The department has regularly met with and introduced local aid needs to foreign NGOs, while monitoring the implementation of ongoing projects and promptly resolving any arising difficulties.

From 2019 to 2025, total aid from foreign NGOs to Son La province reached 19.4 million USD. These programmes and projects were mainly carried out in ethnic minority and remote areas, focusing on key sectors such as enhancing livelihoods through community-based tourism; supporting income-generating production and rural agricultural development; climate change and environmental protection; health care, education and training; and emergency relief, clean water, and child care and protection.

Many projects have had widespread impact, serving as exemplary models for replication in other localities. They also help build strong partnerships between international stakeholders and local communities, promoting Son La’s cultural identity, strengths, and development potential to global friends.

One notable initiative is the Gender Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT), a technical assistance project aimed at empowering ethnic women socially and economically, and improving their resilience. In Son La, Phase II of the project is being implemented from 2022 to 2027 across all localities, with a total investment of over 250 billion VND (9.57 million USD). Of this, 236 billion VND comes from non-refundable ODA provided by the Australian Government, and 14.5 billion VND from the provincial budget.

In Ngoc Chien commune, with support from GREAT Phase II, local residents have been mobilised to participate in tourism value chains, enhancing management capacity and tapping into the local tourism potential.

Luong Van Xien, Director of the Ngoc Chien Community Tourism Cooperative, shared: "The project has enabled us to develop cultural experience tours that showcase the unique traditions of the Thai, Mong, and La Ha ethnic groups to visitors. These efforts not only generate additional income for our cooperative members but also play an important role in preserving and promoting traditional cultural values.”

As a result, community-based tourism in Ngoc Chien is creating jobs and improving living standards for many local households, particularly women and ethnic minorities, he added.

Looking ahead, Son La province remains committed to reforming administrative procedures related to the approval and oversight of NGO-funded projects. These efforts aim to streamline project implementation for foreign NGOs and attract greater aid to realise the province’s sustainable development goals.