Carpenter visiting Cang Long District, Tra Vinh Province. Carpenter at the inauguration ceremony of Tram Bau Bridge, Cang Long District, Tra Vinh Province. The happiness of pupils at the bridge inauguration ceremony. Carpenter and his colleges conducting surveys to select a location for building a secondary school in Cam Chinh Commune, Cam Lo District, Quang Binh Province.   Cutting the ribbon to inaugurate the secondary school in Cam Chinh Commune. Christopher Carpenter, former Chief Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Vietnam, was awarded the Friendship Order and the “For the Cause of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs” Medal by the Vietnamese State for his contributions to poverty reduction in Vietnam. Over 60 infrastructure establishments in 12 Vietnamese provinces have been turned out by Carpenter Project, of which he is the initiator and a major donor. Up till now, almost VND 60 billion (USD 3.75 million) have been disbursed for the construction of infrastructure establishments, benefiting around 150,000 people. Carpenter’s sponsorship and management of the project by Carpenter Fund have been acclaimed for efficiency. To ensure sustainability, he says, the projects must be planned in accordance with the needs of the people, not the donors’ subjective ideas. The project should involve the local people’s discussion and decision before work starts. Carpenter deeply appreciates the active involvement of the local authorities, especially their contribution of reciprocal capital. In the war-ravaged central province of Quang Tri alone, eight establishments, including schools, clean water supply works and bridges have been constructed with the aid from Carpenter Fund. Worthy of note is that the projects have involved the participation of the local authorities whose reciprocal capital accounts for at least 20 percent of the total capital of the construction, which considerably benefits the needy people and raise the quality of the people’s welfare. Carpenter attaches great importance to the quality of the works; thus he travels a lot, to meet the local people and survey work locations and the construction until it finishes.  As the Chief Representative of UNHCR in Vietnam in the 1993 – 1995 period, Carpenter initiated small projects for community socio-economic development worth millions of US dollars. After his retirement in 1998, he signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, thereby he committed to donating USD 1.2 million from his savings to Vietnam’s poor communes. He regularly makes fact-finding trips to different localities, then plans small projects to help the needy people improve their life. Since his retirement, he has spent a larger sum from his savings and raised money from his family and friends to support similar projects in Vietnam. Story by Vuong Mo - Photos by Hong Son