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action on
poverty
CREATIVE • COPYWRITING • WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
HANOI, VIETNAM • 2023
Building a platform for
community-based tourism in Vietnam
THE STORY
Action on Poverty is an Australian NGO that has pioneered ways to create sustainable livelihoods for disadvantaged communities in Vietnam for more than 20 years. The organisation launched Action on CBT, a community-based tourism program, in 2014.
Action on CBT partners with ethnic minority villages in some of the poorest parts of Vietnam, and works hand-in-hand with the community to set up authentic tourism offerings and attract visitors. In 2023, the organisation felt it was time to create a dedicated platform to share its knowledge and promote the villages in the program.
We worked closely with the Action on CBT team in Hanoi to adapt and expand the brand's existing identity, shoot a new library of photos, and build an engaging website to showcase its work.
THE BRAND
Before starting, we sat down with leaders and team members to better understand the project’s story, core values, and vision for the future. Then we got to work sourcing suppliers for photography, graphic design, and website development, and planning a photoshoot in five ethnic minority villages in Hoa Binh and Son La.
To showcase the services Action on CBT offers to organisations and localities, we worked up a set of small art pieces, based on the existing brand colors and style.
We designed a set of custom icons to illustrate the project's values and steps in the process, and chose a friendly yet modern typeface for the brand's text, matching the rugged energy of adventure travel in Northern Vietnam.
THE VISUALS
When the time came to photograph the villages and experiences, we turned to Francis Roux, a Vietnam-based photographer who shares our love of sustainability and natural beauty. Although it rained for the entirety of the photoshoot, the cloudy skies and water drops in the photos became part of the story, reflecting the hard conditions and daily struggle in these regions.
In Vietnam, 86 percent of those living below the poverty line are ethnic minorities, many of whom live in rural areas with difficult access to employment, education, and public services.
Action on CBT has helped local families in 25 villages earn more than 30 billion VND (1.1 million USD) from tourism. On the way, the organisation developed a new, inclusive tourism model that addresses the challenges of using tourism as a means for economic empowerment in remote areas.
THE PLATFORM
We carefully designed the new website to highlight the organization's work, and to explain the history and impact of its program in Vietnam. We added an interactive map to give visitors a better sense of where to find the participating villages, and built dedicated pages for each village to support travellers in trip planning.
We found an elegant solution to presenting the organisation’s large library of studies, books and presentations, using color-coded cards to maintain the clean look of the resource page, and categorizing the documents for easy search.
Finally, we built pages for news updates, hiring, and FAQs and provided written manuals and training for the Action on Poverty team to maintain the website and continue sharing their remarkable work through the new platform.
www.actiononcbt.com
"Working with Esther was both seamless and inspiring. Her user-focused yet strategic approach delivered a website that truly reflects our mission and values.
She helped us refine our messaging, improve content structure, and brought the site to life through professional photography by her team, adding warmth and authenticity to our online presence."
TA VAN TUAN, VIETNAM COUNTRY DIRECTOR, ACTION ON POVERTY
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