Lesson Learned: Despite the existence of an integration plan, no official decision had been taken by the Vietnam Institute of Human rights and the Academy of Politics and Public administration about the launch of a human-rights based environmental protection course. Both the grantee and officials were unable to present evidence that the achievements made by the UNDEF project are politically supported, either by the Party’s Central Committee or the Board of Academy of Politics and Public Administration. This experience highlights that applying an all-inclusive partnership approach, to the extent possible, is vital for the achievement of democracy development project objectives.