The term "civil society" is defined as "the broad range of organised groupings which occupy the public space between the state and the individual citizen" . The term civil society is used in development circles in Vietnam. However, its use is recent, and as a conceptual base for understanding interconnections between various civil society actors, there is much work to be done in developing a common, meaningful and locally relevant definition.
Civil society in Vietnam can be described as consisting of a range of organisations, which when organised along a spectrum consist of CBOs at one end of the spectrum and research based organisations and INGOs at the other end. There are several other elements that fall between these two ends such as mass organisations, cooperatives, social and charity funds and Local NGOs etc. Its important to note that in the context of Vietnam, the media and the private sector are not being considered as part of civil society at this point in time.