The purpose of this Masters Degree Project research is to provide recommendations for a gender-sensitive community development framework to decrease the risk and incidence of trafficking in a rural community in Vietnam.For the purpose of the research, qualitative data were collected during interviews with fifty professionals, representative of International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Government organizations in Bangkok and Hanoi, and during interviews with twenty-two community members in a commune in rural Vietnam. Participatory Action and Feminist Research techniques were utilized to determine risk factors that render women vulnerable to trafficking.Trafficking literature focuses on factors such as poverty, education, and the market economy without significantly addressing gender as the root cause of trafficking (Kelly et al. 1999). Therefore, the focus of my interviews was to determine the relationship between gender inequality and factors such as poverty, education, and market reform. I interviewed professionals during the initial stages of my research. Then I conducted fieldwork in the study commune to confirm, negate, and expand upon findings from the professional interviews. After conducting the fieldwork I interviewed more professionals to gain further perspectives on my research findings.Analysis determined that social, cultural, political, and economic factors facilitate ongoing gender subordination in Vietnam which is the underlying root cause of trafficking. However, my fieldwork data also revealed unexpected findings in regard to the difficulty in conducting this type of research in some areas of Vietnam. That is, a major finding in my work is that there are significant bureaucratic constraints and limitations to conducting research on migration and trafficking in this particular area of Vietnam. Inadvertently, these research restrictions created further insight into how political oppression limits the communitys ability to address social problems that are associated with migration and trafficking. This particular information informed my recommendations for community development. It is also a beneficial source of information for scholars who are conducting research on trafficking and for professionals who are developing programs that respond to the trafficking situation in Vietnam.All of these findings, expected and unexpected, are indicative of the need to address the relationship between gender inequality and trafficking in the study commune, while at the same time breaking down political, cultural, and social power structures through community development. Information from my research was utilized to develop recommendations for International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) based on capacity building for community development. My overarching recommendation is to have an International NGO, in partnership with the Government of Vietnam, implement a Community Empowerment Program to respond to gender and other social development needs within the commune. This can best be explored through a community development program that is participatory and inclusive. Recommendations for capacity building to decrease risk factors associated with migration and trafficking include: a preliminary information session and video presentation; gender sensitization training; and the implementation of focus groups through a local facilitator driven process.