On June 17, 2025, in La Hai Township, Dong Xuan District, Phu Yen Province, MCNV, in collaboration with the District People’s Committee and the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dong Xuan District, organized a closing workshop for the project “Boost Income and Jobs for Poor Women in Ethnic Minority Areas of Dong Xuan District” (referred to as the BIJPO project).

The BIJPO project has been being implemented over a three-year period, from November 2022 to November 2025, across 15 ethnic minority villages of six communes of Dong Xuan District, including Da Loc, Phu Mo, Xuan Lanh, Xuan Phuoc, Xuan Quang 1, and Xuan Quang 2. The objectives of the project are to create jobs, improve working conditions, and enhance agricultural production and business capacity for poor women through the operation of women’s cooperative groups and household-scale production groups, thereby providing local food sources and increasing income through agricultural products.

The project’s key interventions include:

(1) Supporting women-led production and business cooperative groups such as plastic chair weaving, red rice production, brocade weaving, community-based tourism, acacia seedling nursery, agricultural product processing, and cattle breeding;

(2) Enhancing household production capacity and conditions through diversified production models, such as fish farming, fruit tree planting, scattered forestry planting, organic vegetable gardening, mushroom growing, black snail raising, and provision of grass-cutting machines;

(3) Supporting micro-entrepreneurs in expanding production and trade activities to supply food and agricultural input materials to the community.

Some products of the women’s cooperative group were displayed at the workshop

After nearly 3 years of implementation, the project has brought about many positive results. In total, 419 women participated in 19 women’s cooperative groups implementing eight production and business models. Additionally, 661 households benefited from eight household-level agricultural production models, and 15 micro-entrepreneurs engaged in small-scale food and agricultural supply businesses. It is estimated that approximately 11,000 residents across the six communes indirectly benefited from the project’s activities.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Pham Dung – MCNV Vietnam Country Director – highly appreciated the contributions of the Dong Xuan District People’s Committee and the Department of Agriculture and Environment throughout the implementation of the BIJPO project. 

Mr. Pham Dung – MCNV Vietnam Country Director spoke at the closing workshop

The project has a total investment of VND 11.5 billion, of which the local government has contributed VND 5.8 billion as counterpart funding sourced from national target programs – 190% higher than the initial commitment. The local government also established a district-level Project Management Unit (comprising the People’s Committee, Department of Agriculture and Environment, Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, Department of Ethnic Affairs, and Women’s Union) to monitor and provide technical support for the project activities.

From July to November 2025, MCNV will continue to implement several remaining activities in the project area, with a particular focus on strengthening several women’s cooperative groups to ensure sustainability and scalability of the models in the future.