PROSPER featured on Vietnam’s most read online news – Vnexpress:
First milestone in SALT professional education
On November 3rd & 5th, 14 students of the Master program in Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) successful completed the thesis defense at the HCMC University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMP). MCNV Country Director Pham Dung attended the event.
The SALT Master program is conducted as part of the project “Development of Speech and Language Therapy Education in Vietnam” under the DISTINCT project by VietHealth, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). MCNV is in charge of project implementation and also contributes part of the funding. The Trinh Foundation Australia (TFA) participates in this project as a technical consulting partner.
The completion of the Master thesis defense is a significant milestone in developing SALT, achieved amidst the most complicated period of COVID-19 outbreak in HCMC. Despite the inevitable challenge brought about by the pandemic, MCNV and partners managed to come up with a set of adaptation solutions to minimize the negative impacts.
Since COVID-19 hits Vietnam, most of the training activities had been shifted from direct to virtual training method. The curriculum was revised, adapted while new teaching materials were developed. A professional Zoom account was maintained to facilitate online learning. Along with that, memberships of Simucase, a credible clinical simulation platform were purchased for all students and supervisors, enabling the users to assess, diagnose, make recommendations, and provide intervention for virtual patients.
For their thesis research, students received continuous support from experienced supervisors of HCMC UMP and universities in Australia.
(These researches will soon be published on Website: http://speechtherapyvn.net and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ngonngutrilieu.mcnv/)
This achievement would have never been accomplished without MCNV’s precious partners and friends, TFA, HCMC UMP, SALT specialists, lecturers and mentors. Based on this initial success, we look forward to our continual fruitful cooperation, to further contribute to the development of SALT and Rehabilitation in Vietnam in general./.
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With a big leap away from hunger
Providing more protein-rich food for children continues to be urgent in coming years
Nutrition for children from poor families living in remote villages in Phu Yen province requires a lot of extra attention. We have regularly written to you about this and asked you for an extra contribution. We want to continue to do this in the coming years because too many young children are malnourished. They need more and better food to grow up healthy and to independently and strongly build their own future at a later age.
Recruitment Announcement
MCNV is a Dutch-based NGO, with an international network working in the fields of health development, social inclusion, livelihood development in responding to climate change, and value chain. Currently MCNV has been running 12 projects in 16 provinces of Vietnam.
During the last 20 years, support to People with Disabilities (PWDs) has became a main Program of MCNV in Vietnam in high priority. MCNV has a plan of a project focusing on Rehabilitation for PWDs in several provinces.
We are looking for several positions for the project as following:
- Accountant: 01
- Program Officer: 02
- Administration and Procurement Assistant: 01
Application deadline: 17h00 , 25th October 2021
For more details of task of each position please refer to Job Description documents attached below:
If you are interested in these job opportunities, please send your application letter and CV via email to nhung.vuhong@mcnv.vn, quoting the position title in the subject line of the email.
50 patient monitors donated to designated COVID-19 hospitals in Vietnam
In response to the shortage of equipment in COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment, the Philips Foundation, Philips Vietnam and the Medical Committee Netherlands – Vietnam (MCNV) have donated 50 patient monitors to 13 hospitals and healthcare centers in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Dong Nai, and Binh Duong.
The first five patient monitors were handed over to the hospital of the HCMC University of Medicine and Pharmacy by representatives of the donors and the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in HCMC on September 28th.
In healthcare, patient monitor is a valuable tool that helps provide information on vital signs including heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, oxygen saturation, which will be used by medical and nursing staff to triage and monitor patients’ conditions during Covid-19 treatment.
Vietnam is confronted with a 4th wave of COVID-19 since the end of April 2021, with an increasing infection rate in more than 60 cities and provinces that cause patient overload and serious medical equipment shortage, especially in designated COVID-19 hospitals in the South of Vietnam. To ensure there are sufficient beds to treat the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 patients, many temporary field hospitals are being newly built to share the patient load with current healthcare facilities – often requiring new medical equipment.
“We believe that when technological innovation and collaboration are combined, we can support the medical force at critical times while meeting future needs for the long run,” said Ms. Margot Cooijmans, Director of Philips Foundation. “We hope that the installation of critical patient monitors will be of great benefit in managing the influx of COVID-19 patients for the hospitals in Vietnam,” she emphasized.
“I am happy that we can contribute, with support from the Philips Foundation and in collaboration with MNCV and Fatherland Front of Vietnam, to the local departments of health with this donation. Our support intends to partly mitigate the shortage of medical equipment in the designated COVID-19 hospitals in Vietnam managing the high volume of seriously ill patients,” said Mr. Hugo Luik, Country Manager of Philips Vietnam.
“Amidst the complicated ongoing development of COVID-19 outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City and the neighboring localities, via the donation of patient monitors, Philips Foundation has provided vital support to healthcare facilities in the treatment of COVID-19. MCNV is honored to join the Philips Foundation in delivering essential supplies to those facilities. We hope that the COVID-19 will soon be controlled and life will soon return to normal for everyone,” said Mr. Pham Dung, MCNV Country Director./.
Dien Bien Support Center for the Development of Inclusive Education to welcome 50 new students
The Dien Bien Support Center for the Development of Inclusive Education (Support Center) held its official school opening ceremony on September 5th, 2021, with the enrollment of 50 new students.
Despite no case of COVID-19 infection was recorded in the province for the last 17 days, protective measures were still strictly adopted. The ceremony was held on a smaller scale with all participants wearing masks.
In the first half of August 2021, the Support Center conducted a series of screening and counselling session for over 90 children with disabilities and symptoms of developmental disorders. The children were residents of Dien Bien Phu city and five neighboring districts of Dien Bien province. The activity was organized under the support of the provincial Department of Education and Training (DoETs), in close coordination with local primary schools and kindergartens.
The screening and evaluation were conducted using the Denver Developmental Screening Test (DENVER) II and the Psychoeducation Profile – Revised (PEP-R), followed by basic counselling provided to parents on the education that best suits the needs of their children, aiming to help them achieve full potential.
Recently, the admission results were approved by the provincial DoETs, with 50 children with disabilities get admitted.
In the academic year 2020-2021, 50 students received education and intervention from the Support Center. Out of the 10 which have been transited to mainstream schools or relocated with their families while the other 40 continue their second year at the Support Center. Together with the 50 newly admitted children, in the school year 2021-2022, the total number of students of the Support Center therefore will be 90, including children with intellectual disabilities, speech impairment, hearing impairment, autism and DOWN syndrome.
For the academic year 2021-2022, the Support Center will continue to offer three education programs, which are pre-primary school (using Vietnam’s official primary program with adaptation), early intervention (using Vietnam’s official preschool programs with adaptation) and life skills for children with severe disabilities.
In 2021, MCNV will continue the assist the Support Center and the province on inclusive education via providing capacity-building on early detection, early intervention and early education to local education managers and teachers, establishing collaboration mechanism for inclusive education support between the Support Center and satellite schools, providing information on early detection, early intervention and education for children with disabilities is transfered to all 10 districts/cities in Dien Bien./.
- Since 2014, MCNV has started to support Dien Bien with a project of community-based rehabilitation for people with disabilities. In 2016, MCNV and Dien Bien Provincial Department of Education and Training (DoETs) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a mutual collaboration in setting up a Support Center for the Development of Inclusive education for children with disabilities in Dien Bien and fund raising for construction of this Support Center.
- In October 2019, Dien Bien Support Center officially started its operation. With financial and tecnical support from MCNV’s project, staff of Dien Bien Support Center were enabled to join some basic capacity building activities. The Center’s staff has initially formed their capacity to care for and educate children with disabilities.
summary of strategic plan 2021-2025
Although the plans for meeting staff from all our offices in our Amsterdam office had to be canceled because of COVID-19 measures, we have come to a strategic plan for the coming five years. Please find below a summary in English, or click here to download. The full plan, also in English is available when clicking this link.
Strategy-mcnv-2021ENG_LR
Consultation workshop on sustainable forest management plan period 2021-2025
On August 26th 2021, MCNV collaborated with the Quang Tri Association of Smallholder Forest Certification Groups (SFCG Association) to organize a consultation workshop on the sustainable forest management plan of the SFCG Association for the period of 2021-2025 and the preparation for the FSC® audit of the community-managed natural forests in Chenh Venh village (Huong Phung commune) and Ho village (Huong Son commune), Huong Hoa district.
The workshop was conducted within the project “Promoting sustainable partnership between CSOs and enterprises for sustainable forest management in the context of climate change” (PROSPER) co- funded by the European Union and MCNV.
Various stakeholders of the project were present the workshop, including delegates from Huong Hoa district Forest Protection Department, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Huong Hoa – Dakrong Protection Forest Management Board, Northern Huong Hoa Nature Reserve Management Board, Forest Science Center for Northern Central Vietnam, Community Forest Management Board of Ho Village and Chenh Venh Village, Chan May Cooperative, etc.
2021 is an important year for Quang Tri SFCG Association as the Association will be audited for FSC® certification for the period 2021-2025. To meet with FSC® audit requirements, with the support from MCNV, Quang Tri SFCG Association has actively assisted 37 member sub-associations in the lowland districts in building capacity, strengthening the system of management and monitoring, designing and operating a smartphone application for forest management, and carry out other activities such as acacia plantation, silviculture, low-impact harvesting and establishment of high quality acacia seedling nurseries.
All activities were conducted in compliance with 10 FSC® principles in sustainable forest management. In addition, the Quang Tri SFCG Association has enrolled three more member sub-associations in the mountainous area, including Chenh Venh Community Forest Management Board, Ho Village Community Forest Management Board and Chan May Cooperative.
With the participation of the community forest management boards of Chenh Venh and Ho villages, this will be the first time the community-managed natural forests participate in the FSC® certification for non-timber forest products. Over the past time, MCNV and Quang Tri SFCG Association have recruited external consultants to conduct assessments related to these two community forests, including an assessment of high conservation value forests, survey of rattan & bamboo reserve, and environmental and social impact assessment. The community forest management boards of the two villages were also equipped with basic knowledge in sustainable forest management according to FSC® standards, first aid skills and participate in field visit to a model of sustainable supply of rattan. At the same time, they were provided with protective tools for forest patrols and first aid packages.
Based on the suggestions from delegates participating in the workshop, MCNV and the external consultants will continue helping the Quang Tri SFCG Association complete the preparation steps for the FSC® audit scheduled to take place at the end of September 2021./.
