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Together in action for mother and child!
Safe childbirth and growing up healthy in Nong and Sepone
In 2006, a group of Laotian health professionals saw what MCNV employees in Vietnam managed to achieve. Also on their side of the border there were many health problems and they asked MCNV for help. That was the beginning of our cooperation in the border district of Nong in Laos, ‘diseases do not stop at the border’. Since then, Nong has already better sanitation, drinking water and better nutrition. But good care for mother and child has been left behind, too many women and babies die during or after childbirth. There is insufficient knowledge about safe childbirth and women do not know where to go for help and advice during and after pregnancy.
Village health workers in the lead
We came up with a plan for Nong and the nearby district of Sepone, where the load of experience we gained in Nong now comes in handy. We want to train the village health workers in how to take care of pregnancy and childbirth, in postnatal care and good and sufficient nutrition for (pregnant) women and children. Village health workers are close to the people, speak the local language, know the traditions and recognize the difficulties from their own experience. Having faith in village health workers ensures that mothers will follow the advice and feel supported in the care of the family.
First aid in every village
The more than 150 villages in Nong and Sepone are located in a hard-to-reach area. If something goes wrong during or after childbirth, a care worker from the district health center will never get to the village in time. By in each village teaching a village health worker a number of lifesaving procedures, there is (emergency) aid close by and we reduce the chance of death during or after childbirth.
Support the women and children in Nong and Sepone!
With an amount of € 20,000, we can train 158 village health workers in Nong and Sepone so that the women in the villages can give birth safely and the baby and child mortality, which is now far too high, can quickly decrease. We use some of the money to help young mothers with a first advice on healthy nutrition for their babies and small children to get a chance to grow up healthy. This is a beautiful plan that we would very much like to take further, together with you!
On behalf of our team: Thank you very much for your (extra) contributions!
Karin Vlug
Home-based job benefits poor women in Ben Tre
Strong, durable, and reusable, tote bag is becoming a popular choice of shoppers nowadays. Day by day, those eco-friendly products are being produced by diligent home-based worker like Ms. Vo Thi Ngoc Trinh (Binh Dai district, Ben Tre province).
Ms.Trinh is a resident of Loc Thanh hamlet, Loc Thuan commune. She is married and has a 7-year-old daughter. Trinh’s husband is a mason, who often travel far from home to work. For a woman who has to balance between her income-earning activities alongside childcare and domestic responsibilities like Trinh, a home-based job is the most suitable choice.
“As a member of a local Microcredit group, I got access to a loan worth VND 7 million (~EUR 270) to purchase a sewing machine. Thank to it, I started working from home as a tote bags maker since 2020”, Trinh said, while putting together pieces of cloth and carefully stiches.
Trinh has been outsourced by a local factory through an intermediary. Every week, the intermediary visits her one to two times, to collect the finished products and supply extra materials. The money Trinh earned depends on the quantity of products she completes.
“On average, I make around VND 80,000 – 100,000 each day (VND 2.4 million to 3 million per month).
“Working from home allows me to earn some money while still can manage to do chores and take my daughter to school”, said Trinh.
“The income earned by my husband and me is just enough for us make end meets. My daughter is at grade one of primary school now, hence the expense has increased, as we have to pay for tuition fee, textbook and stationery, etc.”
“I don’t think we will have more kids, as I’m afraid that we cannot afford to raise them”, Trinh said.
“At the moment, my husband and I just want to save enough money to renovate this house, especially the kitchen, it is too shanty”, she said./.
- The Micro Credit and Saving project in Binh Dai district was launched by MCNV and sponsors in 2009.
- In 2020, the project has been expanded to 11 communes and townships, including Binh Dai township, thanks to the funding of Microcredit for Mothers (MfM) foundation.
- The project has been expanded to 11 communes and townships, providing financial services and facilitate socio-economic inclusion for over 5,000 disadvantaged and poor women, supporting household economy development, response to saltwater intrusion and new rural development.
- Nowadays, the project has become financially self-sustained, and is being conducted with the permission of the State Bank of Vietnam, Ben Tre provincial branch.
PROSPER zoom-in: Afforestation with indigenous species
Growing fast, generating a source of good wood, are only two among many benefit of Gmelina arborea, an indigenous tree of Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province. Let’s explore how PROSPER project is helping promote the plantation of Gmelina arborea!
Quang Tri province: More support needed to improve access to land use rights of ethnic minorities
In Quang Tri province, large number of poor ethnic minority households are still lack of residential land and productive land, including 719 households in Huong Hoa and 795 in Dakrong district.
The information was published in a workshop themed “Evaluation of the the implementation of Resolution No. 10/2018/NQ-HĐND of the People’s Council of Quang Tri province” was jointly held by MCNV and the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs of Quang Tri province on January 29th.
The workshop brought together delegates of various authorites of Quang Tri province, such as: the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Affairs (CEMA) – the People’s Council, Office of the People’s Committee, the Department of Finance, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Association of People with Disabilities (PwDs)& Agent Orange Victims, Sponsorship for People with Disabilities and Child Rights Protection (DPO); and delegates of the People’s Committees and relevant departments of three districts of Dakrong, Huong Hoa, Gio Linh and Vinh Linh.
The workshop focused on sharing and discussing the results of implementing the land use right certification and related policies in accordance with the Resolution No. 10/2018/NQ-HĐND of the People’s Council of Quang Tri province after the first 2 years of realization.
Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 2085/QĐ-TTg dated October 31st 2016 on specific policies to support socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the period of 2016-2020, the People’s Committee of Quang Tri province has developed the project “Policy on supporting residential land and funding for granting certificates of land use rights, production land for poor ethnic minority households and poor households in the communes of region III and extremely difficult villages in the period 2019-2022”.
This project was approved by the Provincial People’s Council in Resolution No. 10/2018/NQ-HĐND dated July 18th 2018. Accordingly, annually, the province allocates 80% of the budget and the district allocates 20% to implement the plan, of which 1,189 households are supported with a budget of VND 600,000 per household, for the purpose of ground filling with an allocation quota for residential land of 400m2.
Along with that, 2,768 households receive funding for mapping and agricultural land use right certificate administrative procedures. The total budget is more than VND 8.6 billion.
According to a survey conducted by the CEMA of Quang Tri province, after the first two years of implementing the Resolution, the number of targeted households granted with residential and productive land use right certificates remains low.
In more details, in Huong Hoa district, although 1,123/1,123 targeted households (100%) have received a financial support of VND 600,000 VND per household to create residential land. However, only 34 out of these 1,123 households have been granted residential land use right certificates and 187 out of 2,029 households have been granted agricultural land use right certificates by the end of 2020.
The survey also shows a large number of poor ethnic minority households lacking residential land and productive land (719 households in Huong Hoa and 795 households in Dakrong). Besides, about 1,450 households in Dakrong and Huong Hoa have not yet received support for ground leveling for agricultural cultivation. The survey shows that the mountainous districts of Dakrong and Huong Hoa are facing many challenges in achieving the targets mentioned in the Resolution No. 10/2018/NQ-HĐND of the Provincial People’s Council. These include the lack of land fund in the localities, the meager budget allocation from the central government, the lack of coordination among related agencies and departments, the inadequacy of land database management and sharing, etc.
At the workshop, MCNV and Quang Tri provincial CEMA also updated the progress and results of the project “Realization of land use rights for ethnic minority people with disabilities in Dakrong and Huong Hoa districts”./.
“Realization of land use rights for ethnic minority people with disabilities in Dakrong and Huong Hoa districts” project is funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Vietnam and is implemented by MCNV in collaboration with Quang Tri CEMA and Quang Tri DPO in the period of July 2019 – December 2020.
This project contributes to helping the two mountainous districts of Dakrong and Huong Hoa implement Resolution No. 10/2018/NQ-HĐND, and at the same time develops capacity in policy advocacy for Quang Tri DPO, helping the Association build a database on the status of residential land and agricultural land of PWDs so that the Association can support PWDs to access land policy in a better way.
With a budget of EUR 100,000, equivalent to more than VND 2.6 billion, in addition to the survey and communication activities to raise awareness for the community, the project has supported the leveling of residential land and agricultural land for nearly 100 ethnic minority households with PWDs in Dakrong and Huong Hoa and is in the process of supporting the issuance of land use right certificates for 30 other households in these two districts./.
I-THRIVE supports capacity building for rehabilitation professionals in Thua Thien – Hue
A workshop themed ‘Enhancing the Capacity of Rehabilitation Professionals’ took place in Thua Thien – Hue Province on January 21st, 2021.
The workshop was held as part of the ‘Interdisciplinary rehabilitation services supporting children with intellectual and developmental disabilities to thrive’ (I-THRIVE) project.
I-THRIVE is sponsored by the US Agency of International Development (USAID) with the Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP) being implementing partner.
MCNV is in charge of conducting one of I-THRIVE’s three objectives, which is enhancing the capacity of rehabilitation professionals at provincial and district levels through short full-time in-service training and coaching.
The training was conducted by the Hue University of Medicines and Pharmacy and Da Nang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy, via the model of three 12-month courses covering three key areas of Rehabilitation Techniques, which are Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, and Physio Therapy.
During the 12-month training, the trainees had chance to participate in both theory and practice session at the Universities as well as clinical practice at hospitals.
The workshop held on January 21st, 2021 aimed to review the three training courses which were concluded in December 2020, awarding the Certificate of Graduation to the trainees and discuss on clinical practice support at targeted provincial hospitals and district health centers, and effective management of the newly-graduated rehabilitation professionals.
In the last 1 year, all of the 80 trainees have been qualified for graduation, of which 30 are health workers from Thua Thien-Hue Province.
Speaking at the event, MCNV Country Director, Dr. Pham Dung expressed his pleasant at the results of the trainings, noting the efforts of the trainees and trainers in overcoming multi difficulties to fulfill the course. He furthermore emphasized the importance of developing multidisciplinary approached rehabilitation workforce and services in province and district facilities.
As part of the workshop, delegates of Thua Thien – Hue provincial Department of Health, local hospitals and district health centers took part in discussion on issues regarding the quality of human resources management in local facilities and public awareness raising campaign./.
| *According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in three people worldwide (2.41 billion people) could benefit from rehabilitation (such as physical and occupational therapy or speech and language therapy) at some point in their illness or injury. *According to the 2019 Housing and Population Census by the General Statistic Office (GSO), Vietnamese population has entered the so-called “aging phase” since 2011, and is one of the countries with highest rate of population aging. Currently, approximately 12 million Vietnamese people are at the age of 60 and above, accounting for 13% of the population. The percentage of people over the age of 60 is expected to rise to 23 million in 2053, accounting for 20% of the population. *Concurrently, the increase of non-communicable diseases (stroke, heart diseases, etc) and injuries are leading to the increase of demand for rehabilitation. *Also according to GSO, in Vietnam, 80% of persons with disabilities live in rural areas, causing difficult in accessing to Rehabilitation services. *In order to tackle the aforementioned issues, rehabilitation services must be provided at multi-disciplinary health facilities, especially those in province and district levels. However, Vietnam’s rehabilitation workforce are still in shortage. Therefore, continuing education, short-term in-service training are essential solution to timely fill in the gap of rehabilitation workforce in Vietnam. |
Sustainable livelihood for poor women in Ben Tre
<WE can do it! WE – WOMEN EMPOWERMENT>
Thanks to the sponsorship of GSRD Foundation, 08 cooperative groups for 160 member women have been established in 02 districts: Mo Cay Bac and Mo Cay Nam (Ben Tre province) since 2018.
MCNV is honored to contribute to fostering women’s resilience against the impact of climate change in the Mekong Delta.
Less waste, more green
A Green Circle to reduce household waste and increase bio compost for your garden. 1,150 households in Ben Tre province, (South of Vietnam) have benefited from Waste to Compost project, under the Women Empowerment Program implemented by MCNV.
The Waste-to-Compost model is sponsored by UPS company.
90 Freshmen gain insight into Occupational Therapy through orientation workshop
An orientation workshop for freshmen was held on January 20, 2021 by the Faculty of Physiotherapy/Rehabilitation, Hai Duong Medical Technical University (HMTU).
The event aims to facilitate students in making the optimal choice of major for their coming learning journey and career. Currently, the Faculty is offering two majors: Physio Therapy (PT) and Occupational Therapy (OT).
This year, the Faculty welcomes 90 new students who have just got admitted for the Bachelor program period 2020-2024.
The workshop has provided the freshmen relevant information and understanding on the role of Rehabilitation in the healthcare system, the scope of works, its clients and career opportunity. The information was brought to the students by HMTU’s Academic Board, the University’s Dean of Physiotherapy/Rehabilitation Faculty, and especially two lecturers who have graduated from the Bachelor Program in OT and are now pursuing the Master Program in OT in Manipal Academy of Higher Education (India).
The sharing has given the first year students the confidence to make their choice of major, of which many have made the decision to register for OT.
HMTU is one of the two medical Universities which have been working with MCNV in developing OT professionals in Vietnam. During the four year of 2016-2020, via Humanity and Inclusion, with the sponsorship of USAID, Vietnam’s first batch of Bachelor in OT has graduated from HMTU. Since their graduation, all of the 36 degree holders have been working in OT in public, private hospital and healthcare facilities.
MCNV and HMTU hope that, for the academic 2020-2024, more and more students will register for OT, contributing to filling in the gap of human resources in this meaningful and promising profession./.
Renowned emcee joins MCNV in sustainable forest management
PROSPER project just receives a grant of VND 850 million (~ EUR 33,000) from the An Vui Fund by Mr. Dai Nghia, a celebrity in Vietnamese showbiz who is well-known for both of his talent and strong commitment to helping disadvantaged communities.
The cash, donated by Mr.Dai Nghia, his fellow artists and friends, will be used to plant 128,500 trees, contributing to healing 15 ‘wounds’ Quang Tri forests are struggling with after the flashfloods and landslides last October and November.
On the morning of January 22, together with a team of more than 20 fellow artists, Mr.Dai Nghia traveled to Chenh Venh village, Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province to hand over the donation to MCNV.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr.Dai Nghia said:
“For the recent few years, I’ve been feeling the pain of the loss of forests caused by deforestation, fire and disaster. That’s why I decided to do something to help the nature heal its pains. I know, I cannot do it alone. I’ve spent several years to search for a companion on this journey”.
“When I was introduced to MCNV during a business trip to Quang Tri, I felt like I have found the trust-worthy companion that I’ve been looking for. MCNV, as I know, is a Dutch NGO with lots of projects contributing to supporting disadvantaged communites.”
In response to the MC’s meaningful speech, Mr.Nguyen Dinh Dai, MCNV Chief of Central Vietnam Office expressed his heartfelt thank to Mr.Dai Nghia and all donors.
“We’ve been used to receive donation from overseas donors, mostly from Europe, in particular, the Netherlands. Nowadays, we begin to receive more support from Vietnamese individual and business donors. In the last several years, our donors have shifted the model of support from giving the ‘fish’ to giving the ‘fishing rod’ to the beneficiaries.”
“Today, instead of ‘giving fishing rod’, our sponsors focuses on the partnership with beneficiaries, like the partnership between businesses and farmers, or the collaboration between sponsors and organizations. The grant from Mr.Dai Nghia signifies this new trend of sponsorship, which will generate long-term and sustainable results”.” Mr.Dai noted.
The handover of grant was followed by trees planting activity by Mr.Dai Nghia, the team of artists, Huong Hoa district leader and MCNV representative.
As part of the tree planting trip, on two days (Jan 21 and Jan 22), the group of artists presented 1,000 packs of gifts (rice, cooking oil, dried food) to 1,000 ethnic minority households in Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province./.
