Vietnam/ Promoting the role of women from ethnic minorities

Launched in 2021, the "Advancing Women's Economic Empowerment in Vietnam" project has enabled many ethnic minority women in Hà Giang (North) to develop their economy and strengthen their position within the family and society.

Truong Thi Nhâu, an ethnic Dao from Tiên Nguyên commune, Quang Binh district, Hà Giang province, comes from one of the locality's most disadvantaged families.^Ms. Nhâu shares that two years ago, her family was in a precarious situation, with no capital to start a business.

"We only owned two buffaloes, but in August 2022, these were washed away by the floods. Our family had no assets, and the loan we had taken out for the buffaloes had not yet been repaid," says^Ms. Nhâu. "My relatives were too poor to help me. At that time, my husband and I were deeply affected," she adds.

Rising from poverty

In September last year,^Mrs. Nhâu was invited to join a team of goat breeders in thevers as part of CARE International's "Advancing Women's Economic Empowerment in Vietnam" (AWEEV) project in Vietnam.

On joining the group,^Ms. Nhâu received an immediate loan of 5 million dôngs (196 USD) interest-free to buy two breeding goats. Thanks to her commitment to learning from the experiences of previous women, her goat farm was a success. Less than nine months later, her goat herd included five more goats than the original two.

"I'm also willing to share my experience of goat farming with other women," she says.

Under the project, each team member can borrow money twice and repay it in a maximum of 18 months.

Dang Xà Tram, head of the Hông Son village goat-breeding team, says: "Seeing the team members' successful model, many other women want to join them. As the number of women increases, we will split into smaller teams to further improve the efficiency of their work, creating favorable conditions for women to easily exchange experiences and support each other in economic development."

Hoàng Thi Hiên, from the village of Yên Binh, Quang Binh district, has managed to work her way out of poverty by opening a mushroom workshop: "I had the idea of growing mushrooms a long time ago and started work in 2018. However, it wasn't until the project gave me an interest-free loan of over 110 million dôngs and financed a bale-filling machine worth over 30 million dôngs for my mushroom workshop that I had the confidence to start production," she reports.

Her workshop currently produces 20,000 blocks of mushrooms to quality standards, with an average turnover of one million dôngs (40 USD) per day at peak periods.

Strengthening the means of action

Nguyên Thi Quyên, President of the Quang Bình District Women's Union, reports that: "Thanks to the support, in particular of the CARE project over the past two years, the lives of ethnic minority women in the six communes covered by the project have undergone significant changes".

"The most gratifying thing is that the community and the men have become aware of the role of women. Women are now recognized and appreciated. Husbands are also willing to do the housework, prepare meals and look after the children," she points out.

Once they earn their own income, ethnic women are free to do their own work, have time to look after themselves and have their own projects.

According to Nguyên Duc Thành, development projects manager for CARE International in Vietnam, the AWEEV project was implemented in 2021-2025. It aims to support 2,635 ethnic people in six communes in Hà Giang province and three communes in Lai Châu province (North) with funding of over 4.5 million Canadian dollars (3.2 million USD).

In Hà Giang province, the project was launched in six communes and towns in Quang Binh district to improve the lives of poor rural women, particularly ethnic women.By the end of May 2023, the project had helped 150 ethnic women raise chickens, pigs and goats, and grow peanuts.

Source: lecourrier.vn/