Communication in brief about Results of the 10th National Women’s Congress.

Background

-The 10^th National Women’s Congress is held at a time of great historical significance. After 20 years of renovation, Vietnam has made great achievements in socio-economic development.The entire Party, people and army have made a massive effort to successfully implement the Resolution of the 10^th Party Congress.

-Vietnam has become an official member of the WTO.

-The passage of the Law o­n Gender Equality and Resolution No. 11-NQ/TW o­n women’s mobilization in the period of accelerating the national industrialization and modernization has presented many favorable opportunities as well as serious responsibilities for the women’s movements and the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU).

Significance of the 10^th National Women’s Congress

-The 10th National Women’s Congress represents the will, aspiration and intelligence of women in Vietnam, who are developing great traditions and continuously making worthy contributions to the national renovation with the goal of “a prosperous people, a strong country, and an equitable, democratic and civilized society.”

-The Congress vigorously encourages women of all strata to take part in the successful implementation of the Resolution of the 10th Party Congress.

Missions of the 10^th National Women’s Congress

-Appraising the implementation of the Resolution of the 9th National Women’s Congress and defining the goals, tasks and solutions for the women’s movement and VWU’s activities during the 2007-2012 tenure.

-Electing the VWU’s Executive Committee for the 2007-2012 tenure.

-Voting for approval and passing the adjusted and amended full text of VWU’s Statutes.

Delegates of the 10^th National Women’s Congress

-Official delegates: There will be 1,193 official delegates who are exemplary women in VWU’s movements and activities, representing 52 ethnic groups. WU staff at all levels, women in Union at all levels, women in armed forces and police, women in some fields….

-Guests: There will be more than 400 honorable invitees from the Party, the Government, the Fatherland Front, authority agencies, socio-political organizations, brotherhood units, collaborators, chiefs and deputy chiefs of VWU’s departments/units, and diplomatic corps and international organizations based in Hanoi.

I. REVIEW OF THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT AND VWU’S ACTIVITIES IN THE 2002–2007 tenure , AND DIRECTIONS IN THE 2007-2010 tenure

Presented by Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa, Member of the Central Communist Party of Vietnam , VWU’s Vice President in the tenure of 2002-2007

1. Achievementsof Women’s Movement and VWU’s activities in the 2002-2007 period

a.Organize and encourage women to participate in emulation movements and activities for caring for and improving the material and spiritual life of women.

- Mobilizing women nationwide to participate in patriotic emulation movements, especially the movement “women actively study, creatively work, and nurture happy families.” After five years of implementing this emulation movement, there have been nearly 7 million WU members meeting the requirements of three standards of the emulation movement.

- The information, education and communication (IEC) to raise the full capacity and knowledge ofwomen have made progress.

- Actively and effectively supporting women to alleviate poverty and develop their household economy in order to prosper legitimately. In the last five years, VWU has supported more than four million households, of which more than 1.7 million are female-headed families. 800,000 households (half of which are female-headed) have escaped from poverty, which has contributed to the country’s achievement in reducing the rate of poor households.

-Supporting women in order to build “plentiful, equal, progressive and happy families,” contributing to the solutions of social problems

b.Actively suggesting the passage of laws and policies and supervising the implementation of policies and laws to protect the legitimate rights and interests of women

-VWU actively advises the Party and Government: The Gender Equality Law and Resolution No. 11 of the Party Political Bureau regarding “the work of women in the period of accelerating industrialization and modernization”.

c.VWU’s institutional consolidation and development have gained achievements

-Currently, the rate of women who are members of a WU is 63.62%, an increase of 13.62% compared to the last term. More than 75% of households with women over 18 years old attend their local WU; and more than 95% of WU branches are rated as good.

d.International relations and cooperation with VWU have been fostered and developed.

- So far, VWU has maintained bilateral and multilateral relations with more than 300 partners in 67 countries in the region and around the world, thus promoting understanding and cooperation between Vietnamese women and people and the rest of the world.

GOALS, TASKS AND MEASURES IN THE 2007–2012 TENURE

·Objective

To unite and mobilize women of all strata to study actively, work creatively, and nurture happy families; take part in economic development and international integration; raise all-sided capacity and knowledge; and improve the material and spiritual life of women. To cultivate the Vietnamese women who are patriotic, knowledgeable, healthy, skillful, dynamic, innovative, well-cultured, and kind-hearted. To build and develop an organizationally strong VWU, bring into full play key roles in motivating women and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of women, and contributing to the achievement of the following goal: by 2020, Vietnam will be among the countries in the region having achieved the highest level of gender equality.

·Targets

1. More than 80% of VWU’s members will register to participate in the “Women study actively, work creatively and nurture happy families” movement, of which over 70% of female members meet three standards of the movement.
2. More than 70% of women will be informed about the Party’s direction, the State’s policies and laws, and VWU’s Statutes and Resolutions; educated o­n national tradition, moral lifestyle and gender equality; and trained o­n the prevention of social vices and how to nurture happy families.
3. More than 60% of mothers having children under 16 years of age will be guided o­n child-rearing methods and measures.
4. More than 70% of poor women will be supported by VWU to reduce poverty and eliminate hunger. Striving for a target of supporting more than 90% of female-headed poor households, with the goal of 40 to 50% escaping from poverty
5. Annually, approximately 50,000 women will receive vocational training; the rate of long-term trained female laborers will increase.
6. Increasing the number of good and excellent WU’s grassroots, and considerably reducing the number of weak grassroots; more than 90% of Women’s Unions will increase their core membership and their local WU Funds.

7.Increasing by more than 5% the membership of VWU compared to the number at the beginning of the tenure; more than 80% of households that have women aged 18 and above will have at least o­ne WU member; more than 70% of members will attend VWU’s regular activities and pay membership fee.

8.100% of WU presidents and vice presidents at the province/city level and WU’s presidents at the district/town level, and 90% WU’s presidents at the commune/ward level under 45 years of age, will meet the regulated qualifications of civil officers.

·Tasks and measures

1. Raising women’s awareness, knowledge and capacity, in order to meet the requirements of the new situation; cultivating healthy, knowledgeable, skillful, dynamic, innovative, cultured and kind-hearted Vietnamese women.

1.1Organizing communication activities, mobilizing women to implement laws and policies, and actively participating in the fulfillment of socio-economic development tasks

-Properly organize the communication and dissemination of the Party’s direction and the State’s resolutions and laws for staff, members and women.

-Paying particular attention to the issues of: labor/jobs; education/training; hunger elimination & poverty alleviation; marriage & family; reproductive health; mother and child protection; crime and other social evils prevention; accident and injury prevention; land and the environment; traffic safety; civil relations; social insurance, ethnicity and religion; the Gender Equality Law, the National Strategy for the Advancement of Women; and the VWU’s emulation movement “Women actively study, creatively work and nurture happy families.”

1.2Cultivating the Vietnamese woman in the industrialization and modernization period

Mobilize and guide women to strive to become healthy, knowledgeable, skillful, dynamic, innovative, cultured and kind-hearted and to actively study in order to increase their knowledge and improve their professional skills; discover, cultivate and increase the number of exemplary Vietnamese women.

1.3Innovating and improving the effectiveness of the education, mobilization and communication activities of Women’s Unions at all levels

Prepare information, education and communication (IEC) projects addressed to women o­n Vietnamese laws; improve the qualifications of VWU’s reporters and motivators who are able to provide direct communication combined with counseling at the grassroots; heighten the effectiveness ofthe IEC bodies of the Vietnam Women’s Union.

2. Participating in the formulation, social counter-argument, and supervision of implementation of laws and policies o­n gender equality

2.1Participating in law and policy formulation

-Implement Resolution No. 11-NQ/TW of the Politburo o­n “Women’s mobilization in the period of acceleration of the national industrialization and modernization”.

-Providing inputs to draft documents of the Party Congress at all levels and to national and local development projects in all fields.

-Study, propose and take part in the formulation of policies o­n families in the period of industrialization and modernization.

-Increase and improve the quality of scientific research.

2.2Intensifying the consultation, supervision and implementation of the role of social criticism

-Consolidate and develop the VWU’s network of legal counseling and settlement of complaints;

-Supervise the implementation of laws and policies related to women,

-Make recommendations and implement necessary measures in order to promote the prevention of social evils and crimes against women,

-Study and carry out the task of social counterargument.

3. Assisting women in economic development, job creation and income generation

3.1Intensifying the implementation of measures to help women escape from poverty.

-Focus o­n female-headed poor households, striving for a target of supporting at least 90% of these households, with the goal of 40 to 50% escaping from poverty; conduct transfering technology and experiences in running a business are shared;

-Intensify the search for funding sources; expand the trust fund from the Social and Policy Bank; develop sustainable credit and savings models;

-Bring into play feature of activeness, overcome difficulties, thrifty;

-Expand interdependent and affection groups; and mobilize savings activities among women to help each other escape from poverty.

3.2 Encouraging and assisting women in production and business development for legitimate enrichment

-Assist women with business development services and business start-up;

-Encourage women to join in different modes of cooperation liasion in manufacture; and honor talented women in the economy, conduct emulation movementin good production.

-Push for capital from sources including the Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development and others.

3.3 Intensifying vocational training and job placement for women

-Intensify the dissemination of information o­n the labor market and jobs for women.

-Consolidate and improve the quality of VWU vocational training centers; draw up and implement the project o­n job/vocational training for women.

3.4 Promoting sustainable development for VWU credit & savings activities in accordance with the laws

Study and set up the credit & savings model of VWU according to the Government’s Decree No. 28/2005-CP, establishing a Women’s Bank when favorable conditions exist.

4.Assisting women to build plentiful, equal, progressive and happy families

-Communicate to raise the awareness and responsibility of both women and men, as well as the community as a whole;

-Continue to implement the joint resolution o­n “monitoring and educating children to avoid crime and other social evils”.

-Educate women about living a progressive lifestyle; eliminating unsound customs and backward practices in marriage and family life; and participating in the prevention of and struggle against social evils such as domestic violence, trafficking in women and children, and illegal marriage to foreigners.

-Focus o­n assisting misfortunate families and old, lonely, disabled women and orphan children; promote skills for women in the areas of maternity health care, HIV-AIDS prevention, age-appropriate child-rearing practices, family education, and the organization of family life. Offer instruction in living skills for young women and minor-aged girls;

-Build and implement the “Educating five million mothers” program; Develop forms of marriage counselingand centers for supporting family and marriage; Actively participate in strengthening and improving the quality of operation of reconciliation groups in the community.

5. Building and developing a strong organizational structure for VWU

5.1Developing and strengthening the organizational structure of VWU

-Broadly unite women in all fields, particularly young women, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, elderly women, female laborers in industrial zones and non state-owned enterprises, and Vietnamese women residing overseas;

-Strengthen the institutional organization of VWU; improve the quality and effectiveness of VWU activities; improve the quality of planning, information, reporting and statistics, and enhance the application of information technologies in operation of the Women’s Union at all levels.

5.2 Consolidating and improving the quality of WU’sactivities at the local level

-Provide specific guidance to weak women’s unions.

-Combine the institutional consolidation of Women’s Unions at all levels with development programs for women;

-Modify the content and forms of activities to make them practical and appropriate for women.

-Develop and enhance the role of key WU member,

-Continually recommend policies o­n providing budgets for WU activities at the village, hamlet and other relevant levels in extremely poor areas as well as allocating working places for Commune Women’s Unions at the communal level.

5.3 Focusing o­n renovating the forms of VWU activities at all levels

-Continue to implement the goal of focusing o­n activities at the local and residential levels;

-Ensure the legal and legitimate rights and interests of WU members and women in general; overcome bureaucracy;

-Promote the self-reliance and innovation of all VWU;

-Focus o­n piloting, model-building and reviewing lessons learned; enhance the socialization of WU activities; establish a mechanism to equally and effectively coordinate with other ministries, departments and industries, the Fatherland Front and other agencies in implementing programs, projects and activities related to women .

5.4 Improving the capacity of WU cadres at all levels

-Actively make plans and timely assessthe work of WU cadres according to VWU’s Statutes,

-To build up a range of high-profile experts in certain female-related fields at the Central and provincial levels.

-Strengthen education and training for WU cadres at all levels; develop key cadres at the commune/precinct and district levels, as well as ethnic minority and religious cadres, young cadres;

-Build and implement the project o­n educating and training WU cadres at the district, commune, precinct and town levels; and establish a Women’s Institute.

6. Expanding international relations and cooperation for equality, development and peace

-Advocate for the Party and State in implementing international commitments related to women’s rights and gender equality in which the Vietnam Government participated;

-Raise the awareness of WU cadres, members and women about the external relations policies of the Party and Government as well as about VWU’s relations and cooperation;

-Consolidate and promote bilateral relations with women’s organizations in neighboring countries, in the region, and all over the world. Enhance multilateral relations with regional and global non-governmental organizations;

-Take advantage of favorable international conditions to actively attract international resources in assisting VWU’s development programs for the sake of the Vietnamese women. Mobilize Vietnamese women living abroad to look toward the Motherland and contribute to the development of the country, the women’s movements, and VWU’s activities.

The 10^th Vietnam Women’s National Congress, in the spirit of “Unity – Renovation – Equality – Development”, expresses the confidence and determination of women throughout the country in contributing, with the Vietnamese people, the Party and the Armed Forces, to reinforcing national solidarity, overcoming difficulties and challenges, successfully implementing the Resolution of the 10^th National Congress of the Party, and comprehensively enhancing the country’s cause of renovation in order to achieve the goal of “a prosperous people, a strong country, and an equitable, democratic and civilized society,” as well as for the equality, advancement and development of women in Vietnam./.