Vietnam Women’s Union visits Israel
The delegation had a meeting with the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center (MCITC), which was founded in 1960 after Israeli Foreign Minister Ms. Golda Meir and also on her initiative. It is one of the three centers under the Israeli Foreign Ministry, providing training on female leadership for developing countries. In 1971 the center moved away from the women-only strategy and started training both men and women on gender and women empowerment in political and economic spheres. Cooperation with other training facilities helps produce more comprehensive training courses. For example, for a course on agricultural start-up, trainees spend a week in
Mrs. Thanh Hoa thanked the
The delegation also had an opportunity to learn from WePower experience in advocating for women leadership. Though accounting for 51.4% of
WePower opens a class even when there are only 3 trainees. Through training, WePower provided women trainees with the knowledge and skills on gender equality, leadership, and the way to run for election as well as to work effectively in the government. WePower’s over the past 5 years has gained an impressive success – organizing more than 35 leadership programs nationwide, training more than 1,000 women, and more than half of the current female National Assembly members are former WePower’s trainees. WePower’s best practices are very useful for VWU to study and apply into Vietnam‘s circumstances.
In addition to working with women’s organizations, the delegation visited several farms and co-operatives that grow vegetables, flowers, mushrooms, etc. The effective usage of net-houses, high quality plants and automatic irrigation system make it possible for farmers to grow things beautifully even in drought conditions. Especially, the delegation had an opportunity to meet some Vietnamese students and workers working on the farms. President Thanh Hoa thoughtfully encouraged them to unite and support each other, exerting themselves in working and studying.
The study visit showed good practices on gender equality and agriculture, and suggested cooperation activities between VWU and Israeli partners in the future.