AUD 4.2 million for empowerment and capacity building of the Vietnamese women and girls

On the morning of Feb. 19, 2014, in Hanoi, VWU President Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa had a meeting with the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Hon Julie Bishop.

VWU President Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa warmly welcomed Ms. Julie Bishop to Vietnam as the first female Foreign Minister of Australia. She provided Ms. Julie Bishop with brief information o­n the VWU structure, mandate, main tasks and activities. According to President Thanh Hoa, Vietnam has made significant achievements in accomplishing three Millennium Development Goals o­n poverty reduction, universal education and gender equality. However, gender inequality still causes many obstacles such as deeply-rooted gender stereotypes in the society; limited awareness of the women o­n their rights; unemployment which makes women vulnerable to trafficking; lower education and capacity among women in rural, remote areas and women of ethnic minorities.

VWU President expressed her sincere thanks to the Australian Government for its cooperation and valuable support to Vietnam in general and Vietnamese women in particular, especially to gender equality in Vietnam.

Ms. Hon Julie Bishop thanked VWU for its warm reception. She expressed her interests in women and gender equality related issues and affirmed that, as a Foreign Minister, she would have more activities to promote empowerment and capacity building for women and girls. She considered Vietnam Women's Union an important partner and was very pleased with the results and effectiveness of the projects and programs implemented by VWU.

On behalf of the Australian Government, the Minister officially announced a supporting package worth AUD 4.2 million for women in Vietnam through two cooperation projects with VWU, namely projects "Towards more profitable and sustainable vegetable farming systems in north-western Vietnam” and "Developing Human Resource Capacity in Vietnam: Effective Service Delivery To Combat Gender Based Violence and Trafficking”. The two projects aim to empower women and girls economically; to enhance the role and position of women in family, community and society; and to prevent domestic violence in Vietnam. She hoped to witness positive results of these projects in the near future.

VWU President Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa expressed her gratefulness to the Government and people of Australia for their valuable support to the Vietnamse women. VWU would do its best in the two projects to achieve the projects’ goals, contributing to the socio-economic objectives and gender equality in Vietnam.

After the meeting, President Thanh Hoa and Foreign Minister Hon Julie Bishop attended and delivered remarks at the start-up workshop of the project "Towards more profitable and sustainable vegetable farming systems in north-western Vietnam". The two leaders were invited to taste local fresh vegetable showcased at the workshop.

President Thanh Hoa and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop visit the exhibition of fresh vegetables from north-western Vietnam at the workshop