HelpAge International companions with Vietnam Women's Union in elderly care work
At the meeting, the two sides exchanged view on the issues concerning the elderly in
VWU President Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa informed HAI leaders that the newly passed Constitution of Vietnam (revised in 2013) includes contents on the elderly; the Law on the Elderly was adopted in 2009 and the Party and State have policies on ageing support.
As a socio-political organization representing and protecting the legal and legitimate rights and interests of women, including older women, VWU has set directions, guidelines and plans to mobilize, support, care for the elderly. In the area of ageing support, the VWU focuses its practical activities on assisting elderly women in economic development by providing loans, production knowledge which is relevant to their health, supporting families with older persons in economic development; assisting with the construction and repair of affection houses, conducting visits, encouraging and giving gifts to elderly women on occasions of special holidays or Tet festival; establishing appropriate models to attract older persons’ participation, such as Elderly Women’s Club; Exemplary Grandparents, Gentle Descendants’ Club; Old Ladies’ Club ...
VWU President highlighted and showed high appreciation of HAI’s active support to VWU in its elderly care work over the past years, specifically in resources mobilization and technical assistance in implementing ageing support programs and projects. Especially, the model of “Intergenerational Self-help Club” has been developed with over 500 clubs set up in 4 provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh, attracting the participation of 17,000 members, including over 11,000 older persons. As a result, 9,145 club members have been provided loans for economic development and poverty reduction with a total amount of over 29 billion VND (over 3 million VND/member on average). This helps older people improve their family life, get better access to health care and promote their voices in the family and the community as well.
The “Intergenerational Self-help Club” model is seen now as the most comprehensive community-based development model in supporting the elderly in Vietnam and has been included as an indicator in the National Plan of Action for Older Persons (by 2015 at least 15% of communes, wards and towns to set up the Intergenerational Self-help Club or other models to care for and promote the role of the elderly. This indicator is 50% by 2020). This model is advised to visit and learn experience by different international organizations in the region and in the world.
HAI representatives expressed their interest in the challenges faced by older women in
Deeply impressed by VWU’s elderly care work, Ms. Cynthia Cox and Ms. Dianne Michele expressed their belief and hope to see more programs and activities from the VWU to care for and promote the role of the elderly in the family and society in the coming time, as well as HAI’s commitment to be a companion with VWU in this work.
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| VWU President giving souvenirs to Ms. Cynthia Cox (in the middle) and Ms. Dianne Michele |
