Delegates at the project launching event. Source: Save the Children |
Save the Children in collaboration with the Center of Help for Indigenous value promotion And Sustainable Environment (CHIASE) and Ho Chi Minh City Child Welfare Association (HCWA) recently organized a workshop to launch the project responsing to Covid-19 pandemic and supporting vulnerable youth and children in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The workshop was attended by 40 delegates from state agencies, the European Union Delegation to Vietnam, Save the Children, partner organizations and youth representatives benefiting from the project.
Financially supported by the European Union and implemented from April 2022 to June 2024, the project aims to support immigrant youth and children, especially those who are gender-vulnerable (e.g., girls, non-binary children and youth) to tackle the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic so that they can access social protection services and decent work.
Immigrant youth will be equipped with necessary soft skills and entrepreneurship skills through support from local social organizations and be able to maintain sustainable livelihood opportunities and increase their resilience.
Speaking at the ceremony, Kristina Bünde, head of Cooperation Department representing the European Union delegation to Vietnam said that protecting children’s rights and enhancing the socio-economic status of young people are the areas which the European Union prioritizes to promote.
“Strengthening children’s socioeconomic inclusion is essential to addressing intergenerational poverty and disadvantage. We hope the project will contribute to support the implementation of Vietnam’s National Action Program for Children 2021-2030, as well as the recent recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child related to the care of children who have lost their parents during Covid-19,” said Bünde.
Le Thi Thanh Huong, country director of Save the Children in Vietnam, speaks at the event. Source: VNT |
Le Thi Thanh Huong, country director of Save the Children in Vietnam, shared at the event, “We are committed to working closely with the two partner organizations and stakeholders throughout the project implementation process, contributing to improving the quality of social protection services as well as addressing the employment needs of young people in the context of Covid-19 in particular and during crises in general, to ensure that no one is left behind.”
According to Nguyen Minh Tri, head of the Division of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in District 8, Ho Chi Minh City, District 8 currently has 432 children under 18 years old who have lost their parents or direct caregivers because of the pandemic. The project will empower the district in supporting and taking care of the children, he stressed.