The Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration on June 19 launched the Centre for Women in Politics and Public Administration (WiPPA) to foster leading capacity for women in the public sector’s in the context of global economic integration.

The centre will serve as a research and training facility as well as offering advice on policies, programmes and initiatives to promote gender equality in the public sector.

According to the academy’s director Ta Ngoc Tan, the WiPPA was established with support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
He said the WiPPA also plays a critical role in collaboration with relevant ministries, industries and agencies to strive for goals in the national strategy on gender equality .
The goals include raising the rate of female members in the National Assembly and people’s councils at all levels to more than 35 percent in the 2016-2020 tenure, and 100 percent of the Party and State’s agencies, and socio-political organisations have women in their leadership.

Addressing the launching ceremony, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, who is the chairman of the WiPPA sponsoring council, said Vietnamese women plays an increasingly important role in national construction and development.

She said Vietnam has reached crucial achievements in the cause of women advancement, but women’s contributions do not reflect their potentials due to their inferiority complex.
The founding of WiPPA will be useful for efforts to achieve the goals set by the national strategy on gender equality for the 2011-2020 period , she added.
The centre is now deploying four categories of activities.

They include offering training programmes on creative leading and management, improving and sharing awareness of gender equality, organising training and consultative programmes for incumbent and potential female officials, and researching and suggesting policies and measures on gender equality.

According to UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Pratibaha Mehta, the centre’s initiative on coaching programmes between retired NA deputies and potential NA candidates for the 2016-2020 tenure is a considerable advance compared to traditional courses.-VNA