Capital support, vocational training for treated drug addicts and prostitutes are considered as positive measures to help them seek steady jobs, not repeat the crimes and reintegrate into communities. However, the rate of employed people remains low, therefore, to further promote the effectiveness of this assistance policy, more appropriate measures are needed.

Supporting in accordance with demand

In reality, vocational centres mostly teach what they have, therefore, vocations taught there do not meet recruitment demands, causing waste in training costs and not bringing effects.

Pham Ngoc Phuong, Director of the Can Tho provincial Department for Social Evils Prevention, said that only three in 101 cases which received vocational training and job assistance could seek jobs in businesses. The reason is that what they were taught surpasses their ability, such as mechanics and electrics. Besides, due to difficulties in life, they cannot take long-term courses to improve their skills. As a result, after a period of time, they cannot meet businesses’ demand. In addition, due to weak health, in particular of HIV-infected people, they cannot work in industrial production lines or cope with job pressure.

Meanwhile, some people want to do jobs that can give them money immediately, so they quit, seek short-term works and then become unemployed again. Thus, vocational training also needs to pay attention to its aims when learners return to communities. Vocations which are offered at centres also need to be plentiful and diversified to satisfy social demands. At the same time, learners should be let to choose their own vocations and forms of studying, staff at centres only give advice and suggestions.

In particular, to prostitutes, only those who fall into difficult conditions and have no choice but to commit prostitution want to receive support from the society. To those who consider this as a job to earn living, vocational training is not practical.

Nguyen Van Tien, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Issues, said that it is necessary to classify prostitutes to take appropriate measures. To those of the second type, it is better to re-educate them on lifestyle and perception first and then give advice on career orientation.

Accessing capital sources

According to the job creation policy, drug addicts and prostitutes will be provided at least 750,000 VND for self-employment to settle their lives. Nonetheless, a number of opinions say that this support is still low and unsustainable. Moreover, not all localities can afford this money.

Do Manh Hung, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Issues, said many policies on capital support and job creation for treated drug addicts and prostitutes have been issued, but most of them failed to be realised. Up until now, most of these people have only received assistance from projects funded by foreign organisations. This is a problem that needs to be promptly dealt with. Besides, authorities need to encourage businesses to recruit this group and credit organisations to lend money to treated addicts and prostitutes, not to discriminate against them.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh, Deputy Director of HIV Prevention Research Project of the US Agency for International Development in Vietnam , said that treated addicts and prostitutes have an urgent need for capital to create jobs for themselves. However, most of them meet difficulties in accessing capital sources and don’t know how to set up businesses due to lack of skills. Meanwhile, micro-finance institutions do not want to connect with them.

Basing on that fact, since the start of 2011, the project’s staff have approached and persuaded charity funds in some provinces, including the TYM Fund of the Vietnam Women’s Union, M7 – a financial organisation of Ho Chi Minh City’s Labour Union, to lend capital to this group, Anh said.

They could borrow at a maximum from 7 million to 30 million VND according to each vocation. In addition, they have also received medical treatment at health care centres and training to run businesses. As a result, most borrowers have proved their capacity to pay debts, have steady jobs and incomes.

On the part of micro-finance institutions, at first they were reluctant to contact potential borrowers in this group. But after working with these people for some time, the lenders have come to trust them and put them in the list of main customers. This is a model that needs to be spread to all localities. The important point is that whether localities are able to connect financial organisations with the group of rehabilitated drug addicts and prostitutes or not, she added.-VNA