According to the UN office in Vietnam, during her three-day visit,Bachelet will meet with senior Vietnamese officials, attend a discussionon social security with representatives of the Vietnamese governmentand with partners and organisations on social protection and effectivenational responses.
The Social Protection Initiative, which isco-led by the International Labour Organisation and the World HealthOrganisation, is a global social policy promoting integrated strategiesthat guarantee a minimum level of social protection for all, includingaccess to essential social services and income security.
Accordingto Bachelet, Social Protection is an effective way of helping Vietnamto mitigate vulnerabilities to external shocks through improving itssocial protection system and is particularly relevant as the VietnameseGovernment has increased its focus on social welfare. It is alsoparticularly pertinent as Vietnam is also focusing on social protectionin its national development planning, including the next Socio-EconomicDevelopment Plan for 2011-2015.
In her capacity as head of theUN’s agency for Women, Bachelet will also focus on gender inequity inVietnam and how this links to Social Protection.
Bachelet willraise some of these issues during her meetings with policy makers andpartners and will voice the UN’s support for Social Protection – with aparticular focus on women, as one of the most vulnerable groups in needof social protection.
The UN, in particular through itsmultilateral networks and the expertise of specialised agencies like theInternational Labour Organisation and the World Health Organisation,can support the government in this complex task./.