The Highland Education Development Organisation (HEDO) and its Director were presented high distinctions at a ceremony to mark the organisation’s 20 th anniversary in Hanoi on Mar. 28.

HEDO, a domestic non-governmental organisation, got the Labour Order, third class, while Director Trinh Ngoc Trinh received the Labour Order, second class, by the State President for their outstanding contributions to developing education and improving health for people in disadvantaged areas of the country over the past 20 years.

Speaking at the ceremony, Trinh informed that HEDO has carried out over 200 programmes and projects, which benefited people in mountainous areas of 43 cities and provinces from northern region to the Central Highlands , as well as from central to southern regions.

The organisation has become a bridge for solidarity, friendship, cooperation and development of Vietnamese ethnic minority groups and international friends, Trinh said.

Those projects helped build centre for illiteracy, provide equipment for vocational training centres and scholarship for pupils, students and teachers in mountainous areas to study in major education centres in the country and abroad.

HEDO has also invited foreign experts to Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dong Nai, Tuyen Quang, Lao Cai and other localities to teach English.

The organisation gave much medial assistance to northern mountainous provinces and the Central Highlands. Through HEDO, many foreign medical organisations helped build medical stations and provided medical equipments to poor mountainous communes.

It also invited doctors and experts from the US , the UK and Singapore to Vietnam to share experiences to health workers in those disadvantaged areas and send hundreds of them abroad for training.

Besides, HEDO has helped farmers in those areas apply science and technology into production./.