UNFPA Representative in Vietnam Matt Jackson. (Photo: UNFPA) Following is the full text of the interview.
Reporter:You have been in Vietnam for four months as the UNFPA Representative. Will youshare with us your feelings about Vietnam – its culture, land and people?
MattJackson: Vietnam is rich in culture, history and beautifullandscapes. Vietnam’s ambition for a brighter future has helped enduredifficult times, providing comfort to many, and ensuring that Vietnam is acrucial member of the international community, including at the United Nations.
I began my role as UNFPA Representative in Vietnamjust a few months ago, yet I have been fortunate to experience severaldifferent parts of Vietnam already and to meet many wonderful people. I amgrateful for the opportunity to drive forward UNFPA’s partnership with thegovernment and people of Vietnam and to be part of the transformations that aretaking place across the country, from addressing the challenges of climatechange to reaping the opportunities of economic growth and population dynamics.UNFPA has enjoyed cooperation with Vietnam for 46 years with many successes. Onmy recent travels, I have learnt a lot about this partnership as well as seeingVietnam’s rich culture, including visiting the homeland of President Ho ChiMinh in Nghe An and the complex in Ha Tinh in memory of Nguyen Du, the greatpoet of Vietnam.
There has been much change since my first visit toVietnam thirteen years ago but what I have enjoyed most so far is meeting thepeople of Vietnam. Whether it be conversations with government Ministers,social workers at the One Stop Service Centres (Ngoi nha Anh Duong) establishedby UNFPA in collaboration with MOLISA, the young people I met at FPT Universityin Hanoi or community groups supporting older people in southern provinces, itis the warmth of the people of Vietnam that strikes me the most and is aprivilege to experience. In addition, I can’t finish a comment withoutmentioning the wonderful food and fresh ingredients from across the country. It’sno wonder that Vietnam has a strong reputation as a country of friendly peopleand good food.
On the threshold of the Lunar New Year, I would liketo congratulate Vietnam for its strong commitments to the UN’s 2030 SustainableDevelopment Agenda that was institutionalised in the National Action Plan.Vietnam is making good progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) and to ensure that no one is left behind. It is my hope that Vietnamwill continue to strive to achieve the remaining challenges.
As we look to the year ahead, I would like to extendmy best wishes to the Government of Vietnam and all Vietnamese people for aprosperous and happy new year – the Year of the Dragon (Giap Thin).
Reporter:You have mentioned that one of the major population challenges facing Vietnamis that the country is experiencing rapid population ageing. Would youelaborate your point? What would be your recommendations to the Government ofVietnam in order to ensure that population ageing doesn’t affect sustainabledevelopment in Vietnam?
MattJackson: First of all, this is a good news story. The factthat people in Vietnam are living longer is a positive outcome of developmentand prosperity. However, as with any demographic change, it’s important tounderstand and prepare for the changes ahead to ensure that everyone has accessto quality services such as health, education and financial, to enable everyoneincluding older people to live with dignity.
By 2050, the proportion of older persons aged 60 andabove in the Asia-Pacific region is projected to increase from about 14% in2022 to nearly 26%. The proportion of children under 14 will move in theopposite direction decreasing from 23% to 17%. Yet there will be differencesbetween countries and regions. In Vietnam, the 2019 population pyramid showsthat the country is currently in the demographic window of opportunity. Inother words, Vietnam has the advantage of tapping the “demographic dividend”.This is projected to end by 2039 as Vietnam is also one of the most rapidlyageing countries worldwide with the transition from “population ageing” to“aged population” expected to be much shorter than for many other countries.
Findings of the recent National Transfer Accountsfor Vietnam conducted by the General Statistics Office in collaboration withUNFPA provided a comprehensive understanding of the impact of demographicchanges for policy making by placing population at the centre of economicgrowth and development and assessing the impact of demographic changes onnational income, consumption, saving and investment.
Experience from many countries shows that populationpolicies are often underrated in terms of their importance, resulting innumerous demographic consequences that can negatively impact the socio-economicdevelopment of nations. Prioritising investment in these areas not onlybenefits societies and communities but also avoids the additional costs ofaddressing related challenges at a later stage.
Vietnam is currently implementing socio-economic developmentstrategies for 2021-2030 to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs). Adopting a life-cycle approach to aging, following the principles setout in the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) whichcelebrates its 30th anniversary next year, will help to ensure that Vietnamtakes full account of the opportunities of a demographic dividend in preparingfor the population ageing process. This includes investing in human resourcessuch as increasing participation in the labour force and supporting women inthe workforce.
Reporter:Would you highlight some of the programmes and projects to be implemented byUNFPA in Vietnam in 2024?
MattJackson: 2024 is a moment to remind the world of thegroundbreaking outcome of the International Conference on Population andDevelopment (ICPD), held in Cairo in 1994, which champions people-centreddevelopment, rights and choices for all, and the pursuit of common objectivessuch as peace and prosperity.
As the United Nations sexual and reproductive healthagency, UNFPA is making every effort around the world to end preventablematernal deaths, end the unmet need for family planning, and end gender-basedviolence (GBV) and harmful practices by 2030. Ensuring rights and choices forall such as bodily autonomy is a major principle of population-centreddevelopment because people who can make choices about their bodies often havemore and better options throughout their lives. These three goals are part ofUNFPA’s corporate strategic plan worldwide, including in Vietnam where theyalso included in the 10th UNFPA Country Programme for Vietnam 2022-2026.
In 2024, UNFPA will continue to support the governmentof Vietnam’s work in strategic areas including sexual and reproductive healthand rights (SRHR); youth development; population ageing; evidence-based policymaking and ending gender-based violence and harmful practices against women andgirls. Some of the areas that I am most excited about are working withgovernment Ministries, Departments and other partners to develop plans toroll-out HPV vaccinations, scale up the One Stop Service Centres (Ngoi nha AnhDuong) and National Hotline to support survivors of GBV, support life skillsand comprehensive sexuality education for young people, and enable robustpopulation data for effective policy making.
UNFPA will continue to support Vietnam’s populationageing process by supporting an integrated and coherent social protectionsystem and applying a life-cycle and gender-transformative approach for ageingto meet the needs of the most vulnerable groups. We will also continue toincrease equitable access to comprehensive and gender-transformative SRHRinformation and services and to create and support comprehensive youthdevelopment and participation with a focus on vulnerable and marginalisedgroups including ethnic minorities, adolescents and youth, people withdisabilities LGBTQI and migrant workers.
UNFPA continues to enhance our partnerships with theVietnamese Government’s Ministries and agencies to ensure evidence-based andrights-based policy and programme making, budgeting and monitoring through ourongoing interventions on data production and analysis. And we will continue tosupport Vietnam’s aims to promote gender equality, prevent and respond to GBVand address gender-biased sex selection and other harmful practices includingearly marriage. One concrete area of work we are committed to is supporting theGovernment’s ambition to develop a multi-sectoral GBV coordination mechanism atnational and provincial levels, ensuring alignment with global standards and toleave no one behind. This will ensure that all survivors of GBV can accesstimely and quality support services regardless of their location or situation.
These are just some examples of UNFPA’s work todeliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe andevery young person's potential is fulfilled.
Reporter: Thank you for your interview!
