New Zealand supports pandemic-hit informal female workers in central Vietnam

The New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam will provide 50,000 NZD (approx. 35,600 USD) to support more than 350 women workers in informal employment in Da Nang and Thua Thien-Hue over the next three months. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Embassy of New Zealand and ActionAid Vietnam will together provide support for women workers in informal sectors in central Da Nang City and Thua Thien-Hue province under a new partnership.

The New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam will provide 50,000 NZD (approx. 35,600 USD) to the project, which aims to reach more than 350 women workers in informal employment as street vendors, junk collectors, or house helpers, over the next three months.

Underscoring the importance of this project in the larger programme of support by New Zealand to Vietnam, New Zealand Chargé d'Affaires Joseph Mayhew said: “This is a practical initiative to help ease the economic impacts of COVID-19 and strengthen the resilience of more than 350 women workers, and their families, in Da Nang and Hue’s informal sectors.”

“I believe that supporting women workers in sectors that are hardest hit by the pandemic is a vital component of robust, inclusive, and equitable recovery,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted Vietnam's tourism industry, with Da Nang and Thua Thien-Hue, the two major international tourism hubs particularly affected. The project includes training on household economic literacy and management, women’s rights and child nutrition. The financial support can be used to purchase food, living essentials or small livelihood options.

According to ActionAid Vietnam’s recent research, more than 90 percent of the tourism sector’s workers lost employment and income due to COVID-19. In Da Nang and Thua Thien-Hue, almost 90,000 people either became unemployed or suffered from greatly reduced income. Only 22 percent of the surveyed workers currently have access to the government’s 62-trillion-VND support package.

“This project is one way to help women workers become more visible in the public eye, and at the same time trying to set up a practical model where support can be delivered to the target groups and individuals in an efficient and transparent manner,” said Hoang Phuong Thao, Country Director of ActionAid Vietnam. “We want to contribute to the commitments of Vietnam and New Zealand, of Leaving No One Behind in the struggles to overcome COVID-19.”/.                                                                                    

VNA