SOS Children’s Villages Vietnam receives first-class Labour Order

Hanoi (VNA) – Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh presented first-class Labour Order to the SOS Children’s Villages Vietnam at a ceremony held on January 9 to mark its 30th anniversary.

At the event, Do Tien Dung, Country Director of SOS Children’s Villages Vietnam noticed that SOS Children’s Villages International has provided Vietnam with nearly 120 million USD to develop infrastructure in SOS villages in the past 30 years.

Among 6,000 children nursed in 17 villages across the country, 2,800 have grown up and landed stable jobs and some 3,100 others are being brought up in SOS villages, he said.

The organisation has 12 SOS youth facilities, 12 Hermann Gmeiner vocational schools, 16 kindergartens, four vocational training centres and one medical centre. Each year, its kindergartens and vocational schools receive about 13,000 students.

Particularly, its family strengthening programmes have offered financial support for families to nurture and take care of orphan children while prevent children from being abandoned and falling into social vices.

Hailing the sound cooperation between Vietnam and the SOS Children’s Villages International in the past three decades, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung, who is also Honourable President of SOS Children’s Villages Vietnam, affirmed that Vietnam always creates favourable conditions to carry out projects sponsored by the SOS Children’s Villages International.

He asked the Vietnamese SOS village to seek effective measures to better off healthcare for children living in special circumstances and equip them with necessary skills and knowledge so that they can easily integrate into society.

It should work to further financial support for orphan children in society and raise fund from businesses, organisations and individuals, he highlighted.

In 1967, Vietnam became one of the first outside Europe to receive the SOS Children’s Villages International programmes on care and support for children, young people and families. The programmes were halted in mid-1970s and resumed in December 1987 after an agreement to that was reached.-VNA