Young people in suburban Hanoi districts attend a training course to make conical hat in Chuong traditional handicraft village (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Two years ago when Nguyen Ngoc Binh was 16, hewanted to do something to help feed his family.
His father had passed away some years before, leaving him theonly man in the family with his mother and a younger teenager sister while theolder sister had married and left home.
“At that time, my family did not have a stable income as mysister and I were at school while my mother just worked on our small ricefield,” Binh said.
Like many other youngsters in Khon Duy village in Hanoi’ssuburban Chuong My district, some 30km from the capital's centre, Binh did nothave much access to job opportunities. He had no idea how he could startearning money.
Fortunately, he learnt about a vocational training centre inthe neighbouring traditional handicraft village of Phu Vinh that offered freecourses on making products from rattan and bamboo for local young people. Binhknew this was what he had been looking for.
He registered for a six-month-long training course withinstruction from local artisan Nguyen Van Trung to learn weaving techniquesusing rattan and bamboo. After finishing the course, Binh was recruited to workat Trung’s workshop and now earns 3-4 million VND (130-170 USD) a month by makingthe rattan and bamboo products.
“I have also taught my mother the weaving techniques so shecan also make some products herself when she is not busy in the rice field andwe can get some extra money from her products,” Binh said proudly.
Now 18, Binh knows he has a job that provides him with astable income to help his family. He is also saving money for other vocationaltraining in machinery.
Binh is among some 1,700 people from 14 suburban districtsand one urban district of Hanoi who have benefited from a project aiming atproviding vocational training for young people in the suburbs of Hanoi to helpthem get a stable livelihood.
The project, funded by the Citi Foundation, has beenimplemented since 2015 and has undergone five phases, which lasted 12 monthseach. After five years, the project has organised 52 training courses for youngpeople in 14 suburban districts and one urban district Long Bien.
A representative from Citi Foundation, Bui Quang Huy, saidyoung people suffered the most from the rapid urbanisation in big cities. Oneof the visible impacts was that they would find it more difficult to have jobswhich are suitable for their education and training, Huy said.
The project aims to not only help the trainees get jobs andstable income but also to provide them access to better job opportunities andhigher income to develop sustainable livelihoods, while contributing to thepreservation and development of traditional occupations in Hanoi.
A report from the project showed nearly 90 percent oftrainees got jobs after completing courses. They also get a stable income from100,000-300,000 VND for a working day. Of those, wood carving has the highestincome at 200,000-300,000 VND a working day.
Nguyen Thi Thom, head of the Women’s Association in Thanh Tri district’s Vinh Quynh commune, said the training courses were practical forlocal young women, especially those in the countryside.
According to Nguyen Bich Vuong, Director of the Centre forMicrofinance and Development (M&D), the latest Phase 5 of the project,implemented from October 2019 to September this year, offered 15 vocationaltraining courses for 350 trainees. The courses included seven main traditionalhandicrafts of hand embroidery, rattan and bamboo weaving, shell inlaying,pottery, wood carving, making conical hat and cooking with the participation ofartisans from famous traditional handicraft villages as trainers.
In Phase 5, the project has also added training in starting abusiness so that young people in the countryside could learn about smallbusiness management.
“This year, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, anumber of courses have been affected,” she said, “However, thanks to thesupport from artisans as well as enterprises, most of the trainees still gotjob opportunities after finishing the courses.”
Artisan Nguyen Thị Vui, Chairwoman of the Board of Ngo Ha Shell Inlaying Co-operative in Phu Xuyen district’s Chuyen My commune, saidthat even if the pandemic had caused many difficulties for traditionalhandicraft villages, the artisans were happy to teach trainees as they reallywanted to maintain enthusiasm for traditional crafts.
“If the class closed one day, the trainees would not be ableto practise and would forget about what they learned, so we wouldn't have thenext generation of artisans,” Vui said.
Vui suggested the project not limit the age of beneficiariesfrom 16 to 30 and offer more advanced courses for those who have finished basiccourses.
Artisan in rattan and bamboo weaving Nguyen Van urged theproject to find a way to help young people keep their enthusiasm for theoccupations they were trained in.
Having joined in the project since the beginning, the artisanhas opened dozens of courses for local young people, who he said were veryskilled and creative.
“It is important to create favourable conditions for youngpeople to have their own start-ups from the vocational training they got,”Trung said./.
His father had passed away some years before, leaving him theonly man in the family with his mother and a younger teenager sister while theolder sister had married and left home.
“At that time, my family did not have a stable income as mysister and I were at school while my mother just worked on our small ricefield,” Binh said.
Like many other youngsters in Khon Duy village in Hanoi’ssuburban Chuong My district, some 30km from the capital's centre, Binh did nothave much access to job opportunities. He had no idea how he could startearning money.
Fortunately, he learnt about a vocational training centre inthe neighbouring traditional handicraft village of Phu Vinh that offered freecourses on making products from rattan and bamboo for local young people. Binhknew this was what he had been looking for.
He registered for a six-month-long training course withinstruction from local artisan Nguyen Van Trung to learn weaving techniquesusing rattan and bamboo. After finishing the course, Binh was recruited to workat Trung’s workshop and now earns 3-4 million VND (130-170 USD) a month by makingthe rattan and bamboo products.
“I have also taught my mother the weaving techniques so shecan also make some products herself when she is not busy in the rice field andwe can get some extra money from her products,” Binh said proudly.
Now 18, Binh knows he has a job that provides him with astable income to help his family. He is also saving money for other vocationaltraining in machinery.
Binh is among some 1,700 people from 14 suburban districtsand one urban district of Hanoi who have benefited from a project aiming atproviding vocational training for young people in the suburbs of Hanoi to helpthem get a stable livelihood.
The project, funded by the Citi Foundation, has beenimplemented since 2015 and has undergone five phases, which lasted 12 monthseach. After five years, the project has organised 52 training courses for youngpeople in 14 suburban districts and one urban district Long Bien.
A representative from Citi Foundation, Bui Quang Huy, saidyoung people suffered the most from the rapid urbanisation in big cities. Oneof the visible impacts was that they would find it more difficult to have jobswhich are suitable for their education and training, Huy said.
The project aims to not only help the trainees get jobs andstable income but also to provide them access to better job opportunities andhigher income to develop sustainable livelihoods, while contributing to thepreservation and development of traditional occupations in Hanoi.
A report from the project showed nearly 90 percent oftrainees got jobs after completing courses. They also get a stable income from100,000-300,000 VND for a working day. Of those, wood carving has the highestincome at 200,000-300,000 VND a working day.
Nguyen Thi Thom, head of the Women’s Association in Thanh Tri district’s Vinh Quynh commune, said the training courses were practical forlocal young women, especially those in the countryside.
According to Nguyen Bich Vuong, Director of the Centre forMicrofinance and Development (M&D), the latest Phase 5 of the project,implemented from October 2019 to September this year, offered 15 vocationaltraining courses for 350 trainees. The courses included seven main traditionalhandicrafts of hand embroidery, rattan and bamboo weaving, shell inlaying,pottery, wood carving, making conical hat and cooking with the participation ofartisans from famous traditional handicraft villages as trainers.
In Phase 5, the project has also added training in starting abusiness so that young people in the countryside could learn about smallbusiness management.
“This year, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, anumber of courses have been affected,” she said, “However, thanks to thesupport from artisans as well as enterprises, most of the trainees still gotjob opportunities after finishing the courses.”
Artisan Nguyen Thị Vui, Chairwoman of the Board of Ngo Ha Shell Inlaying Co-operative in Phu Xuyen district’s Chuyen My commune, saidthat even if the pandemic had caused many difficulties for traditionalhandicraft villages, the artisans were happy to teach trainees as they reallywanted to maintain enthusiasm for traditional crafts.
“If the class closed one day, the trainees would not be ableto practise and would forget about what they learned, so we wouldn't have thenext generation of artisans,” Vui said.
Vui suggested the project not limit the age of beneficiariesfrom 16 to 30 and offer more advanced courses for those who have finished basiccourses.
Artisan in rattan and bamboo weaving Nguyen Van urged theproject to find a way to help young people keep their enthusiasm for theoccupations they were trained in.
Having joined in the project since the beginning, the artisanhas opened dozens of courses for local young people, who he said were veryskilled and creative.
“It is important to create favourable conditions for youngpeople to have their own start-ups from the vocational training they got,”Trung said./.
VNA
