{"id":249435,"date":"2022-09-08T06:18:50","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T04:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/action-education.org\/sea\/?p=249435"},"modified":"2022-08-09T11:55:11","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T09:55:11","slug":"vietnam-vocational-training-for-women-offers-new-paths-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/action-education.org\/sea\/en\/vocational-training-for-women","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam: Vocational training for women offers new paths forward"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cI cried a lot when my parents asked me to stop studying,\u201d says X\u00e1, who had to stop her schooling at Grade 9 due to poverty. In her community, home to mostly the H\u2019Mong ethnic minority group, poverty often leads girls’ education to be sacrificed in favour of marrying young. \u201cBeing a girl, we cannot dream big as our main responsibility is to stay home and take care of the children,\u201d she says. \u201cWe need to obey our parents’ wishes and follow the local tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n
In rural areas such as X\u00e1\u2019s hometown, access to equitable vocational education and career counselling remains largely out of reach for the many ethnic minority populations living there. But, with current vocational training reforms<\/a> and a new National Gender Equality Strategy<\/a> announced in Vietnam in 2021, Action Education (formerly Aide et Action) is working to reduce the disparities between rural and urban populations, particularly rural women who remain the lowest educated and most likely to depend on subsistence farming.<\/p>\n While Vietnam\u2019s labour force participation rate was high at 74.4 % in December 2020, only 22.6% of the employed population in 2019 was trained. A General Statistic Office report<\/a> in 2020 revealed only 12.3% of employed females in rural areas were trained. To address this and equip ethnic minority youth, particularly rural ethnic minority women, with relevant skills for Vietnam\u2019s labour market, Action Education has revised and developed a series of vocational training and career orientation material.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The new material is part of a wider project<\/a> supported by international Action Education in partnership with The European Union<\/a>, Standard Chartered Bank<\/a> and local civil society organisation Northwest Development to address skills gaps and the market needs of youth aged 16 to 30 years old and local industries. Over the course of 2021, vocational training in four subjects – cooking, embroidery, weaving and tour-guiding – was devised in collaboration with the General Department of Vocational Education and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.<\/p>\n In the beginning of 2022, Action Education in collaboration with local vocational training centres ran a mobile training program across rural and remote communities. X\u00e1 was one of the participants of the one-month intensive training which taught her technical skills in embroidery and weaving as well as soft skills such as communication, work ethic and responsibility.<\/p>\n The program\u2019s design which included delivering training in very remote locations, providing a stipend to selected students, and welcoming mothers with young children, meant it was accessible to X\u00e1. \u201cThe class time was flexible and I could also carry my baby to the class, so my husband always encouraged me to attend this class,\u201d explains X\u00e1.<\/p>\nIncreasing access to livelihood opportunities for ethnic minority youth<\/h3>\n