New care approaches for children with disabilities

Ho Thi Lan learns new skills at a centre for children with disabilities.
© UNICEF Viet Nam\2012\Sandra Bisin

Eighteen year-old Ho Thi Lan is skillfully typing on the computer key board in the vocational training classroom of Hoa Vang’s brand new centre for children with disabilities.“I am not sure whether I prefer computer training or tailoring. I am getting a lot of new skills these days”, she says proudly. “I think I’d be happy to become a tailor. It would also please my parents.”

Empowering young digital citizens

UNICEF and partners explore the opportunities and risks that Viet Nam’s digital evolution presents for children

Junior reporters participating in the UNICEF-supported workshop
© UNICEF Viet Nam/2012

As Viet Nam experiences rapid growth in access to mobile phones and the Internet, UNICEF and partners are focusing attention on the impact of this digital expansion on children in the country. According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Internet penetration in Viet Nam doubled between 2006 and 2011 while the number of mobile phone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants jumped from 22 to 143 during the same time period – and children and young people are at the forefront of this surge in use.

Protecting child victims of commercial sexual exploitation

Children are entering prostitution at a younger age than five years ago
This photo is for illustration purpose only!
© UN Viet Nam\shutterstock48041263\Jose AS Reyes

Linh* was born into a poor family in Chau Doc, a small town in the Mekong Delta region of Viet Nam. She did not enjoy school and dropped out without completing lower secondary level. Despite her parents’ concerns, Linh followed the path of many young people from her region and headed to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) to look for a job. She was only 16 years old and knew very little about Viet Nam’s biggest city.

Sea change: The "Making of" video

An instructional video capturing the process of making the participatory short film entitled "Sea Change" by a group of Vietnamese young reporters in May 2012.

"Sea Change" is part of a 3 country project with UNICEF Vietnam, the Democracy Center in Bolivia and UNICEF UK that combines young people's expressions and viewpoints on climate change in their own countries into one unified voice. The Viet Nam film workshop is funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy to Viet Nam and managed by UNICEF Viet Nam.

Julia’s field diary: children with disabilities in Da Nang

UNICEF intern Julia Hartelius at a day-care centre for children with disabilities
© UNICEF Viet Nam/2012/Hartelius

Julia Hartelius is a Swedish student who has been interning at UNICEF Viet Nam’s Child Protection section in Ha Noi since 6 August 2012. In this field diary, she shares her impressions and reflections during a trip to visit UNICEF’s work in support of children with disabilities in Viet Nam’s coastal city: Da Nang. Da Nang is one of the three hot spots of Agent Orange in Viet Nam; the dioxin contamination of its airport is one of the vestiges of the toxic chemicals stored and sprayed by the US military during the war in Viet Nam.

Lifting up voices from the ground to improve services for children

Giang Thi Cau’s family shared their feedback on a cash transfer scheme
© UNICEF Viet Nam/2012/Sandra Bisin

Eight year-old Giang Thi Cau is proud to perform a traditional dance for her peers at the end of the school day. She belongs to the Mong group, one of the main ethnic groups in Dien Bien province, in northern Viet Nam, which comprises a total of 19 ethnic groups, each with its own distinct language, culture and customs. Cau’s school is located in a scenic but remote valley of Dien Bien, surrounded by spectacular mountain peaks.

Field diaries: Hong Kong young envoys visit Viet Nam

A team of 10 Young Envoys visited the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum
UNICEF/Viet Nam/2012/Ly Phat Linh

A team of 25 Young Envoys from UNICEF Hong Kong visited Ha Noi and Dien Bien and Kon Tum provinces in Viet Nam from July 22-27 to better understand the challenges to children's well-being, and UNICEF’s response to these. The two provinces are among Viet Nam’s poorest, with a poverty rate of nearly 40 per cent in Dien Bien and 27 per cent in Kon Tum. A majority of Dien Bien’s 490,000 residents are ethnic minority people, as are more than half of Kon Tum’s 430,000 population. The UNICEF Hong Kong Young Envoy programme, launched in 1996, is a leadership training programme especially designed for secondary school students to become future pillars of society and advocates for child rights. Below are 17-year-old Julia Zschiesche and 14-year-old Felix Tam Chun-Yan’s “field diaries” from their time in Kon Tum Province.

Sheahan’s diary: volunteering with street children

Sheahan with children from the centre for street and vulnerable children
© UNICEF Viet Nam\2012\Nasir

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, or more commonly known in Vietnam as Saigon, on July 31st to start my month long internship with Thao Dan Child Center. From their website, I found out as much as I could about them before the initial meeting.

Thao Dan Child Center was established in 1992 by a group of volunteers who wanted to protect and take care of street children in Ho Chi Minh City. They have two centers. The one where I was going to work was a day care center where children would be dropped off by their parents when they went to work and picked up again when going back home. The children are taught basic school subjects like math and English, as well life skills such as money management. They were also given information regarding the danger of HIV/AIDS and the threat of child abuse. The second center, called the “Safehouse”, serves as a day care center, and it also provides housing for up to fourteen orphan boys who have nowhere else to go.

Lifting up children’s voices on climate change

Young people being trained in filming and climate change
© UNICEF/ Viet Nam/2012/Bisin

“Everyone should feel they have a responsibility when it comes to climate change, and the first step we should take is to save energy”, 15 year-old Vo Giang Ha said proudly. “Children and young people are the most vulnerable to climate change, but they are also agents of change and can become part of the solution”, Ha added.

Bilingual education offers hope of a better future

Lô Thị Ghenh listens to her teacher at Lao Chai Primary School
UNICEF/2011/Viet Nam/Tattersall

Seven-year-old Lô Thị Ghenh eagerly listens to her teacher at Lao Chai Primary School, in Sa Pa district in northern Vietnam. She is all the more attentive as she is learning in her mother tongue, Mong, as part of a mother tongue-based bilingual education model, supported by UNICEF.

Here, among the cascading rice paddies and misty mountains, 85 per cent of the Mong people live below the poverty line. The quality of education is poor and malnutrition is high. Access to adequate water and sanitation, to health services, and to education are some of the major issues confronting this community.