Getting feedback from citizen to improve birth registration services in Viet Nam

Giang Seo Lu is living in a remote village in Si Ma Cai district of Lao Cai province, located in the Northern mountainous area of Viet Nam. Lu has never gone to school. His daughter was born in 2011. Like most of the H’mong ethnic minority children in the area, she was delivered at home. Lu had not thought of having her birth registered because there were so many requirements to get the job done. Firstly, he had to walk two hours down the mountain to the commune centre. Then, they would ask for many papers which he did not have such as his marriage certificate or the confirmation paper of the birth of his daughter. Besides, filling in the application forms would be challenging job for him as he was illiterate.

Photo: UNICEF Viet Nam\2016\Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong

Choose handwashing, choose health!

The practice of handwashing with soap tops the international hygiene agenda on October 15, with the celebration of Global Handwashing Day (GHWD). Since its inception in 2008 – which was designated as the International Year of Sanitation by the UN General Assembly – Global Handwashing Day has been echoing and reinforcing the call for improved hygiene practices worldwide.

Good hygiene practices must become a habit, which requires choosing to perform them on a regular basis. People should choose handwashing not only on Global Handwashing Day, but every day. Photo: UNICEF Viet Nam\2014\Truong Viet Hung

Lao Cai bids touching farewell to UNICEF Representative

LAO CAI, Vietnam, 21 February 2014: This week, in the midst of celebrations to mark International Mother Language Day, ethnic minority teachers, parents and children from Lao Cai Province in Northern Viet Nam bid a touching farewell to the outgoing UNICEF Representative, Lotta Sylwander.

“Words are not enough to express our sentiments, and to explain the value of this mother-tongue based education programme” said Mr Nguyen Dac Hoang, Vice Head of Education and Training Board in Sa Pa district, as he praised the UNICEF Representative’s strong support for the programme.

Provincial children’s forum: Voice of children from Lao Cai province

Chau Thi Tao, 15, was attending Lao Cai’s Children’s Forum in July 2013, where she and 51 other young students voiced up for their rights to participation. They were gathering to influence the amendment of the Law on Protection, Care and Education of Children.

“I want child marriage to end. I can talk to my friends and other people in my homeland about children’s rights and how the Law protects them.” – Tao said. “Early marriage cannot help people to escape poverty. I hope policy makers will consider this issue more seriously when they amend the Law.”

Chau Thi Tao before the National Children Forum. ©  UNICEF Viet Nam\2013\Nguyen Huong Ly

Bilingual education for ethnic minority children in Viet Nam

Vang Thi Thu Ha, 9, participates in the bilingual education pilot 

Vang Thi Thu Ha, a third grader at Ban Pho Primary School in Lao Cai - a poor northern mountainous province of Viet Nam, is articulating the strengths of bilingual education and a more equitable future for the nation’s ethnic minority population.

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.