Vietnamese women with the spirit of international integration

In the process of general integration of the country, the international integration activities of the Vietnam Women's Union (VWU) are continuously strengthened, innovated and strongly promoted.

Workshop on “Inspiring Women Leaders” with network members in Nghe An. (Source: Vietnam Women’s Union)

With the role of gathering and leading the women's movement nationwide, the Vietnam Women's Union has learned and flexibly applied international knowledge and experience to suit the Vietnamese situation.

Typical examples include microcredit from Grameen Bank, which has become the leading organization in the country in microcredit, improving the economic power and status of women; the “Peace House” model (with the support of the United Nations and organizations from Spain, the Netherlands...) has become a model of shelter and comprehensive assistance for victims of gender-based violence.

Catch up with world trends

Identifying foreign affairs and international cooperation as one of the important tasks, in recent times, the Vietnam Women's Union has proactively mobilized international resources from diverse sources: government organizations, United Nations organizations, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, philanthropists...

In the period 2017-2022, the Central Committee of the Union mobilized aid worth more than 9.5 million USD. At the same time, when implementing international programs and projects, the capacity and qualifications of Union officials and women at all levels were also significantly improved, including foreign languages, information technology, management, etc.

It is necessary to mention training programs with international support such as in the cooperation program with Australia, nearly 60 Association officials and female officials of ministries and sectors have been trained in Australia and Vietnam since 2008.

With the support of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), 7 Association officials have participated in the EWHA – KOICA master training program in Korea. In addition, Association officials have also participated in domestic and international training courses under Project 165...

The Association also hosts many large international conferences and seminars, such as the Vietnam - Korea Women's Forum which has become the Association's trademark over the past 10 years.

These forums often bring together senior leaders, policy makers, and experienced experts in many fields such as SDGs, digital transformation, women, peace and security, cyber security, etc. Thereby, the Association becomes a meeting point for domestic and foreign partners with the same interests in women and development issues.

In particular, international cooperation activities are increasingly expanding. The Association welcomes many heads of state and their spouses, foreign students and volunteers, and diverse international cooperation models in the community, such as "The Second Mother" sponsoring Lao and Cambodian students studying in Vietnam.... The Association is also honored to receive the Emulation Flag "Leading Collective in People's Foreign Affairs in 2023" from the Central External Relations Commission.

Ms. Tran Lan Phuong - Vice President of the Vietnam Women's Union said that in the context of the world situation experiencing many great changes, the international agenda on women and development also has many new elements, the Union has closely followed the policy of multilateralization and diversification in implementing foreign affairs activities.

She affirmed: “The Association has proactively researched and grasped new trends in international agendas on women and development to flexibly and creatively apply them to women's work, women's movements as well as the socio-economic development situation of our country, creating a premise to build a positive and favorable social foundation for Vietnam's relations with other countries.”

Members of the "International Integration of Women on the Environment" Club of Quang Binh province participated in a training session, September 2022. (Source: Vietnam Women's Union)

Focus on supporting women's integration

Particularly from 2021, realizing the importance of international integration and the requirements for women in the new situation, the Central Executive Committee of the Association issued Resolution No. 18 on supporting women in international integration until 2030.

The resolution was issued to help orient foreign affairs activities and support women's international integration within the Association system, while creating conditions for Associations at all levels to propose mechanisms and resources for related activities.

Aiming to raise awareness and international integration capacity of the Union's officials, members and women to contribute to the country's overall integration process, the Central Committee also guides and directs the Women's Unions of provinces and cities to further strengthen international integration activities and models.

These are models built on the traditional activities or clubs of the Association but supplemented with international elements or special content necessary for women in the process of international integration.

Existing programs and projects at the central and local levels are also required to supplement and integrate activities to support women in international integration, such as environmental integration, ensuring cyber security, female leadership in the context of international integration, etc.

Notably, the Central Committee of the Union has piloted the construction of a model of the "Women's International Integration on the Internet" Club in three communes and wards in Ha Tinh; organized many training courses on the application of science and technology for ethnic minority women's groups, e-commerce, comprehensive finance, tourism and digital technology application in business... associated with international integration, for the Women's Union of 63 provinces and cities; organized training to improve the capacity of female cadres in ethnic minority and mountainous areas on people's foreign affairs and international integration in the three regions within the framework of Project 8; organized activities to promote the role of women and girls in STEM (STEM Forum with UN Women, "Mother and Child with STEM" Festival in Hung Yen)...

Currently, some provincial and municipal Women's Unions have built models to support women's international integration in various fields such as the model of "Women's group protecting border markers", "Women's international integration on environment" club... It can be said that these highly applicable models have helped provide necessary knowledge and skills in the international integration process for local female leaders as well as grassroots women.

Urgent, strategic tasks

In the coming time, the Vietnam Women's Union will continue to carry out activities in the fields of cultural diplomacy, economics, politics... In particular, the implementation of Resolution 18 on supporting women in international integration is identified as an urgent and strategic task.

Accordingly, the Women's Union at all levels continues to invest in foreign affairs and international integration, contributing to building a favorable environment for women to proactively integrate and benefit adequately from the country's integration process.

In the context of the rapid development of the 4.0 industrial revolution, this work is constantly being adjusted and absorbing new elements with the aim of supporting women to be proactive, take advantage of opportunities and minimize risks in the process of international integration.

Vice President of the Vietnam Women's Union Tran Lan Phuong emphasized: "We will continue to closely follow the orientation, policies and foreign policies of the Party and State, focusing on researching and proactively grasping new issues on women and development in international agendas and trends of women's movements around the world; at the same time, taking advantage of domestic opportunities and favorable factors to strengthen international cooperation on gender equality, improve the effectiveness of foreign affairs work and support women in international integration."

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/phu-nu-viet-voi-tinh-than-hoi-nhap-quoc-te-263408.html