We are ABLE: Promoting Gender Equality and Girls’ Education in the Ethnic Minorities Areas of Viet Nam

  • P Project/Program

? Activity Status: Unknown

Key Information

The project aims to improve access and retention of ethnic minority children, especially girls in lower secondary schools, and to improve the employment opportunities among ethnic minority women and girls. The project will address: (i) the issue of out-of-school children and dropping out from schools, especially for ethnic minority girls, by (a) raising awareness of the importance of education, particularly for girls, among communities, (b) providing training on school counselling work, which deals with SRGBV, for lower secondary school teachers and education administrators, (c) supporting lower secondary school teachers in delivering school counselling work to lower secondary school students, and (d) organizing dialogues and meetings with parents, family members and students to enhance their understanding and knowledge on SRGBV; and (ii) the issue of limited employment opportunities for ethnic minority girls and women, by (e) providing improved career orientation programmes for lower secondary school students, especially ethnic minority girls, and (f) providing training courses for community members, in particular female members, to enhance knowledge and skills on income-generation and job opportunities. The direct beneficiaries include ethnic minority girls and boys, secondary school students, teachers, principals, education administrators and officials from the provincial and district authorities, parents and community members in the 3 provinces. The estimated number of the direct beneficiaries is 16,400 people (9,790 female). Of this total, about 9,260 female persons are from ethnic minority groups, including 6,000 female students aged 11-14 from 24 lower secondary schools.

The first phase of the project was implemented from 2019 to 2022 in 12 districts of three provinces - Ha Giang, Ninh Thuan, and Soc Trang, reaching about 16,300 students including over 8,000 girls.


Location(s)

East Asia & Pacific

Viet Nam

Government Affiliation

Government-affiliated program

Years

2019 -

Partner(s)

(1) Ministry of Education and Training at national level and its Department of Education and Training at provincial and district levels in 3 project provinces; (2) Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs at national level and its Department on Ethnic Minority Affairs at provincial and district levels in 3 project provinces; (3) school managers, teachers, parents and students in 24 project schools

Ministry Affiliation

Ministry of Education and Training

Funder(s)

CJ Group and affiliates

COVID-19 Response

Unknown

Geographic Scope

National

Meets gender-transformative education criteria from the TES  

Unknown

Areas of Work Back to Top

Education areas

Attainment

  • Secondary completion

Other

  • Transition from school to work

Other skills

  • Life skills/sexuality education
  • Rights/empowerment education
  • Social and emotional learning

Quality

  • School-related gender-based violence
  • Teacher training

Skills

  • Other academic performance-related

Cross-cutting areas

  • Adolescent pregnancy/childbearing
  • Community sensitization
  • Early/child marriage
  • Empowerment
  • Gender equality
  • Other aspects of sexual and reproductive health
  • Other cultural practices
  • Sexual harassment & coercion
  • Social and gender norms and beliefs
  • Violence (at home, in relationships)

Program participants

Target Audience(s)

Boys in school, Girls in school, Youth

Age

11 - 15

School Enrolment Status

All in school

School Level

  • Lower secondary

Other populations reached

  • Community leaders
  • Fathers
  • Mothers
  • Other community members - female
  • Other community members - male
  • Other family members
  • School administrators
  • Teachers - female
  • Teachers - male

Participants include

  • Indigenous

Program Approaches Back to Top

Community engagement/advocacy/sensitization

  • Community mobilization
  • General awareness-raising/community engagement

Mentoring/psychosocial support

  • School-based counselors

Other

  • Coordinated Action

Reducing economic barriers

  • Income-generating activities

School-related gender-based violence

  • Anti-violence policies and codes of conduct
  • Safe and welcoming schools
  • Safe channels/mechanisms for reporting violence
  • Support in and around schools (e.g. peer counseling, adult-to-student counseling)
  • Training of school personnel (including teachers)
  • Violence prevention curriculum/activities for students

Social/gender norms change

  • Engaging parents/caregivers of students or school-age children/adolescents
  • Group activities with students or school-age children/adolescents
  • Media campaigns
  • Work with community leaders

Teaching

  • In-service teacher training – gender-responsive pedagogy

Program Goals Back to Top

Education goals

  • Improved social and emotional learning/skills and mindsets
  • Increased secondary school completion
  • Reduced absenteeism
  • Teachers and learners have the knowledge and skills to promote gender equality

Cross-cutting goals

  • Increased employment/job-related skills
  • More equitable gender attitudes and norms
  • Reduced poverty/increase household well-being
  • Reduced school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV)

Additional Information Back to Top

Primary Contact

Toshiyuki Matsumoto
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
t.matsumoto@unesco.org