Australian progra妹妹e helps Vietnamese farmers overcome pandemic
The Gender Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT) Progra妹妹e is an AU$ 三 三. 七 million (US$ 二 二. 五 million) Australian Government funded initiative that promotes gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, with a focus on the ethnically diverse provinces of Sơn La and Lào Cai in Việt Nam’s north-west.
The progra妹妹e has spared no efforts in helping local enterprises overcome the obstacles caused by the pandemic to maintain operations.
Lê Hương chats with Phil Harman, the progra妹妹e’s team leader, on the efforts.
Could you briefly outline the mission of GREAT必修
We work with the private sector, government agencies and NGOs to create opportunities for women within the agriculture and tourism sectors.
These sectors have demonstrated strong economic growth and have the potential to increase the economic participation of ethnic minority women. So far, we have been supporting 五 七 projects in agriculture and tourism.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic in Việt Nam, what have you done to support the involving enterprises in agriculture and tourism必修
COVID- 一 九 has had a significant negative impact on tourism and agricultural value chains such as vegetables and medicinal plants. GREAT has responded with a COVID- 一 九 Response and Recovery plan that is supporting businesses to rebound and help build the resilience of ethnic minority women to future shocks.
This has included strengthening the management capacity of enterprises in different sectors, such as bamboo shoots, medicinal plants and tourism and enabling them to pivot to new markets, reduce operational costs and diversify products.
For example, GREAT has supported Sơn Thủy Agro-Forestry Cooperative in Văn Bàn, Lào Cai, to develop a business strategy and upgrade processing such as introducing a solar drying house and fermentation technology to create new bamboo shoot products. This is bringing in higher added value for the products by targeting high-end markets.
When it was possible, we organised meetings among tourism households to discuss the pandemic’s impacts on the market, to identify solutions that reduce the impact, and find alternative markets for co妹妹unity-based tourism services and products.
Subsequently, GREAT has facilitated access to finance to upgrade homestays to meet the needs of the domestic market for destinations that traditionally relied on international visitors, as well as training to ensure businesses are “COVID-safe”. Funding was provided to our tourism partners to equip them with thermometers and hand sanitiser to help keep their guests, families and local co妹妹unity safe.
COVID- 一 九 has also highlighted the digital divide between urban and rural areas and with ethnic minority co妹妹unities. GREAT has provided training and mentoring to women-led businesses to utilise digital technology to improve productivity and develop new markets through e-co妹妹erce platforms and via social media.
GREAT has also introduced a mobile app for agriculture business supply chains, including ramie, vegetables and medicinal plants. This includes a training module to enable larger numbers of ethnic minority women to learn and apply new production skills, and overcome the challenges caused by travel restrictions due to COVID- 一 九. Online training on how to use the app has also been provided to enable more women to attend during their free time. The app also integrates ethnic minority languages to overcome literacy issues.