Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra (R) and UNFPA Representative in Vietnam Naomi Kitahara (L) at the project launch on April 29 (Photo: UNFPA)Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra said one of the objectives of Project VNM10P01 is to create a favourable environment to support youth development, in which focus on life skills, gender education and a mechanism promoting youth participation in policies and programmes responding to emergencies, natural disasters and epidemics. The project follows UNFPA priorities, as well as the country’s socio-economic development and the current situation and the needs of Vietnamese youth in the coming years, she added.
The minister appreciated the UNFPA’s assistance, which willhelp care for and develop the youth and support Vietnam to achieve itsSustainable Development Goals by 2030.
NaomiKitahara, UNFPA Representative in Vietnam cited the 2019 population and housingcensus as showing the country has the highest proportion of young people in itshistory, creating the potential for a demographic dividend to acceleratesocio-economic growth. The 20.4 million young people, aged 10 - 24, account for21 percent of the total population.
“Thedemographic window of opportunity, first identified in 2007, is projected to lastuntil 2041, presenting Vietnam with a unique opportunity to advance sustainabledevelopment,” she said, adding that UNFPA Vietnam acknowledges and appreciatesthe Government’s effort in investing in adolescents and youth and promotingtheir participation in the socio-economic development of the country.
According to Kitahara, the availability of life skills education and comprehensivesex education for in-school adolescents, including vocational training centres,colleges, and universities, must be there, and out-of-school adolescents andyouths must be categorically targeted to ensure that Vietnam’s young people areable to make informed and wise decisions about their health, and about their lives,including when and with whom they can start a family, while balancing it witheducational and professional career paths.
With a total budget of 3.1 millionUSD, the project will beimplemented from 2022 to 2026.
It will focus on implementing theYouth Law, the Vietnamese Youth Development Strategy, and other policies andprogrammes related to youth; strengthening the monitoring of the implementationof the Youth Law, youth development policies and programmes, including inhumanitarian crises such as natural disasters and pandemics; developingplatforms/mechanisms and policies to enhance the active participation of youngpeople, especially vulnerable youths, in the development and monitoring of laws,programmes./.
VNA
