The 'green homes' initiative is an effective scrap collection model that raises funds to assist disadvantaged women and orphans in Đô Lương Commune. — VNA/VNS Photo Bích Huệ

NGHỆ AN — With more than 704,000 members living in a variety of landscapes, from mountains and plains to coastal areas, the Nghệ An Provincial Women’s Union is asserting its central role in fostering green lifestyles and building families and communities that are environmentally friendly.

Through creative initiatives such as 'green homes', 'turning waste into money' and 'I love the blue sea', waste is being transformed into a social resource, helping to change the appearance of rural areas, create sustainable livelihoods and advance the locality’s green growth objectives.

In residential neighbourhoods, green homes serve as collection points for cans, plastic bottles, scrap paper and other recyclable waste. Residents proactively sort waste at source and bring it to collection sites to raise funds by selling recyclables.

These funds are used to support more than 100 female members in need, including those who are poor, women with disabilities and those in particularly difficult circumstances in the area.

The union has also developed an electronic database for 109 orphaned children to design appropriate support measures. Through the Turning Waste into Money – Fulfilling Dreams for Orphans programme, the union has successfully connected 46 organisations and individuals to sponsor 79 children, with total pledged funding of more than VNĐ1.5 billion (US$57,000) over three years.

Nguyễn Thị Lợi, chairwoman of the Đô Lương Commune Women’s Union, said: "The 'green homes' model turns items once deemed disposable into a sustainable social resource.

"When residents see that proceeds from selling scrap are used to help vulnerable people in their own community, they participate voluntarily and responsibly. Going forward, we will continue to scale this model to all of our remaining units. We are determined not to leave anyone behind."

The Quỳnh Mai Women’s Union has linked environmental work with preserving the coastal landscape and promoting sustainable local tourism. Since 2017, the ward-level Women’s Union has effectively maintained the 'I love the blue sea' club, with more than 50 core members.

Each month, members carry out beach clean-ups and collect marine litter. Beyond keeping the sea clean, Quỳnh Mai’s women help beautify the shoreline through the 'green homes' initiative combined with the 'turning recyclables into acts of care', which is effectively maintained across all 36 branch units. This waste-sorting initiative both cleans streets and generates funds to support social welfare.

According to Hồ Thị Thúy, chairwoman of the Quỳnh Mai Ward Women’s Union, the union’s activities not only aim to clean up the environment, but also to create green destinations that increase the locality’s appeal to visitors.

"We want to create a civilised, welcoming space. When each coastal woman changes her daily habits, by turning waste into compost or bringing a reusable basket to market, she directly protects her family’s livelihood and creates sustainable attraction for local tourism," she said.

Towards a green economy

Recognising that lasting environmental protection requires coherent mechanisms and resources, the Nghệ An Provincial Women’s Union has proposed and implemented numerous schemes in recent years, upholding women’s core role in building a green, clean and beautiful living environment.

But environmental protection in Nghệ An still faces several challenges. Soil, water and air pollution issues remain unresolved, directly affecting people’s health.

Although the 2020 Law on Environmental Protection stipulates strict requirements for waste separation at source and reduction of plastic waste, implementation at the local level encounters barriers due to persistent habits among parts of the population.

At the same time, collection and treatment infrastructure in rural and mountainous areas remains fragmented, and resources to sustain self-managed models are limited.

A host of creative models, such as 'turning recyclables into useful work' and 'women’s flower routes' have delivered double benefits.

From funds raised by collecting recyclables, the women’s unions have distributed nearly 15,000 plastic shopping baskets, more than 10,000 plastic food containers, supported over two million livestock seedlings and provided almost 2,500 health insurance cards to poor women and children, spreading a spirit of compassion.

Chairwoman of the Nghệ An Provincial Women’s Union Hoàng Thị Thu Hiền said: "Protecting the environment does not begin with grand gestures, but with the awareness of each person, from the habits of every household.

"Experience shows that when the union plays a strong central role, officials set an example, models are practical and there is accompaniment from Party and Government bodies, environmental protection becomes a voluntary, sustainable movement.”

“Going forward, we call on ministries and sectors to continue improving mechanisms, supporting rural waste treatment infrastructure and encouraging circular economy models linked to women’s livelihoods," she added.

Setting out a sustainable development strategy for the years ahead, the Nghệ An Provincial Women’s Union said it intends to pursue five priority measures: accelerating the digital transformation, exploiting social media platforms and fan pages to spread a 'live green' message and achieving a breakthrough in communication efforts.

To improve the effectiveness of these initiatives, the union will strengthen inter-agency coordination through programmes signed with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to tighten legal supervision.

It will also tackle the collection of pesticide packaging from farmlands.

The goal of achieving a green economy will gradually be realised through policies supporting women’s start-ups that produce eco-friendly goods and by using agricultural by-products to create higher-value items. — VNS