New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam, Tredene Dobson (red suit), announces a NZ$2million contribution from Aotearoa New Zealand to support Việt Nam’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. — Photo baochinhphu.vn

HÀ NỘI — New Zealand Ambassador to Việt Nam Tredene Dobson and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nguyễn Minh Vũ announced a NZ$2million contribution from New Zealand to support Việt Nam’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The package includes NZ$1 million for medical equipment provided through UNICEF Vietnam and NZ$1 million for community-level economic recovery support through CARE International and Oxfam in Việt Nam. 

Dobson said: “This project acknowledges a two-fold approach to COVID recovery. On the one hand, there is an ongoing health response, and this is why New Zealand is working with UNICEF to deliver medical equipment to areas where it is needed for the ongoing safe and effective response to COVID-19."

"We wanted to ensure that this project also supported economic recovery amongst some of Việt Nam’s most vulnerable communities – both in the major urban centres and in hard-hit rural areas.”

Partnering in providing medical equipment to support vaccination and treatment of children in Việt Nam, Rana Flowers, UNICEF Representative in the country, said: “Health systems have experienced terrible disruptions in essential health and other social services worldwide, including health services not related to COVID.”

The projects with CARE International in Việt Nam and Oxfam in Việt Nam will support 5,400 persons who the pandemic has negatively impacted. Most assistance will be directed to women, people with disabilities and members of ethnic minority communities in HCM City, Bình Dương, Quảng Trị, and Hà Giang. 

Lê Kim Dung, country director of CARE International in Việt Nam, said: “CARE believes that this grant will support over 3,100 people from vulnerable households in ethnic minority communities in Quảng Trị and Hà Giang to recover quickly from the shock after the pandemic."

Vũ Thị Quỳnh Hoa, national director of Oxfam in Việt Nam, said: “In this project, Oxfam and partners will support job skill training and financial assistance for at least 2,300 informal workers such as street vendors, small family business shops, lottery ticket sellers in HCM City and Bình Dương Province for them to build their livelihood resilience.

Over the past two years, the New Zealand Embassy has successfully delivered several COVID-19 response projects totalling NZ$270,000 through its partners, assisting more than 3,300 female workers in various sectors and 130 children with disabilities as well as members of the hearing-impaired community in Việt Nam.

The projects have been in partnership with Oxfam in Việt Nam, ActionAid in Việt Nam, East Meets West, CARE International in Việt Nam, Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, Tân Bình Centre, and SCDeaf. — VNS