HCM City — The Australian embassy organised a workshop in Hà Nội yesterday to close its 18-month “Integrating gender and social inclusion into agricultural value-chain research in Việt Nam” gender project.

“Australia strongly commits to gender equality promotion in Việt Nam,” Rebecca Bryant, deputy head of mission at the embassy in Hà Nội, said.

The project is funded by Australia through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

It works with 10 ACIAR projects with a total funding of US$12.7 million focusing on value chains in Việt Nam and Southeast Asia.

It is implemented by the International Potato Center and three partner organisations.

To end next month, the project aims to address gendered social constraints and create opportunities to increase adoption of modern technologies for more sustainable intensification and enhance inclusive value chains for ethnic minority women and men.

The project has done six field studies to understand how gender norms and relations influence farming practices and identify gender-based opportunities and challenges for ethnic minority women and men farmers.

It had organised three gender training programmes in Hà Nội and HCM City and a gender-awareness workshop in Myanmar.

It also created an evidence database for gender transformative research and development, enhanced capacity for researchers and established a network and knowledge hub for agricultural and gender scientists in the region.

Workshop participants included government officials and researchers from Việt Nam, Myanmar, the Philippines, Laos, and Cambodia, ethnic minority farmers from Mộc Châu and Điện Biên and ethnic minority university students. — VNS