The New Zealand Embassy will provide NZ$ 50,000 (US$35,540) to a project to support 350 women workers in informal employment as street vendors, junk collectors, or housemaids, in cities of Đà Nẵng and Huế over the coming three months. Photo courtesy of New Zealand Embassy

HÀ NỘI — As many as 350 women in the informal economy will receive cash and training assistance worth NZ$50,000 (US$35,540) to overcome the impact of COVID-19.

The assistance, delivered by a project by New Zealand Embassy and ActionAid Vietnam, will reach female workers in the cities of Đà Nẵng and Huế who are working as street vendors, junk collectors, or housemaids.

Speaking at the launch of the project "Leave No One Behind in the Struggle Against COVID–19", New Zealand Chargé d'Affaires Joseph Mayhew said this was is a practical initiative to help ease the economic impacts of COVID-19 and strengthen the resilience of more than 350 women workers, and their families, in Đà Nẵng and Huế’s informal sectors.

“I believe that supporting women workers in sectors that are hardest hit by the pandemic is a vital component of robust, inclusive, and equitable recovery,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted Việt Nam's tourism industry, with Đà Nẵng and Thừa Thiên-Huế, the two major international tourism hubs, particularly affected.

The project includes training on household economic literacy and management, women’s rights and child nutrition. The financial support can be used to purchase food, living essentials or small livelihood options.

According to ActionAid Vietnam’s recent research, more than 90 per cent of tourism sector workers lost employment and income due to COVID-19. In Đà Nẵng and Thừa Thiên-Huế, almost 90,000 people either became unemployed or suffered from greatly reduced income.

Only 22 per cent of the (ActionAid’s) surveyed workers currently have access to the Government’s VNĐ62 trillion relief package.

“This project is one way to help women workers become more visible in the public eye, and at the same time trying to set up a practical model where support can be delivered to the target groups and individuals in an efficient and transparent manner,” said Hoàng Phương Thảo, Country Director of ActionAid Vietnam.

“We want to contribute to the commitments of Việt Nam and New Zealand, of Leaving No One Behind in the struggles to overcome COVID-19,” she said. — VNS