Social work alleviates poverty
Resource type: News
Viet Nam News | [ View Original Source (opens in new window) ]
Accordingly, MOLISA will contribute a counter-fund worth US$560,000 during the 2010-14 period. Atlantic Philanthropies Organisation in Viet Nam will provide $1.2 million during the same period, and UNICEF will contribute $400,000 next year.
QUANG NINH — Social work development plays an important role in alleviating poverty, addressing complex social problems and promoting social justice and equality in Viet Nam, said Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.
She highlighted social work’s vital role in society during the opening session of a two-day conference to launch the newly-approved national programme on the development of social work until 2020.
It is high time social work should become a profession because the increasing population and the emergence of new alarming social issues have made the traditional forms of social care inadequate, she said.
Ngan said lessons learnt from other countries had shown that adequate and sustainable social protection could not be attained without a system of professional social workers, whose important role was to protect vulnerable groups.
United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative Lotta Sylwander said the Government’s decision to approve the development of social work was very timely. She expressed her belief that in the coming years social work services would be in place to provide support to vulnerable groups.
Minister Ngan said the 10-year programme aims to develop a legal framework for the development of social work, to increase the knowledge and skills of professional social workers develop social services and increase public awareness about the profession.
According to the plan, 35,000 social workers would be trained and 25,000 current Government staff members would be provided with social work training.
Deputy Minister Nguyen Trong Dam said the country would need more than 10,000 social work professionals who hold university degrees. — VNS
Dr. Le Nhan Phuong, Population Health Programme Country Director, Viet Nam, The Atlantic Philanthropies (left); Mr. Nguyen Trong Dam, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) (centre); and Ms. Lotta Sylwander, UNICEF Representative (right).
Viet Nam Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) is an Atlantic grantee.