Speeches Shim
ASD is a complex developmental condition that involves persistent challenges in social interaction, speech and nonverbal communication, and restricted/repetitive behaviors. In Vietnam, the prevalence of ASD among children aged 18-30 months is around 75 per 10,000 children. However, until recently, there were no official Ministry of Health guidelines on diagnosis and interventions for children with ASD. To address this, USAID’s I-Thrive project collaborated with the Ministry of Health’s Medical Services Administration and the National Pediatric Hospital in Hanoi to develop technical guidelines on (i) an interdisciplinary rehabilitation mechanism and (ii) early identification and intervention for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). These guidelines will be used by different professionals in the rehabilitation system to coordinate services - from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up, and will be piloted in three provincial hospitals in Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam provinces over the next few months.
Through the USAID Trade Facilitation Program, USAID is helping Vietnam Customs develop their e-learning capabilities with a goal of shifting training for their officials and the private sector to online and blended methods. In the long-term, Vietnam Customs aims for VCS to be a premier Customs training center in the Indo-Pacific. From December 14-18, the USAID Trade Facilitation Program and VCS held two Training-of-Trainers workshops in Danang for VCS instructors on e-learning course development, including practice using their e-Learning Management System.
The USAID Strengthening Provincial Capacity project works with three existing Vietnamese institutions that provide leadership and capacity building training to provincial-level leaders, including the School of Government at the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (SOG/UEH). USAID has collaborated with Portland State University to train SOG/EUH lecturers. The first Trainer Certificate Program session was conducted in Vung Tau on December 16-17, where SOG/UEH lecturers learned key principles of adult learning, how to design a training course for adults, methods for evaluating learning outcomes, and applying adult learning methods to a real SOG/UEH case. The training also exposed lecturers to online lecturing and course development skills. The second session will be held at the SOG/UEH campus in Ho Chi Minh City on January 5 and 7. At the end of the course, SOG/UEH faculty/instructors will be certified in adult learning methodologies by Portland State University and USAID.
Mr. Vì Văn Hạnh is Head of Lùn Village in the forested Son La Province. His village, like many others in the province, suffers from a lack of infrastructure, livelihood opportunities, and general poverty. As residents have turned to the forests for a source of income, the forests have increasingly come under pressure and are at risk of overuse. To alleviate this double challenge of preserving the forests and providing income opportunities, the Government of Vietnam developed and implemented the Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) system. Through the PFES system, hydropower companies and other downstream forest service users pay upstream forest communities to protect their forests and watersheds against deforestation and degradation, to ensure the companies have a stable water supply to produce electricity. In Son La province, the annual total PFES revenue is approximately $5 million (VND 120 billion), which is disbursed in payments to around 2,200 villages to protect their forests. One of the key objectives of these payments is to support local livelihoods in order to reduce pressure on forests for income and to provide other opportunities, through a transparent and community-based decision-making process. Community savings funds are one way PFES can help improve the villages’ economic situations and provide residents access to loans to start local businesses. However, many village leaders, including Mr. Hạnh, had not followed through on that goal and instead made decisions on their own about how to use the funds.
The USAID Vietnam Forests and Deltas (VFD) Program supports Vietnam’s transition to more resilient and sustainable development. The first phase of the program (2012-2018) helped put national policies and strategies into practice to respond to climate change, with a focus on the forestry and agriculture sectors, disaster risk reduction, and strengthening rural livelihoods.
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