Hanoi (VNA) – An international workshop wasopened by the Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation (VPDF) and Germany’sRosa Luxemburg Stiftung in Hanoi on October 23 to encourage the further involvementfrom society to support vulnerable groups.

In his introductory speech, Dong Huy Cuong,Secretary-General of the VPDF and deputy head of the department formultilateral affairs under the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations, saidVietnam, a war-torn country which is also prone to natural disasters, is now inthe process of industrialisation and urbanisation. Therefore, the number ofpeople in vulnerable groups is very big.

He cited statistics of the Ministry of Labour,Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) that vulnerable groups account for morethan 20 percent of the country’s population. About 9.2 percent of them are theelderly, 7.2 percent are persons with disabilities, and 5 percent are inlow-income families.

They also include about 1.5 million childrenwith special backgrounds, 1.8 million households that need support due tonatural disasters, fires and lean harvest, 234,000 discovered HIV patients,204,000 drug addicts, and 30,000 domestic violence victims.

These groups are facing a number of challengesand barriers relating to their interests, responsibility, self-esteem, healthcare, education, information, employment, capital, and support systems, Cuongnoted.

Over the past years, Vietnam has issued concretepolicies to support vulnerable groups, non-governmental organisations ofVietnam and other countries have also launched many programmes and projects toassist them. However, because of both objective and subjective reasons, thereremain limits of these groups’ access to the help of the State andnon-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Pham Dai Dong, head of the policy and socialassistance division at the MOLISA’s Department of Social Assistance, notedensuring social welfare is an important task of the whole political system andthe entire society. Models of social support must be diverse and include bothmaterial and spiritual support. 

Social support should be shared by the State andthe society, and it should ensure that persons encountering risks receive timelyassistance from the State, organisations and the community, he added.

Sharing her country’s experience, IrisAssenmacher – Counsellor in charge of social issues at the German Embassy inVietnam – said the German Government’s viewpoint on social welfare for thedisabled is to combine regulations and policies in all fields, from socialassistance, social insurance to employment aid, while respecting theirself-determination.

At the two-day workshop, participants are set todiscuss such issues as the reform and development of social assistance inVietnam, Germany’s social support system, local NGOs’ experience in supportingvulnerable groups, ASEAN’s social support for the disabled, and social supportfor migrant workers.-VNA