Project to help implement policies for comprehensive youth development

The Ministry of Home Affairs and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Vietnam launched a new project on April 29 to support the implementation and monitoring of laws and policies for comprehensive youth development and youth participation, including during natural disasters and pandemics.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra said one of the objectives of Project VNM10P01 is to create a favourable environment to support youth development, in which focus on life skills, gender education and a mechanism promoting youth participation in policies and programmes responding to emergencies, natural disasters and epidemics. The project follows UNFPA priorities, as well as the country’s socio-economic development and the current situation and the needs of Vietnamese youth in the coming years, she added.

The minister appreciated the UNFPA’s assistance, which will help care for and develop the youth and support Vietnam to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Naomi Kitahara, UNFPA Representative in Vietnam cited the 2019 population and housing census as showing the country has the highest proportion of young people in its history, creating the potential for a demographic dividend to accelerate socio-economic growth. The 20.4 million young people, aged 10 - 24, account for 21 percent of the total population.

“The demographic window of opportunity, first identified in 2007, is projected to last until 2041, presenting Vietnam with a unique opportunity to advance sustainable development,” she said, adding that UNFPA Vietnam acknowledges and appreciates the Government’s effort in investing in adolescents and youth and promoting their participation in the socio-economic development of the country.

According to Kitahara, the availability of life skills education and comprehensive sex education for in-school adolescents, including vocational training centres, colleges, and universities, must be there, and out-of-school adolescents and youths must be categorically targeted to ensure that Vietnam’s young people are able to make informed and wise decisions about their health, and about their lives, including when and with whom they can start a family, while balancing it with educational and professional career paths.

With a total budget of 3.1 million USD, the project will be implemented from 2022 to 2026.

It will focus on implementing the Youth Law, the Vietnamese Youth Development Strategy, and other policies and programmes related to youth; strengthening the monitoring of the implementation of the Youth Law, youth development policies and programmes, including in humanitarian crises such as natural disasters and pandemics; developing platforms/mechanisms and policies to enhance the active participation of young people, especially vulnerable youths, in the development and monitoring of laws, programmes./.