The film follows Hoa who runs her own shop and cafe in a small village. With the help of a micro-loan funded by MCNV she made her small business more viable and is now considering the next step of expansion to further increase her enterprise.
BOOK INTRODUCTION WORKSHOP: EDUCATION IN SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
On morning of September 9 2017 in Dien Bien Phu city, the Medical Committee Netherlands-Vietnam (MCNV) cooperated with the Department of Education and Training (DOET) of Dien Bien province organized a workshop to introduce the new book “Education in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for high school students”. The workshop gathered representatives who were teachers and officials of 31 high schools in Dien Bien.
With the aim of helping high school teachers to educate their students about SRHR, the book provided teachers with important, practical, and useful knowledge about gender and sexuality; friendship, love among teenagers; contraceptive methods and possible ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies; prevention of sexually transmitted diseases; the problem of sexual abuse among teenagers; personal hygiene; child marriage and early marriage…
Mr. Anh Quoc Nguyen, MCNV’s Coordinator was giving a prize at the workshop
The book was one activity in the project “Enhancing communication in SRHR education for high school students in the mountainous area of Dien Bien”, which was supported by MCNV. The book compiling and production were made in one and a half year, with the contribution of five high school teachers in Dien Bien, two staff members of MCNV; and a doctor from the Hanoi National University of Education. The ultimate goal of the project was to improve teachers’ awareness on SRHS, help them understand more correctly about the issue and then can teach their students better, especially ethnic minority school girls.
According to Dr. Thanh Xuan Nguyen, deputy director of the Ministry of Education and Training, Dien Bien province, the book was a pioneer in the SRHR field, which contained much good knowledge on SRHR for high school students at ages 15 to 18.
The document also had its scientific value, which could be used as a source of reference for researchers, educators, and teachers who care about SRHR. On this special occasion, more than 400 copies of the book were given to high school teachers in Dien Bien.
In three years, from 2015 to 2017, the project has also developed many activities, including building capacity in SRHR for high school teachers, improve students’ kowledge about SRHR, and running the club “Our Ages” which is a platform for students to share their stories and experience of SRHR.
Partnership with Joris Ivens Foundation in MCNV’s jubilee year 2018
In March 2017 a delegation of the Vietnamese Film Institute and the European Foundation Joris Ivens visited the MCNV office in Dong Ha. During the visit MCNV director Guus Paardekooper led the delegation around the MCNV Museum. The organisations plan a partnership in 2018, when MCNV celebrates its 50th anniversary and the Joris Ivens Event will take place. The Dutch Ambassador Nienke Trooster, director Nguyen Dinh Thi of the Hanoi Academy of Theater and Cinema and Nuffic/ NL Universities are enthusiastic about the cultural exchange and like to join the cooperating partners.
The delegation from the Joris Ivens Institute was invited to Vietnam by the Vietnam Film Institute. Both institutes intend to start projects researching the Joris Ivens archive materials, such as films, scripts, photos and film posters. The results of this research could be presented in November 2018 during an international Joris Ivens Event in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Joris Ivens in Vietnam
Film maker Joris Ivens worked in Vietnam between 1964 and 1970 on four movies, that play an important role in raising awareness of the Anti-War movement and their protest campaigns. Ivens arrived secretly in 1964 on invitation of the North-Vietnamese government. Two months later the USA started bombing the country. From the very beginning Ivens was in the unique position eye witnessing with his camera what he described as ‘the biggest colonial war the world ever has seen’. In two films unique excerpts can be seen of Ivens’ meetings in 1965 en 1968 with president Ho Chi Minh.
In the delegation also former MCNV’s Ad Spijkers, who was one of the driving forces behind the support actions to Vietnam, such as ‘Bikes for Vietnam’. He invited Jane Fonda, was involved in the visits of Kim Phuc to the Netherlands through the MCNV and of various Vietnamese professors, for instance the minister of Health Care.
With this visit of the Ivens Foundation to Vietnam a network of reliable stakeholders has been established, with whom the plans for 2018 will be worked out.
Read the full report of the visit of the delegation to the filming locations of Joris Ivens in Vietnam on www.ivens.nl
Delegates from Hulza Foundation visited Microfinance project in Ben Tre province
On April 22nd 2017, Ms. Monique Smiers and Ms. Hoang Phuong Phi, two delegates from Hulza Foundation, Netherlands have visited MCNV’s microfinance project in Binh Dai district, Ben Tre province. They visited Thoi Lai commune, where a new microfinance project was started in December 2016 with the financial support from Hulza Foundation.
Thoi
Lai is one of 9 communes in the microfinance project run by MCNV and Women’s Union. After 4 months of implementation, Thoi Lai has been providing microfinance services to 138 poor women from the initial capital of Euro 20,000 funded by Hulza. Among them, 94 households used their micro loans to build high-capacity water containers to retain rain water to meet domestic consumption and livestock needs during dry seasons. 43 others borrowed to invest in their home business. The project also gives 1 loan for production group and 13 loans to buy health insurance.
Ms. Monique and Ms. Phi has visited 8 households and joined a credit group meeting. The poor women in Thoi Lai were very happy to show them new water containers, which was a great help for health of people and livestock in the drought and salinity disaster recently. Members of the project also learned much knowledge on
financial literacy and production skills in the exchange session during monthly group meetings.
After the visit, Ms. Monique shared “Thanks to the effort from MCNV and partners from Women’s Union, Hulza could use their funding in a real microfinance project. I believe that we have made the right choice to support Ben Tre and our funding will create more social and economic benefits to the poor women in a sustainable way”.
Introduction workshop on Occupational Therapy Training Program for Bachelor level
14th April 2017, in collaboration with Hai Duong Medical and Technical University (HMTU), MCNV organized a workshop on introduction of Occupational Therapy (OT) Training Program for Bachelor level.
The workshop aims to increase general understanding about OT in contribution to quality of rehabilitation; to present and update progress of the OT education development project; and to introduce the pre-service training course of Bachelor of Rehabilitation specialized in OT at HMTU
80 physiotherapists and professors of rehabilitation profession from Ministry of Health (MOH), general hospitals, rehabilitation centers of Northern provinces, representatives from Ministry of Educational and Training (MOET), USAID and HI and especially lecturers and student of HMTU attended the workshop. All participants expected the BOT training program will be expressed broadly and recruit qualified students. The BOT training program at HMTU will be started this November. The same BOT course was kicked off already at the sister university of Medicine and Pharmacy in HCMC in March 2017.
MCNV presents Strategy 2017-2021
Dear friends,
The past year we have been working very hard on our new strategy. We’re proud to present the results of this international teamwork in the MCNV Strategy 2017-2021.
New Vietnamese ambassador visits MCNV
Last Friday, May 12, 2017, the new ambassador of Vietnam in the Hague, Mrs Ngo Thi Hoa, visited MCNV office in Amsterdam. Mrs Hoa wants to intensify the relationship between Vietnam and the Netherlands, joining forces in collaboration. To realise this, she made a list of organisations to visit and MCNV was on the top of this list.
MCNV facilitates workshop “Writeshopping for Development”
MCNV is member of the Barefoot Guide Alliance, an alliance of 6 organisations around the world, which are sustaining the Barefoot Guide Connection to spread its message and methods. The Barefoot Guide Connection is a global network of individuals and organisations that value deep reflection on development practices by and for practitioners. A method that has emerged from writing four Barefoot guides is the ‘Writeshopping for Development’ methodology.
