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12/08/2013

On 30 July 2013, Vietnam Women’s Union in cooperation with VVOB Vietnam organized a workshop to exchange nation-wide good experiences after 5 years of implementing the Child-friendly school movement. The workshop was chaired by Ms.Bui Thi Hoa, vice-chairwoman of the Vietnamese Women's Union. Representatives from the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Viet Nam Association for Learning Promotion participated in the full day workshop.

One of the key initiatives presented during the workshop was the Women's Union club model “Education and Life” which was established by WU in the 5 VVOB program provinces with support of VVOB. The main objectives of Women's Union clubs are: (i) to inform parents about innovations in child education methodologies, and (ii) to create a forum for parents to share experiences and search for mutual support on child development issues. The club model has been recognized by the Vietnamese Women's Union as a best practice and has been disseminated to other provinces in Vietnam through the National Programme on capacity building of 5 millions mothers.

The Confucian cultural history background of Vietnam is a key factor in the ATL change process. Many parents are strongly influenced by the Confucian culture and are not familiar with the image of teachers as facilitators of learning. They often do not favour the democratic nature of the learning process of their children. Parents, especially in rural areas, seem to have lost track of recent changes in education, especially in learning and teaching methodologies, and find it difficult to adapt to the requirements of recent developments of the country.

Women's Unions have enhanced their traditional roles in ensuring access to education of children, advocacy for the importance of education and mobilizing support of parents. Recently, Women's Unions have started to build expertise in active learning change processes through training and material development for parents, and through pilot initiatives of behaviour change communication and capacity building for parents to support their children's learning at home and at school. The involvement of VVOB in this change process is acknowledged in the final 2013 report made by Vietnam WU which was presented at the National Workshop “Sum-up of the Child-Friendly School Movement” chaired by the Ministry of Education and Training on 19 July 2013.

For more information in Vietnamese, please visit: http://hoilhpn.org.vn/newsdetail.asp?CatId=144&NewsId=19861&lang=VN