Can Tho (VNA) – Save the Children is planning to opena representative office in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, and Can Tho city, asthe growth engine of the region, is suitable to be the location of this office,said the organisation’s Country Director Dragana Strinic.

She was speaking at a working session with theCan Tho municipal People’s Committee on May 16.

She noted that Save the Children currently hasrepresentative offices in Hanoi, northern mountainous Lao Cai province, centralDa Nang city, and Ho Chi Minh City. They are tasked with learning about thesituation of local children and implementing support activities.

As the representative office in HCM City is unableto cover all child support issues in the southern region, it is necessary toset up another office in the Mekong Delta, she added.

Strinic said the Save the Children office in CanTho will focus on education, health care, disaster relief, and prevention ofviolence against children. 

She elaborated that the organisation willcoordinate with the local educational sector to improve children’s reading andwriting skills through learning toolkits with proven effectiveness. It aims toexpand the teaching of Vietnamese as the second language for local ethnicminority children through bilingual education programmes.

To end violence against children, they will workwith the municipal Department of Education and Training to step up preventivemeasures and protect children from violence and abuse by educating students onforms of abuse and self-defence skills, encouraging parents to regularly talkto their children, and giving parents advice on the education of children atdifferent ages.

In health care, Save the Children willcoordinate with the municipal Department of Health to provide free check-ups,treatment and medicine for disadvantaged children while popularising basichealth knowledge to low-income families, rural residents, and ethnic minoritypeople. It will also join hands with schools and localities to promote foodfortification for mothers and children through giving milk, vitamins and tonicsto malnourished students, pregnant women, and new mothers.

In terms of disaster aid, the organisation willopen training courses to improve students and teachers’ awareness of disastersand response skills, work with local authorities to provide emergency relief incase of disasters, and carry out a post-disaster poverty reduction programme byoffering loans, breeding stock and plant seedlings for disaster-affectedhouseholds, Strinic noted.

At the session, Vice Chairman of the municipalPeople’s Committee Truong Quang Hoai Nam welcomed the plan and operation orientationsof Save the Children in Can Tho. He promised that the city’s administrationwill actively support the organisation’s programmes.

Export processing and industrial parks isgrowing rapidly in Can Tho, leading to the fast growth of the number ofchildren whose parents come from other localities to work in the city. Thisfact has caused difficulties in managing and ensuring children’s life quality.Therefore, the city wants to receive the organisation’s assistance in thisproblem, he added.-VNA