Six hundred poor ethnic minority households in four COVID-19 hit communes in Bat Xat district, Lao Cai province, have received nearly VND1.4 billion (or US$61,000) in cash from UN Women, a United Nations entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. 

UN Women, in coordination with Lao Cai province Women's Union,
supports ethnic minority women affected by COVID-19 in Lao Cai.

UN Women, in coordination with Lao Cai province Women's Union, implemented this cash delivery activity for ethnic minority women affected by COVID-19 in Lao Cai. 

The total funding of nearly VND1.4 billion came from UN COVID-19 Response and Recovery Multi-Partner Trust (UN COVID-19 MPTF).

600 households will receive the cash support with an estimated amount of VND2.3 million per each household. The cash grant will help people buy food, necessities and invest in their livelihoods during the on-going pandemic.

This initiative will complement existing government assistance and address gaps in support for the most vulnerable and workers in the informal sector affected by COVID-19, said Elisa Fernandez Saenz, Representative of UN Women Viet Nam.

Ethnic minority women in poor households in Lao Cai will be supported to continue their livelihood activities, job losses will be minimized; thereby reducing negative effects on families and women, she added. 

Lao Cai Province is a region disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, especially vulnerable ones who are women working in informal sectors and ethnic minorities. Consisting of 14.7% of Viet Nam’s population, ethnic minority people account for 95% of the country’s extreme poor and 55.3% of the poor.

UN Women is part of the UN “Delivering as One” initiative in Viet Nam and it leads UN’s advocacy to further promote gender equality by enhancing women’s economic empowerment, ending violence against women and girls and improving women’s access to justice, and making gender equality a key part of the national legal framework, policies and plans.