(VOVWORLD) - A project was launched on Monday to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable groups, especially women and girls.
 Canadian Ambassador Paul Deborah speaks at the event. (Photo: VOV5) |
It is a jointly project of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), and the Embassy of Canada in Vietnam.
Called ‘Leveraging Vietnam’s Social Impact Business Ecosystem in Response to COVID-19’, the project will be implemented for three years with a total budget of 2.44 million USD.
Canadian Ambassador Paul Deborah said the project aims to improve the effectiveness of social impact businesses (SIBs), especially those led by women, in addressing the social and gendered impacts of COVID-19, and strengthen the SIB regulatory environment in order to enhance their social and environmental contributions in the communities they serve.
The project prioritizes support to SIBs in four key industries heavily impacted by COVID-19 – sustainable agriculture, sustainable tourism, education, and health. These are also areas with a large female workforce and many SIBs that offer innovative solutions to reducing poverty among women and girls.
The program will help 300 SIBs acquire capital and markets, and create 9,000 jobs for vulnerable groups.