Project supporting vocational skills training for Hanoi disadvantaged youth

Many of Hanoi’s disadvantaged youth from the Hanoi Industrial Vocational College will receive support through vocational skills training and job opportunities from the “Ready for Work - Covid-19 recovery and digital economy” project.

Delegates attend the kickoff ceremony. Photo: Tran Oanh/ The Hanoi Times

The kickoff ceremony of the project was held on October 27 by the Hanoi Industrial Vocational College (HNIVC) in coordination with Plan International Vietnam (PIV).

Following the success of the “Bridges to the Future” project funded by Google.org through PIV, the city’s college will receive an amount of VND2.2 billion ($88,450) from Standard Chartered Foundation (SCF) and PIV for the 2022-23 period.

The project focuses on three main objectives: to equip disadvantaged youth with market-relevant, new and in-demand skills for, during, and after Covid-19 and the digital economy. The private sector and government institutions are committed to providing relevant support to young job seekers. Families, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) providers, and employers support positive standards and practices for the inclusion of disadvantaged youth.

Speaking at the event, the HNIVC Principal Pham Thi Huong said, according to the project, the city’s college plans to provide short-term vocational training for 150 students, including disadvantaged groups, as well as soft skills training and job opportunities for 450 students.

The college has been approved to implement the project in the 2020-2022 period with a budget of over VND7.3 billion (US$293,559) for market-oriented short-term soft skills and vocational training to reduce youth unemployment in Vietnam after the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis.

Under the Bridges to the Future project, over 4,800 young people (nearly 40% of them female) were supported and trained in vocational skills, soft skills, and gender equality knowledge and given a referral to job opportunities tailored to needs in the post-Covid era, thanks to the project’s support and HNIVC’s determination.

Le Tan Dung, Deputy Minister of Labors, Invalids and Social Affairs, underlined this assistance has resulted in some young people receiving gold and silver medals at the recent 2022 National Vocational Skills Competition.

He added: “The project will also assisted the school with facilities, developing and editing programs and textbooks, training teachers on online teaching and gender equality, fostering business connections, and holding recruitment events to create job opportunities for students.”

According to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, in 2021, around 18 million people working in the informal sector were the hardest hit by the pandemic, with 60% of these being classed as youth (aged 15-24). About 250,000 workers have lost their jobs, and another two million
temporarily stopped working because of Covid-19 in Vietnam.

In Hanoi, applications for unemployment benefits have increased by 12.6% during the period. Women are principally found in lower-paid sectors and make up 44% of workers in most at-risk sectors in the formal economy, such as hospitality and tourism.

Furthermore, a move by companies towards increased automation (in response to the pandemic) would be to the detriment of women as they often disproportionately work in customer-facing services, according to the SCF. Negative gender norms combined with a lack of education, confidence, or skills place young women among the most economically excluded.