Viet Nam: UNICEF’s Emergency Relief Focuses on Child-Centered Disaster Risk Reduction

Ha Noi, 28 November 2016 – At the request of the Government of Viet Nam, UNICEF has been providing critical support to children and women affected by the drought and saltwater intrusion crisis in 10 provinces in Viet Nam’s Central Highlands, South Central Coast and Mekong Delta Region. Since August 2016, UNICEF Emergency Programme has been operating within the framework agreed with the Government and is increasingly and steadily converging to the risk-informed programming approach, bridging the gap between the development work and the humanitarian response, in a development setting

Besides providing nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, UNICEF helps building capacity of  sub-national health staff and commune collaborators in screening and monitoring of severe acute malnourished children, promoting infant and young child feeding practices and usage of nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies. UNICEF also supports producing communication materials and providing training-of-trainers to promote behavior change in health care and personal hygiene. To date, it is estimated that UNICEF’s emergency support has reached 140,000 vulnerable people in Viet Nam.

“The ultimate goal of child-centered DRR is to safeguard children’s rights in relation to disaster risk and climate change”, Youssouf Abdel-Jelil, UNCEF Viet Nam Representative.

In the coming months, UNICEF’s Emergency Programme will focus on advocacy and capacity building on child-centered disaster risk reduction (DRR). A National Conference on Child-Centered Disaster Risk Reduction will be held in Ninh Thuan Province in December this year by UNICEF in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Development (MARD). A joint MARD-UNICEF vision paper on child-centered disaster risk reduction and risk-informed programming in Viet Nam is being developed. UNICEF also supports the mapping of child-centered vulnerability, presenting how multiple climate-change linked natural hazards have a compounding effect on the existing socio-economic vulnerabilities of children.

“The child-centered risk analysis aims to inform risk management and response plans that seek to mitigate risks of hazards before the latter evolve into disasters”, said Youssouf Abdel-Jelil, UNCEF Viet Nam Representative. Disasters negatively impact children’s rights, disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable populations including amongst children and women. They also  erode development gains. Child-centered DRR aims at strengthening accountability mechanisms between rights holders (children) and duty bearers (parents, communities, service providers and governments), by improving information flows, enhancing transparency and developing capacities at various levels.

With a mandate combining humanitarian relief with long-term development objectives, UNICEF Viet Nam seeks to fully account for risk informed programming and DRR in its 2017-21 Country Cooperation Plan with the Government of Viet Nam.