UNICEF’s 2025 Impact in Viet Nam

UNICEF continued supporting education reforms that make learning more inclusive, digital‑ready and climate‑resilient:

• Helped put national digital and AI competency frameworks into use, supporting 1.3 million teachers and education managers and improving learning for 26 million students.

• Supported early childhood education reforms, including new child‑centred curricula, expected to benefit 4 million young children nationwide after successful pilots in 20 provinces.

• Promoted girls’ skills development through Skills4Girls and gender‑responsive education initiatives. 

UNICEF helped protect children from violence, exploitation and harm:

• Strengthened Viet Nam’s child protection system, including laws, policies and online safety, and supported the development of new national child protection priorities to 2030.
• Supported national preparations for the UN Convention against Cybercrime meeting in Ha Noi, including a pre‑event on online gender‑based violence and child sexual exploitation.
• Helped expand school counselling services nationwide.
• Equipped 105 counselling rooms and trained counsellors, giving 35,575 students access to mental health and psychosocial support.
• Improved laws and services to better protect children from technology‑related violence.

UNICEF helped ensure children and families have access to clean water and sanitation:

• Installed solar and wind‑powered systems in 15 rural water schemes, providing clean water for 69,817 people and extending pipelines to reach 9,000 people who previously had no access.
• Expanded rainwater harvesting systems to 50 schools and 10 household clusters in Dien Bien province.
• Supported the drafting of two national regulations to improve funding for rural water supply, helping ensure services are sustainable and scalable.
• Restored five water schemes and 18 facilities during emergency recovery, and provided Water, Sanitation and Hygiene supplies and cash assistance to 59,000 people.

UNICEF helped make sure mothers and children, especially in marginalized and hard‑to‑reach areas, could access essential healthcare:

• Updated newborn care guidelines and trained thousands of health workers, benefiting nearly 1.7 million women and newborns.
• Procured almost 2 million vaccine doses, expanded outreach services and helped restore disrupted immunisation in disaster‑hit provinces.
• Advanced digital health systems by supporting the e‑Maternal and Child Health platform to improve data and service monitoring.
• Strengthened environmental health for children, including action on lead exposure, training health workers on air pollution impacts, and public awareness efforts reaching over 2 million people.
• Engaged more than 600 children and community members in activities raising awareness on air pollution and child health.

UNICEF helped make sure children, adolescents and families could access good nutrition, both in everyday services and during emergencies:

• Supported major national policy changes, including a new tax on sugary drinks (June 2025) and new School Meal Nutrition Guidelines (December 2025).
• Promoted better nutrition in schools, including nutrition education for 9,132 students and iron–folic acid supplements for 5,907 adolescent girls.
• Piloted obesity‑prevention activities reaching 9,678 students in Da Nang.
• Ensured treatment for 1,480 children with severe acute malnutrition and 7,037 children with moderate acute malnutrition.
• Supported 3,643 caregivers with counselling on infant and young child feeding during emergencies.

UNICEF helped make Viet Nam’s climate and disaster efforts more child‑focused, while supporting children and young people to build resilience and act on climate issues:

• Strengthened national disaster and climate policies by supporting child‑sensitive changes to the Law on Disaster Prevention and Control.

• Improved local preparedness by training 180 officials in high‑risk northern provinces on child‑focused disaster planning and response.

• Engaged over 13,000 children and adolescents in climate skills, leadership and community resilience activities nationwide.

• Amplified youth voices on climate issues through a youth‑led journalism initiative, empowering 250 young people to influence public debate and environmental decision‑making.

• Raised public awareness on air pollution, reaching 1.7 million people online and supporting adolescents to advocate for cleaner air.

• Helped integrate child health and climate resilience into Viet Nam’s national climate commitment, ensuring children and youth are recognized in climate action. 

UNICEF helped ensure that children and families facing poverty or shocks could access social protection, better living conditions, and the support they need to thrive:

• Co‑authored with Ho Chi Minh Political Academy a landmark report on 50 years of progress for children in Viet Nam, outlining key legal, policy, financing, and monitoring actions to strengthen child rights.
• Piloted a Nutrition Cash Plus model in Gia Lai province, providing combined cash and nutrition support to 245 children and pregnant women, reducing severe stunting and improving dietary diversity.
• Provided emergency multi‑purpose cash assistance to 4,778 households, supporting 25,524 people with basic needs such as food, shelter, health, education, and livelihoods.

UNICEF facilitated platforms for young people to build skills and take action on issues that matter to them, including jobs, climate change and decision‑making:

• Built skills and leadership among young people through the UPSHIFT programme, which supported over 100 young women to develop entrepreneurship and social innovation skills, and reached over 500,000 youth online.

• Strengthened youth advocacy, training 19 Youth Advocacy Champions who shared skills with 1,500+ adolescents, with plans to expand to more youth, including those with disabilities.

• Amplified youth voices on climate action, mobilising 1,700 young people during Climate Action Week and supporting youth representatives to speak for Viet Nam at COP30.

• Embedded youth voices in decision‑making, engaging 1,000+ young people in shaping UNICEF’s next country programme and national consultations.

• Expanded digital youth engagement, reaching nearly 23,000 young people through platforms like U‑Report to support dialogue and participation. 

UNICEF helped children and families quickly regain essential services after the 2025 typhoons and floods:

• Restored essential services in water and sanitation, health, nutrition, education, child protection and social protection in the hardest‑hit provinces.
• Supported rapid post‑disaster assessments and contributed to the national and UN response plans.
• Co‑led emergency coordination across water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nutrition, education and child protection to ensure partners worked together effectively.
• Deployed staff, pre‑positioned supplies and delivered life‑saving assistance, while also supporting early recovery and community resilience.