April 2015 Issue 3

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First Newsletter of 2015

2015 is upon us and with it comes the promise of great change. As part of our own expansion and growth, we’re excited to get the Newsletter Issue 3 published, specifically designed to keep ADRA donors, partners and all supporters informed of what we have done, what we are doing and our moves ahead.

Recognition of ADRA's works in Vietnam

An indeedly honorable recognition by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations was awarded to ADRA Vietnam in December 2014, marking its great contribution to the general socio-economic development of the country. During the same month, ADRA also received a recognition by the Cao Bang Provincial People's Committee for 2 decades of whole-hearted work in one of the most difficult regions of Vietnam.

ADRA Vietnam has got something big coming soon

Stay tuned with ADRA Vietnam via:

www.adravietnam.org

www.facebook.com/adrainvietnam

NEWSLETTER IN ACTIONS

Community and Economic Development for Livelihood Improvement Project (CEDLIP)

Bao Lac district - Cao Bang province

Notable achievements in forming and bringing into proper function the community-based organizations (CBOs) within the existing Sustainable Livelihood Development Project in Cao Bang was a foundation for the approval of the new project called CEDLIP. The project, which is funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and ADRA Finland Foundation, will extend the model of self-governing and developing community groups and at the same time facilitate livelihood improvement for 615 targetedly direct beneficiaries, alongside an additional number of 6,460 secondary beneficiaries. CEDLIP is about to start at the beginning of April 2015.

The project emphasizes the local capacity building and enhancement on good governance, agricultural techniques, market-oriented production and project fundraising and management. The project also straightforwardly addresses the necessity of encouraging and implementing the community initiatives and income generation models. Financial mechanisms such as Matching Fund related to the community development component and the Community Development Fund (CDF) for the household economic development are employed. Decreasing ratio is applied for the Matching Fund (i.e, for Year 1 project will support 2$ for every 1$ raised by the community; in Year 2 the ratio is 1:1 and in Year 3 participating communities and their implementing partners such as the Women's Union must raise the entire fund to implement community projects). The CDF is assisted by ADRA throughout the project duration and is distributed to families in kind of revolving monetary loans.

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CADIM highlights

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!This is a joint-project of ADRA in Vietnam, CARE and World Vision, which is carried on from November 2014 to April 2016. An overarching logframe is developed by the implementing organizations, specifying 3 distinct focuses and geographical locations for each actor. ADRA in Vietnam’s component aims at improving the capacity and participation of the people with disability in the CBDRM implementation process. This will ensure the right to life of persons who are most tremendously impacted by disasters.

First Technical Workshop of BRICK II !On February 10, the first technical workshop of project BRICK II took place in Hanoi with the purpose of unifying all specialized aspects into executing process. Participants included senior officers from 3 implementing INGOs, representatives from governmental agencies and relevant institutions including the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development, the Disaster Management Center and the Women's Union.

The workshop introduced activities done by ADRA, CARE and World Vision, and drew out lessons from each implementer as follows:

• Gender integration: a) ensure equal participation of women and men; b) clarify gender needs; c) reflect on gender needs in CBDRM plan; d) plan to support the gender needs.

• Disability Inclusion: a) ensure representation of the people with disabilities (PWD) in CBDRM technical support group; b) enhance capacity of PWD in CBDRM; c) ensure participation of PWD in project and social activities.

• Child integration: a) implement activities with the child-focused method; b) execute capacity building for the students; c) use suitable media and communication material alongside the “learning by playing” methodology.

The action plan was designed following the workshop, boosting technical documents sharing among organizations and creating the space for co-hosted training sessions and workshops at project sites and co-organized quarterly meetings in the coming time.

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During February 2 - 6, the community consultation meetings took place in 2 wards Thoi An Dong and Long Tuyen, location of the Capacity Building for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management project (CADIM). These meetings aimed at reviewing the results of Vulnerability Capability Assessment (VCA) done in January and adding necessary information to the finalization.

There were 359 participants at these meetings, out of which 31 are people with disabilities. As the result, 14 completed VCA reports were acquired, covering key points such as mapping safe zones for evacuation and staying during a disaster, listing leaders in DRR activities and identifying vulnerable subjects.

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Enhance capacity in planning and implementing Community based Disaster Risk Managment (CBDRM), with focus on women, children and people with disability (BRICK II)

Bac Kan, Binh Thuan & Can Tho province

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SLDP highlights

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On February 12, Marketplace and Learning Forum was organized in Trung Thanh Commune with participation of 25 farmers and traders experienced in cow and pig husbandry as well as fruit and rice cultivation.

The Forum was a chance for all invitees to exchange information about the market and a variety of agricultural commodities, by doing so help the participants define better market price for their products.

At the end of the Marketplace and Learning Forum participants expressed their expectation to have more specialized workshops on animal husbandry and farming, so they could learn and apply new techniques to increase the productivity.

Donor field visit!Donor monitoring of funded project aims at enhancing the quality and accountability of the activities.

On January 20 - 22, Mr. Siliga Tuvalu Matthew and Mr. Drinkall Graeme Lindan - CEO and CFO of ADRA New Zealand, accompanied by Ms. Luu Thi Ngoc Bich - Operations Manager of ADRA Vietnam, came to visit beneficiary households of LIBRE project in 3 communes, namely Trung Thanh, Vinh Xuan and Tich Thien. During the monitoring visit, the team also had a meeting with the local implementing partners, including the Vinh Long Union of Friendship Organizations and the field coordinating units, so as to study about the obtained results, cooperation among stakeholders and challenges ahead.

"We feel regretful that the project budget is very modest in comparison with the real need of the community. We look forward and will try our best to raise more funds", said Mr. Siliga Tuvalu Matthew.

Livelihood Improvement for Building Resilient Communities (LIBRE)

Vung Liem & Tra On district - Vinh Long province

Sustainable Livelihood Development Project (SLDP) consistently holds the people-centered and holistic approach. The project managed to generate positive results during the first quarter of 2015:

Disability inclusion became key theme in all activities

• Communication events organized in 28 Community Development Clubs (CDCs) included 81 adults and 25 children with disabilities, along with other community members. Rights of People with Disabilities (PWDs) was brought into perspective for all actors and specific actions were taken, including 1/financial contribution to buy jackets for PWDs; 2/prioritizing Development Funds without interest rates for the households of PWDs; 3/supporting PWDs in daily life and personal hygiene and etc.

• 122 presents were given to PWDs in 28 CDCs on the occasion of the Lunar New Year.

The Child Sponsorship Program continued to award 40 sponsored children in the first 3 months of 2015.

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Basic health facilities need to be ensured to serve the most fragile patients

In 2014, another clinic received assistance to be renovated its facilities in Phu Hoi Commune, Lam Dong Province.

This project helped speed up the process of healthcare improvement and lessen the burden of ill people while traveling to a higher level centers/hospitals to look for proper treatment. The most vulnerable subjects living in Vietnamese rural and remote areas are the primary beneficiaries of this project.

20 CLINICS / HEALTH STATIONS WERE UPGRADED THROUGH ADRA PROJECT

IN TWO & A HALF DECADE

ADRA's Project of Upgrading local clinics operating below general standard is coordinated and funded by HELP International

Commune clinics to be renovated During the first quarter of 2015, a severely worn clinic in the mountainous Dai Hung Commune, Quang Nam province received the financial support valued US$35,000 for renovation and construction of 3 new inpatient rooms.

By June, the clinic will be renovated and ready to deliver services to more than 9,000 residents of the commune, whom many of them are people with almost no chance of accessing other health care stations.

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Inspired by change Mrs. Huynh Ngoc Anh, 56 years old, lives at Nhon Ngai hamlet of the Hieu Phung commune, the site of Livelihood Improvement for Building Resilient Communities (LIBRE) project of ADRA Vietnam. She has a son and a daughter. They both got married and stay independently from the parents. Due to the difficult living situation, both daughter and son are not able to offer much financial support to their parents. The main income source of Anh and her husband comes from their own work in the field.

They own 2,000 m2 of cultivated land, inherited from their parents and primarily used for cultivating maize, cucumber and watermelons. Every year to start the planting season, Mrs. Ngoc Anh had to get a non-concessional loan to buy seeds and fertilizers. She would pay back after the harvest but once a bad harvest comes, the loan interest is more than the profit earned.

Since May 2014, Anh's neighborhood had enjoyed the financial assistance activities of ADRA project which regulates the revolving monetary loans to creditable household income generation models. The borrowed amount is not great, yet it is without interest rates. Above all, Anh and her neighbors receive specialized training courses on improving the farming techniques.

Anh eventually got one of the first project loans (around 150$US) to cultivate 3 crops including maize, cucumber and watermelons. During February 2015 on the occasion of the Lunar New Year in Vietnam, she sold watermelons at the market price of 6,000VN/kg (nearly 30 cents of $US). She earned 500 $US of profit after 10 months of work.

Her face sparkles with joy while she tells us during our visit: “Thank you ADRA for providing the assisting loan without interest and teaching us new knowledge of recording finances and applying more up-to-date techniques. That helps me a lot earn good money and now I am able to return the loan and make it available to be revolved to other poor households of the community.”

Story taken from project field

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ADRA team also met with project beneficiaries in 2 locations, Thoi An Dong & Long Tuyen. Ms. Nua was one beneficiary of the project training session on disaster preparedness and cow loan activity. Her family of 3 adults, all having hearing and speech impairments, received a female calf 5 months ago. Now they are taking care of her pregnancy and looking forward to the next calf which "will help change their life" - hand signaled by Ms. Nua.

Friendly handshakes and happy smiles of these people warmed up the hearts of all the visitors.

"We look forward to more opportunities to improve lives of people in terms of Disaster Risk Management and Renewable Energy. It's nice to see the strong collaborative linkages between ADRA Vietnam and its local partners. This will help ensure the sustainability of current and future projects", said Anna Krikun.

On April 3, a team led by Country Director and Programs Director of ADRA Vietnam, accompanying Ms. Anna Krikun - Regional Coordinator for the Pacific & South East Asia of ADRA Germany visited BRICK II project site in Can Tho. The whole team attended a meeting with Can Tho Union of Friendship Organizations - main local partner - and 2 meetings with project TOT trainers, who are representatives from the key groups such as Farmers' Union, Women's Union, People with Disabilities and the Youth Association. Participants shared their opinions and provided useful information about the existing project. Mentioning about the role of women in disaster preparedness, Ms. My Em - representative from the Women's Union said "A lot of my sisters now recognize the vulnerability of women, children and people with disabilities in the wake of disasters. We also know that we can contribute to the disaster preparedness by specific actions matching our background and physical strength, for instance securing family's saving accounts, setting up home medical boxes, and so on. The harder work can be done by the male members as part of sharing responsibility."

"This is not the last time, this is just the beginning"

Donor field visit