Together and share

(Baonghean) - On October 14th, a conference was held in Vinh City to commend exemplary farmer families for their implementation of population/family planning policies in 2014. The conference will assess the results of coordination between the Population and Family Planning Department and the Provincial Farmers' Association in disseminating information, educating, and mobilizing officials, members, and farmers to implement population policies and guidelines that have been in place for many years. This includes attracting thousands of farmer members to participate in population clubs, organizing many meaningful communication programs, and making significant contributions to improving population work in many regions.

A few years ago, Vinh Son commune was still a poor and disadvantaged commune in the mountainous Anh Son district. However, looking back now, Vinh Son has undergone many significant changes. Mr. Phan Ba ​​Trung, Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, happily stated: "This success is largely due to the effective implementation of population control measures. Because 'a strong population leads to a prosperous commune.'"

In Vinh Son commune, population work is known to be one of the issues that the Party committee and government pay attention to and consider a key task for mass organizations. For many years, the Farmers' Association has actively participated in disseminating information and mobilizing members to implement population and family planning policies. Specifically, every month the association proactively holds meetings with branch leaders in villages and hamlets, assigning specific tasks for members to participate in propaganda along with population collaborators. In addition, through training sessions and technology transfer, the association integrates content on family planning and reproductive health to its members. The association proactively establishes credit loan groups to help members support each other in economic development.

Providing information and counseling on contraceptive methods to people at the Nghi Tan fishing port (Cua Lo town). Photo: Thanh Hung

Speaking about the role of the Farmers' Association in population work, Ms. Dao Thi Duong, the population specialist in Vinh Son commune, shared: "Previously, the dissemination of information on population and family planning mainly reached women. But since the Farmers' Association got involved, due to the fact that 100% of the branch leaders are men, they have been able to mobilize many men to participate. As a result, the effectiveness of the dissemination has improved significantly... Encouragingly, since the participation of members of the Farmers' Association, other associations have also followed suit to learn from and replicate the model, such as the Elderly Association of the commune, which has also actively participated in mobilizing young people to implement population and family planning policies. The most evident result is that in the last 5 years, the rate of third births in Vinh Son has always been the lowest in the entire district. Five out of nine hamlets in the commune have had no third births for nearly 10 years, and there is no gender imbalance." Having fewer children also creates favorable conditions for families to pay more attention to their children and develop economically. Therefore, although it is a purely agricultural commune, it has met the criteria for new rural development in terms of average income, with an average of 19 million VND/person/year, and the poverty rate has decreased over the years...

We witnessed a lively meeting of the "Male Farmers and Family Planning" Club in Hamlet 8B, Thanh Phong Commune (Thanh Chuong District). Club members debated the issue of gender imbalance at birth, analyzed the impact of population growth on quality of life, disseminated information on effective contraceptive methods, and distributed free condoms. Ms. Bui Thi Dong, a population collaborator, said: Hamlet 8B, Thanh Phong, has a complex terrain and a scattered population of 135 households and 556 people, mostly engaged in agriculture. More than 10 years ago, the hamlet was considered a disadvantaged area in the commune, with an increasing number of third births and widespread gender inequality.

Since 2012, the hamlet has established a "Male Farmers' Club for Population and Family Planning" with established operating regulations and regular meetings every three months. During these meetings, the club's management board has disseminated information and guided members on family behavior skills; introduced the beautiful cultural traditions of Vietnamese families; highlighted the harmful effects of domestic violence; discussed measures and experiences in preventing and combating domestic violence; and provided life skills and guidance on building families according to four standards, linked to the implementation of eight criteria of the "Building a Family with 5 No's and 3 Cleanliness Standards" campaign. To date, the club has 57 couples of childbearing age, nearly 80 members, including 35 men and 42 women. As a result, for 10 consecutive years, the hamlet has had no third births, no cases of domestic violence, and the rate of people using contraception is over 90%. The district has recognized it as a model village in complying with population policies and laws...

This short play was submitted to the grassroots population propagandist festival of Vinh City.

Distributing leaflets promoting contraceptive methods to residents of Dien Ky commune (Dien Chau district). Photo: Thanh Hung

The collaborative activities between the Department of Population and Family Planning and the Provincial Farmers' Association in disseminating information, educating, and mobilizing cadres, members, and farmers to implement the Party and State's policies and laws on population and family planning have been implemented in Nghe An for many years. Particularly in the period of 2013-2015, the collaborative program received more extensive investment and diverse forms of support, such as: integrating population and family planning content into the annual work of the farmers' association; organizing training courses and thematic talks on population, reproductive health, and family planning; communicating through mass media; and providing leaflets and brochures. In addition, farmers' associations at all levels have also focused on incorporating the criterion of effectively implementing population and family planning policies into the evaluation and ranking of cadres and culturally exemplary farming families. This is also one of the important criteria for annual emulation and reward evaluations, thereby contributing to raising awareness and changing behavior regarding population/family planning...

In particular, over the past two years, the Provincial Farmers' Association has established 30 model clubs integrating population, reproductive health/family planning, gender equality, savings and credit, and agricultural extension, attracting nearly 1,500 members, 70% of whom are male farmers. Through club activities, these clubs have positively contributed to sharing household responsibilities and childcare among men, allowing women more time to participate in social activities. The clubs have also significantly reduced marital conflicts and domestic violence, and rapidly increased the rate of couples using modern contraceptive methods. Integrating reproductive health/family planning and gender equality communication with savings and credit and agricultural extension has also brought many benefits to farmers, helping members improve the material and spiritual lives of their families, thereby contributing to the development of the new rural development program.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Hoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Health and Head of the Population Sub-Department, affirmed: Thanks to the role of the farmers' association, population work has been implemented more extensively in the community, and this is a prerequisite for farming families to develop their economy, improve their material and spiritual lives, raise well-behaved and academically successful children, and have the opportunity to actively participate in the "new rural development" movement.

Faced with current difficulties and challenges in population work, alongside promoting awareness campaigns, it is necessary to continue mobilizing farmer association members to maintain a family size of 1 to 2 children, building families that are "small, prosperous, equal, progressive, and happy"; organizing the signing of commitments to implement population policy and family planning for each official, member, and couple of childbearing age... Linking the implementation of population work with the new rural development program aims to improve the quality of the population, build human resources to meet the requirements of industrialization and modernization, create strong changes in all aspects, and effectively and sustainably implement the fight against poverty.

My Ha