Upon arriving in Xuan Lam commune (Nam Dan district), the most striking impression for us was the green, clean, and beautiful rural landscape; the gardens in each villager's house were neatly and attractively arranged.
Mrs. Truong Thi Yen's garden in Hamlet 7 is designed with specialized plots and rows, including fruit trees such as jackfruit, pomelo, orange, and guava; and rows of lush, straight green vegetables like kale, chrysanthemum greens, lettuce, kohlrabi, and cabbage. Mrs. Yen said that previously, this more than 700 square meters of garden land was just a mixed garden, but now her family has replanned and invested systematically, making it beautiful for both her home and the village, while also generating high economic value. The fruit trees, planted only 1-2 years ago, haven't yet yielded any income, but the vegetables are seasonal, and she sells them at the market every day, earning tens or hundreds of thousands of dong a day, which makes her very happy.
Besides Mrs. Yen's house, the movement to renovate and beautify gardens has been embraced by many households in Hamlet 7 and throughout Xuan Lam commune. Ms. Tran Thi Huyen, President of the Women's Union of Xuan Lam commune, said that based on the implementation of the "5 No's, 3 Cleanliness Family" model, the "5 No's, 3 Cleanliness Women's Union Branch" model, and the "Clean House, Beautiful Garden, Flower-Blooming Alley" model, the Women's Union of the commune and each branch focused on disseminating information, mobilizing, guiding, and supporting women in implementing many initiatives, including building clean houses and beautiful gardens; constructing flower-lined and tree-lined roads; and supporting poor women's families with knowledge, funding, and livestock to develop their economy, thereby contributing to reducing 11 poor households within 3 years (2021-2023).
In recent times, Nam Dan district has focused on building itself into a model new rural district, developing culture in conjunction with tourism. Therefore, the activities of women's associations at all levels in the district have closely followed this key political task in their implementation.
Ms. Pham Thi Hai, President of the Women's Union of Nam Dan District, said: "The image of women, instead of being confined to social work, farming, cooking, family, and children, is now one of actively participating in activities such as folk songs, folk dances, volleyball, women's football, yoga, etc.; contributing to improving the physical and mental health of women and promoting cultural and sports movements in residential areas. The Union's activities and the role of women in actively participating are demonstrated through registering to carry out many specific projects and tasks in building new rural areas. In 2023 alone, in addition to mobilizing cadres and members to contribute money and labor to build 52 projects of flag-lined roads, flower-lined roads, rows of trees in gratitude to Uncle Ho, and building propaganda clusters; the Union at all levels also actively mobilized and supported 42 women's families to overcome poverty and near-poverty; and helped 165 households achieve the criteria of 'Families with 5 no's and 3 clean's'."
The activities of the Women's Union and women's movement in Nghia Dan district closely follow the local political tasks. The focus is on linking propaganda, raising awareness, and promoting action among Women's Union officials and members regarding the construction of new rural areas with the building of "Families with 5 no's and 3 clean's" and "Families with 5 yes's and 3 clean's"; implementing projects and tasks such as supporting housing construction for poor members, building flagpoles, flowerbeds, and green spaces, supporting members in building hygienic toilets; and maintaining the "Green Sunday" initiative. Women's Union branches at all levels in Nghia Dan district also actively support women in enhancing their economic empowerment, such as assisting with loans from banks and various funds, supporting vocational training, providing loans, supporting livestock, and guiding scientific and technical knowledge. In the field of poverty reduction alone, 51 households escaped poverty or near-poverty in 2023.
For the Women's Union of Quynh Luu district, the main focus is on providing knowledge and access to loan capital for members and women starting businesses and developing the economy, in conjunction with supporting poor women, single mothers, and orphaned children, contributing to the effective implementation of social welfare work in the area. To date, the Women's Union at all levels has connected organizations and individuals to sponsor 271 orphaned children in the area, with a total amount of nearly 1.3 billion VND.
The Women's Union and women's organizations in Quynh Luu district also actively participate in building new rural areas with many diverse activities, such as mobilizing members and women to donate land for road construction and expanding the cultural center's grounds; undertaking the planting of shade trees, green fences, and flagpoles; building "Families with 5 No's and 3 Cleanliness Standards," "Women's Union Branches with 5 No's and 3 Cleanliness Standards," "Safe Villages for Women and Children," "Women's Self-Managed Environmental Groups," "Green Houses," "Exchanging Waste for School Supplies," "Exchanging Waste for Green Plants"; maintaining movements such as "Clean Saturday, Green Sunday," "Mother's Environment - Child's Happiness," "Turning Waste into Love," etc.
The Women's Union is a socio-political organization within the political system. Therefore, in addition to caring for and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of its members and women, in recent times, women's unions at all levels in the province have continued to innovate their methods and content of activities, being dynamic, creative, proactive, flexible, and focusing on the grassroots level, making the work of the union and the women's movement more substantive and effective, contributing to promoting the implementation of the political goals and tasks of the province and each locality.
Most notably, women's associations at all levels have focused on supporting members to enhance their knowledge and capabilities, and to develop their inner strength so that women can take care of themselves and solve related problems independently through communication activities, training, thematic talks, club activities, and branch meetings. Besides supporting poor, single, disabled, and disadvantaged women to confidently rise up, the associations at all levels also focus on improving the capacity of association officials, supporting female business owners, household business owners, and managers of cooperatives and production groups; contributing to building leading, pioneering, and influential figures to promote the women's movement and work. Through the support activities of the associations, economic development and poverty reduction have been promoted in each locality and throughout the province. The number of women's households escaping poverty and near-poverty in 2023 was 1,132.
Along with focusing on supporting the "Building the modern Nghe An woman: knowledgeable, ethical, healthy, and aspiring, responsible to herself, her family, and the nation," women's associations at all levels in the province actively participate in building the Party and the political system, and effectively address social issues related to women and children, such as gender equality, prevention and combating human trafficking, child marriage, and consanguineous marriage. In 2023, the Provincial Women's Union and women's associations at all levels monitored eight policies and laws related to preventing and combating child abuse; domestic violence; social assistance for poor households and policy beneficiaries; health insurance for the poor and children; and meal programs for children attending preschools...
The various levels of the Association organized reviews of nearly 750 documents related to socio-economic development policies and guidelines; including the Draft Land Law and the Draft Resolution of the Provincial People's Council on regulations regarding titles and regimes for part-time officials at the commune, block, hamlet, and village levels. In 2023, the Association actively created a pool of candidates and recommended 1,084 new Party members for admission.
To further enhance the role and position of the Women's Union and women in social life, the Chairwoman of the Provincial Women's Union, Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa, believes that, in addition to the innovative efforts of the Union itself, it is essential to have the attention of all levels and sectors in creating mechanisms and policies to enable the Women's Union to organize and implement activities to promote, mobilize, and support women, thereby enhancing their role in achieving the political goals and tasks of the locality.