Success from the 'Happy Family' Club model

(Baonghean) - Established in 2013, the "Happy Family" club in Quynh Yen commune, Quynh Luu district has brought positive results in population and family planning work. With practical activities, the club also contributes to reducing domestic violence, strengthening love between family members and connecting families with the community.

Activities of the "Happy Family" Club in Son Hai Commune (Quynh Luu). Photo: PV

Quynh Yen commune is a special commune with nearly 9,000 people, a large residential area distributed into 2 separate areas. With its actual conditions, this is also a locality that faces many difficulties in mobilizing and propagating people to implement population policies well.

According to Ms. Ho Thi Hong - population officer and Head of the "Happy Family" Club of Quynh Yen commune, "When it was first established, the club encountered many difficulties in mobilizing couples to participate in activities. Because most of the people here are farmers, many people still have a strong male-dominated ideology and always want to have many children, give birth to a son to continue the family line...".

Since its inception, the Club's Board of Directors and core members have paid great attention to regularly meeting newly married couples to promote the importance of having fewer children and spacing births appropriately to better care for children.

In particular, for couples who have only one child, which is a girl, the club has assigned each member to be in charge, monitor, and promptly grasp their feelings. If any couple is found to have the mentality of wanting to have a third child, the club will coordinate with officers from departments, branches, and organizations to advise, mobilize, and analyze so that they can see the consequences of having many children.

Through the close, easy to understand, easy to remember propaganda and mobilization, many couples have become more aware of the burden of having many children and the importance of implementing family planning to build a happy family. Traditional customs and ideas of male superiority and female inferiority are gradually eliminated and men increasingly share more with women in all work.

Many women have confided that they used to be shy when talking about issues related to reproductive health and family planning; but now, thanks to joining the club, they can freely exchange information about using contraceptives and how to behave in the family.

With many practical activities, meeting the requirements of building a happy family, being a useful place for women and mothers, the number of members participating in the Club is increasing. Initially, there were only 50 participants, but now the number of members has reached 150.

With the motto "Building happy families, peaceful, civilized and progressive villages", in recent years, members of the Club's Executive Board have visited each household in the commune to propagate about population and family planning work, reproductive health care, the Law on Gender Equality, the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence, gender imbalance at birth...

Every quarter, the Club organizes an activity at the commune's cultural house. During the activity, the content of population and family planning policies will be conveyed to members. Participants will learn about the responsibilities of family and community towards adolescents and young people in order to have measures to share with their children, helping them take the right actions in reproductive health care (RH), safe RH for happiness...

Club members are encouraged to plan their family life, have two children to raise them well and build a prosperous and equal family.

Along with propaganda and mobilization for good implementation of population policy, members also share experiences in livestock raising, farming, family economic development, and how to care for and raise obedient children, study well, and be successful in life.

Many couples who are members of the Happy Family Club have a developed economy and their children study well, such as the family of Mr. and Mrs. Bui Tran Trung and Mrs. Ho Thi Nga (Hamlet 2). Mr. Trung himself comes from a large family. In the past, due to economic difficulties, he and his wife worked hard to make a living. Through research and learning from experience, they boldly grew vegetables in large quantities, bringing economic efficiency to the family.

Up to now, in addition to a stable life, Trung and Nga's two children are both good students, filial and successful. Or Ho Thi Mai's family, in hamlet 1, diligently raises pigs and chickens, develops the agricultural economy to raise two children who have gone to university and now have stable jobs.

By participating in club activities, members also share joys and sorrows in life to encourage and motivate each other to overcome difficulties. Every year, the club also builds a fund to promptly visit families with funerals, weddings, and illnesses.

Up to now, 100% of couples of childbearing age in the Club have practiced safe contraceptive measures. The awareness of Quynh Yen commune people about population and family planning work has changed positively, people accept the model of small and happy families.

In particular, the rate of giving birth to a third child or more has decreased from 56% (in 2012) to 40.7% (in 2016). In 2016, there were 2 hamlets with no one giving birth to a third child or more (hamlets 1 and 4). Every year, there are 20-30 cases of intrauterine devices. Non-clinical contraceptive methods increased from 15% (in 2013) to 25% (in 2016).

In addition to promoting issues related to family life, the Club is also a place for members to share their own experiences on how to maintain family happiness, raise children, live a cultured life, love each other, be more responsible for the family, and at the same time build solidarity and neighborly love, creating conditions for women to better fulfill their roles as mothers and wives.

Ms. Le Thi Hoai, a club member, shared that since joining the club, she has gained more knowledge about building a happy family and has drawn many useful experiences for herself. From there, she has effectively applied them to family life, knowing how to choose words to help husband and wife understand each other better. She also advised her husband to join the club activities so that they can progress together.

Encouraged to take care of building a prosperous and equal family, the members of the Club have promoted good values, eliminated backward customs, respected women, no longer had gender inequality, always promoted love and sharing in maintaining family happiness. It can be affirmed that "Happy Family" is a very effective model in implementing the population and family planning policy that needs to be replicated.

Le Thi Ngoc Ha

(Deputy Head of Communication and Education Department)