'Lighting up' the mindset and motivation to rise up for women in the border area

Officers and soldiers of Hanh Dich Border Guard Station and officers of the Women's Union of Hanh Dich Commune, Que Phong District help members in difficult circumstances harvest rice and peanuts; guide people to grow winter vegetables; and provide free medical examinations for women. Photo: CSCC

Dynamicupward force

Traveling nearly 200km from Vinh city, we arrived at Long Thang village, Hanh Dich border commune, Que Phong district on a day in early March. The first impression of Long Thang was a prosperous Thai village with a peaceful life amidst majestic mountains and forests. All the alleys above and below were clean and neat. Notably, in the village, many families have boldly turned their houses into homestay tourism establishments operating in groups, led by women.

Ms. Vi Thi Hoi - President of the Women's Union of Hanh Dich commune shared that Long Thang village is what it is today, in addition to the leadership, direction and support from the Party Committee, government and political system from district to commune, thanks to the persistent support and companionship of the Provincial Women's Union and Hanh Dich Border Guard Station through the program "Accompanying women in the border areas".

The Women's Union of Ky Son district supports the cow breeding livelihood model for poor female members. Photo: CSCC

As for the Provincial Women's Union, in addition to mobilizing resources to support women in borrowing interest-free loans to build livestock livelihood models, build "Shelters of Love", give savings books, etc., the Union also opens training courses on livestock farming, crop cultivation, economic development, transfers science and technology, knowledge on effective capital use, vocational training seminars for women and communication to improve knowledge in all aspects for women.

A typical example in Long Thang village is Ms. Lo Thi Lan. Being a poor household, she was supported with a 5 million VND interest-free loan from the program "Accompanying women in the border areas", participated in a livestock training course and was accompanied by the Women's Union staff. After nearly 4 years, from the initial 4 breeding pigs, her family's economy has begun to improve and has savings.

Ms. Lan said that the economic and knowledge support in all aspects has helped her to be more confident in herself to rise up, not only to escape poverty but also to boldly borrow more capital to raise 7 buffaloes and cows and to plant acacia, xoan, and cinnamon. Currently, Ms. Lan has been elected as the Head of the Women's Association and Head of the Savings and Loan Group of Long Thang village.

The Provincial Women's Union supports tree planting in Hanh Dich commune, Que Phong district. Photo: CSCC

Also in Long Thang village, Ms. Le Thi Dung received 5 million VND from the program "Accompanying women in the border areas" to implement a livelihood model of raising local pigs. Up to now, not only has Dung's family escaped poverty, but she has also built a farm to raise buffalo, cows, pigs, chickens, and combine it with afforestation. Not only taking care of her family's life, with the knowledge and experience she has gained, she always shares and supports her fellow countrymen and has been elected as the village chief by the villagers.

In addition to supporting Hanh Dich commune, the Provincial Women's Union has recently implemented many activities in border communes in Que Phong district under the program "Accompanying women in border areas".

Leaders of the Provincial Women's Union presented gifts to support house building for Ms. Lam Thi Hong - President of the Women's Union of Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district. Photo: CSCC

The most meaningful, according to Ms. Sam Thi Thanh - President of the Women's Union of Que Phong district, are legal communication activities associated with building models: "Bright spots in border areas"; "Educating mothers to raise good children, building happy families"; "Women participating in protecting border security and sovereignty"; "Preventing and combating human trafficking and illegal migration"; "Women with the law, preventing crimes and social evils" ...

In particular, the activities of the Provincial Women's Union in the area have promoted concerns, innovation in thinking, content and methods of operation at all levels of the Union in districts in the province, taking women as the main target to spread in the work of hunger eradication, poverty reduction, building a cultural lifestyle, environmental sanitation, actively participating in preserving and protecting sovereignty and border security.

The Hanoi Women's Union awarded support for the "breeding cow" livelihood model to five poor women in Na Loi commune. Photo: CSCC

Identify weak points to focus on

Nghe An is a province with a land border of nearly 419km, with 27 border communes in 6 districts. The border communes have large areas, complex terrain, poor infrastructure, and slow economic development. Life, especially knowledge in all aspects of the people in general and women in particular, still has many limitations. This is the biggest obstacle to socio-economic development, including propaganda work and implementation of activities for women.

Identifying the weak link and implementing the program "Accompanying women in the border areas", over the past 5 years, especially in 2021 and 2022, the Provincial Women's Union has focused on propaganda work in many forms, from direct communication, thematic talks, picking democratic flowers, dramatization, club activities, exchanges, seminars, competitions to online forms...

Particular attention is paid to the form of propaganda through small groups and direct consultation with each target. Diversity in content, guidelines and policies of the Party and State, knowledge of law, border security sovereignty, the role of women, knowledge of economic development, raising children, building happy families; knowledge and skills of association work in border areas...

Leaders of the Provincial Border Guard Command presented gifts to the Women's Union of Thong Thu Commune, Que Phong District. Photo: CSCC

Along with propaganda, the Women's Union at all levels also focuses on mobilizing women to participate in protecting territorial sovereignty and national border security by organizing members and women in border areas to sign a commitment not to let relatives and children in the family violate the law and border regulations, fight against and denounce crimes, and raise vigilance to not let bad guys entice and incite, causing disunity between the army and people, and national unity.

The Provincial Women's Union has also actively mobilized social resources from organizations and individuals to support women in border areas to develop their economies. Through the launch of the movement "Accompanying women in border communes" across the province, up to now, 100% of the Women's Unions of districts, cities, towns and Women's Unions of armed forces units have implemented support programs for 25/27 border communes.

Including supporting the construction of 28 "Shelters of Love" for women; buying 8 sets of computers and printers for the Women's Union of 8 border communes and many livelihood models, essential items and utensils given to poor and disadvantaged women members, with a total cost of nearly 1.2 billion VND.

The Provincial Women's Union, by mobilizing savings from officials and civil servants of the agency, and at the same time connecting and taking advantage of support from the Central Committee of the Vietnam Women's Union and the Women's Union of Hanoi City, Nam Dinh Province, and the Women's Union of Son Tra District (Da Nang City), has implemented a livelihood model of raising chickens, pigs, and breeding cows for border women in the communes of Na Ngoi, Na Loi, and Nam Can (Ky Son District); Thong Thu, Tri Le (Que Phong District); Mon Son (Con Cuong District); and Nhon Mai (Tuong Duong District) with a total amount of hundreds of millions of VND.

Through communication activities of the Provincial Women's Union in Que Phong district, awareness of environmental sanitation has been raised, and many border villages are changing. Photo: MH

Ms. Hoang Thi Thanh Minh - Vice President of the Provincial Women's Union affirmed: "The program "Accompanying women in the border areas" has been effectively implemented by the Provincial Women's Union and the Provincial Border Guard Command, organizing many practical activities to create opportunities and conditions for members and women in ethnic minority areas to confidently rise up in life.

In the coming time, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Women's Union will continue to be determined to deploy and spread the program "Accompanying women in the border areas" to all levels, sectors, cadres, members and people of all walks of life to create resources, material and intellectual resources to care for the border areas in general and women in this area in particular. Along with that, it is necessary to coordinate with the Border Guard and local Party committees and authorities to identify difficult stages and tasks, based on the functions and tasks of the Union to participate in a practical and effective manner; contributing to enhancing the role and position of women in the family and in society, contributing to promoting the overall development of each locality.