Asia

Vietnam

• Training Primary Health Care Workers in Rural Vietnam
• Renforcement institutionnel en géomatique de l'environnement et de la santé au Viêt-Nam
• Management Development in Vietnam
• Poverty Reduction by Improving Social Work and Health
• Beekeeping development and rural extension in Vietnam
• Gestion intégrée du bassin de la rivière Câù (Vietnam)
• Land and Groundwater Management in Vietnam
• Vers une stratégie de développement urbain à Hanoi
• Liaison enseignement-industrie

Management Development in Vietnam

Project purpose: The project was designed to provide senior staff within Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and faculty at two agricultural management schools with a basic understanding of the market economy. It aimed to give participants tools that are indispensable for offering modern management training programs to people employed in Vietnam's agriculture and food processing sectors, the chief economic activity in Vietnam.

Key results to date: Now 53 faculty and staff members of the participating Vietnamese colleges and the ministry have the ability to conduct research on the market economy in English. Resources, such as textbooks, videos and computers, are available at the colleges to allow faculty to continue to improve English-language abilities, to further research, to develop curricula and to collaborate in academic and research activities outside Vietnam. Twelve faculty and staff members are now teaching newly acquired information on the market economy, Internet use, international marketing, privatization, etc., and are using newly acquired pedagogic approaches with their students. MARD and the two colleges have also strengthened working relationships with several relevant Canadian institutions and enterprises, such as the New Brunswick Department of Agriculture, World University Service of Canada, Moosehead Brewery, the Potato Research Centre, New Brunswick Seed Growers, and the Royal Bank.

Vers une stratégie de développement urbain à Hanoi

Project purpose: The objectives of the project are to strengthen response and training capacity in the field of urban development in Vietnam, including professional upgrading, to ensure healthy and viable development strategies.

Key results to date: By the end of the project, the Université Laval's school of architecture had trained 19 Vietnamese professors in the participatory and adaptive approach as part of master's-level courses and internships. Government officials and People's Committees were introduced to action research. A number of professors from Hanoi's École nationale supérieure de génie civil now incorporate community concerns into their teaching and research. For example, one professor's work on urban heritage regularly includes public surveys. Master's-level courses in architecture have been enriched and the department of urban planning and design has updated all its courses in cooperation with the staff who participated in the project. The partners have jointly published a development and architectural guide to the Bui Thi Xuan district for its residents. Finally, a number of faculty members and students from Université Laval have participated in project activities in Vietnam and are integrating these experiences into courses and activities at Laval's school of architecture.

Beekeeping development and rural extension in Vietnam

Project purpose: The purpose of the project is to improve beekeeping training programs and the implementation of participatory extension methods in Vietnam in order to enhance rural livelihoods.

Key results to date: Extension staff of the Vietnam Bee Research and Development Centre (BRDC) have participated in two workshops on participatory project planning and beekeeping teaching methods. The number of bee hives available for training activities has increased from six to 36, enabling more outdoor training activities and increasing training effectiveness. Three workshops have been conducted in two villages, training 60 villagers (18 women) in the fundamentals of beekeeping. As a result, the number of hives and farmers has increased and winter hive losses were one-sixth of those in surrounding areas. Benchmark surveys have been conducted and background socio-economic information obtained on participants and their communities. Also, the extension staff have adopted many of the new activities and approaches into other training programs they deliver. Material for the new beekeeping manual and training videos has been assembled and preliminary content testing was conducted. One BRDC employee started graduate studies in pollination biology at the University of Guelph in September 2008.

Liaison enseignement-industrie

Project purpose: The objective of the project was to support the efforts of the Danang Institut polytechnique (IPD) to bring its education and training programs into line with the requirements of industry in Vietnam's central region.

Key results to date: The project strengthened the skills of the faculty (26 professors) in practical training, thereby increasing the practical content of IPD programs from 20 to 32 percent. It also assisted in establishing cooperative education, setting up or strengthening 11 modern laboratories, encouraging partnerships between the IPD and local industry through on-the-job training programs, and organizing a seminar to enable technology exchanges between Canadian and Vietnamese companies.

Gestion intégrée du bassin de la rivière Câù (Vietnam)

Project purpose: The objective of this project is to provide the Vietnamese partners with the expertise needed to apply an integrated management method to the Câù River watershed and eventually extend it to Vietnam as a whole. The project will also help define the main actions to take for improving access to good-quality drinking water and adequate hygienic conditions for the poorest people in the country, who are the most affected by polluted water.

Key results to date: Project activities focus on six main themes: collection and processing of raw data; physical models, hydrology and erosion; water quality modelling; integrated modelling; measurement monitoring; and analysis. To date, the director-general of Vietnam's Environmental Protection Agency and two members of the watershed committees associated with the project have received training in the operation of the watershed committees. Three researchers from Vietnam's Academy of Science and Technology have been trained to prepare and format the simulations database. Another group of 10 researchers has been trained in hydrological modelling. One student has successfully completed her master's degree in water sciences. Data on the spatial characteristics of the Câù River watershed have been collected and the first simulations of its hydrological behaviour completed. A collection of water quality data is currently underway.

Training Primary Health Care Workers in Rural Vietnam

Project purpose: The project aimed to increase the capacity of Vietnam's Secondary Technical Medical School 1 (STMS1) to produce a better qualified and sustainable primary health care (PHC) workforce. It also aimed to improve the provision of health care in rural areas of three northern provinces through training and links between rural health centres and STMS1.

Key results to date: - 17 PHC workers have been trained as trainers and have extended PHC training in other rural health training centres, thus sustaining the program after completion of the project. - 46 PHC graduates from second and third years have returned to their workplaces and are serving the PHC needs of rural Vietnam. - 2 graduates of the master's program have assumed management positions in Vietnam's Ministry of Health and in the Vietnam Nurses Association and are contributing to health policy development. - 9 other master's graduates have returned to their schools of nursing and have assumed leadership positions. - 159 young female farmers and mothers of preschoolers have improved knowledge and skills in breastfeeding and prevention of vitamin A deficiency. - Over 1,300 rural health professionals have up-to-date knowledge and skills in PHC and various health issues in Vietnam. - Awareness of the importance of research in health has been heightened and research links have been forged between Memorial University of Newfoundland, STMS1 and Vietnam's Ministry of Health.

Poverty Reduction by Improving Social Work and Health

Project purpose: The purpose of the project is to improve the quality of education for Vietnamese social workers and social work educators by enhancing the capacity of the College of Labour and Social Affairs (CLSA) in Hanoi to sustain its social work training program.

Key results to date: A 10-course introductory program in social work enriched the College of Labour and Social Affairs' (CLSA) curriculum and contributed to its upgrade from the college level to the university level (University of Labour and Social Affairs - ULSA). It was developed and then taught in Vietnam by Canadian faculty to 16 CLSA faculty who, in turn, used their skills to design and deliver seven short-term training workshops for 226 rural social workers. Ten social work teachers from CLSA have completed the master's program in social work (seven at the University of Regina and three at the Philippine Women's University). The first students registered in the new social work baccalaureate program in September 2005. The Social Work Practice Centre has been established at ULSA, providing social work services to the university and to the community, including psychological therapy, counseling, testing and art therapy. Six ULSA social work teachers and five administrators had the opportunity to experience and observe a wide range of academic, social work and cultural exchanges through study visits to Canada. Five workshops were conducted to improve the skills of the teaching staff of ULSA. The project has expanded ULSA's library to enhance its communication capacity and teaching effectiveness.

Land and Groundwater Management in Vietnam

Project purpose: The project aimed to strengthen the capacities of the participating Vietnamese institutions in engineering and agriculture.

Key results to date: As a result of the project, a core group of engineers in Hanoi is much more knowledgeable about current developments in the field, resulting in improved curricula and teaching capabilities at several major universities in the city, improved physical capabilities and trained staff to conduct research and improved analysis of the structural stability of buildings, dams and dikes in Hanoi and throughout the country. Faculty and staff of the College of Agriculture and Agro-Forestry are much better prepared to address challenges in agriculture. They have better teaching materials, a more comprehensive research program on management of slopes for agriculture and a tested method for transferring technology to farmers. A core group of farmers and extension personnel are demonstrating these methods in their home district.

Renforcement institutionnel en géomatique de l'environnement et de la santé au Viêt-Nam

Project purpose: There is still a significant gap to be filled in Vietnamese universities so that a new generation of scientists can master the new tools of geomatics and the new knowledge to which these skills are the key. The project's objective is to fill that gap by supplying Vietnamese partners with the basic knowledge for benefiting from the application of geomatics to the areas of health and the environment.

Key results to date: Over and above the master's programs and the doctoral program underway, at least 90 students have been trained in applied environmental remote sensing, and nearly 60 students in the principles of computer image processing. At least three Vietnamese instructors can give practical courses unassisted on geomatic softwares. Five new courses are available in French. The geomatics laboratory built as part of the project is being used to capacity, a library has been set up, and three pilot sites have been designated to support teaching and the launching of new research projects. The Centre for Applied Research of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System was opened in March 2005. This research centre aims at strengthening the team of research professors working in geomatics. It is proof of the Vietnamese partner's commitment to the next generation's empowerment, aimed at strengthening human resources in geomatics at the Université des sciences de Hanoï.