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The workshop aimed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Vietnamese context and identify the possible interventions and technical support needed for the country, which has been selected as one of the first 10 countries to participate in a new UNDP global initiative under its new Insurance and Risk Finance Facility (IRFF) to make inclusive insurance and risk financing central to development.

The UNDP workshop has seen in-depth discussions on an upcoming diagnostic study on disaster risk finance and inclusive insurance

This new initiative has been designed jointly with the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) and is financially supported by the German government. The UNDP will also work with the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) and global insurance industry partners to develop new disaster risk financing and insurance products to reduce the negative impacts of disasters.

Risk financing and inclusive insurance are important to protect lives, livelihoods, infrastructure, and homes from the impact of disasters, but also to provide coverage for sustainably protecting healthcare and education services, as well as employment, and agricultural supply chains. However, little attention has been paid to risk financing at the global and country levels.

There is, for example, a huge protection gap in developing countries (including Vietnam), where less than 5 per cent of losses due to disasters are covered by insurance, as compared to over 50 per cent in high-income countries. These protection gaps are also prevalent beyond disaster losses, resulting in increased expenses in healthcare and losses in property, livelihoods, and agriculture.

Research into multi-aspect disaster risk financing suggests that different insurance schemes could potentially reduce losses from disasters in the poorest countries by as much as 25 per cent through a range of risk financing tools, including parametric insurance, insurance-backed social protection, and indemnity-based products.

As a first step in the unfolding of this new initiative in Vietnam, the UNDP is carrying out a diagnostic study. The study, which will cover significant areas across the inter-related disciplines of insurance and risk finance, will help to articulate the evolution of the insurance supply side; develop a picture of the demand side; ascertain the gaps and opportunities in creating an enabling environment through government policy and regulatory environment; recommend means of building regulatory capacities; assess the financial standing of the insurance companies; and suggest suitable approaches towards developing new market opportunities. It will also help to generate an information profile for Vietnam and the knowledge relevant for inclusive insurance, such as providing the demographic, socio-economic, and sectoral context for developing insurance and risk transfer solutions.

According to Sitara Syed, UNDP deputy resident representative in Vietnam, who spoke at the workshop, “the concept of disaster risk financing is still relatively new in Vietnam, but the opportunities are considerable. In addition to putting national and local governments in a stronger position to plan for disasters ahead of time, a more enabling environment could also support quicker and more efficient response and recovery work for when disasters inevitably occur.”

“This initiative will require a significant level of support and collaboration with government ministries, such as the Ministry of Finance, as well as provincial and local authorities, development partners, insurance industry partners, and the private sector,” Syed highlighted.

The support is a years-long project helping improve climate resilience in Vietnam’s coastal communities.

Resilient houses that are designed to withstand both flooding torrents and strong winds are concrete support given by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to roughly 26,000 residents in Vietnam’s flood-prone areas.

UNDP-supported house in Thua Thien-Hue. Photo: Baothuathienhue

UNDP has completed the repair and reinforcement of storm-resilient features for more than 3,323 damaged houses and provided 3,323 gender-responsive household kits for poor and near-poor households in five provinces of Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai.

This emergency assistance is part of the project “Response to Disasters in Vietnam” funded by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

In addition, UNDP has supported the construction of 20 new safe houses with full storm- and flood-resilient features in Quang Nam and Quang Ngai, especially those in Ly Son Island, Quang Ngai equipped with more resilient features and powered by solar panels.

Bigger project

The project draw different stakeholders. Photo: UNDP Vietnam

The buildings are part of “Improving resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate change-related impacts in Vietnam” project launched in 2017 to improve the resilience of coastal communities to climate change in Vietnam, funded jointly by UNDP, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and the Vietnamese government.

The new storm- and flood-resilient houses are based on simple designs to create a stronger structure. Features include a mezzanine level for flooding protection, reinforced roofing, and the use of strong cement. The mezzanine level allows residents to comfortably stay in their houses during a disaster, safe from high flood levels. This level can also be used as an area to store valuables during disasters and avoid it being washed away or spoiled by flooding waters.

The resilient houses have been specifically engineered to include special features such as flood-proof floor that is 1.5m above the highest flood level to provide a safe refuge from rising floodwaters and strongly reinforced roofs that can withstand typhoon-strength winds.

UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen and Quang Nam’s authorities hand over houses to local residents . Photo: UNDP Vietnam

The project becomes more helpful after floods swept some Vietnamese central coastal provinces in last October. The floods have claimed more than 230 lives and destroyed at least 380,000 houses, leaving tens of thousands of residents homeless or severely suffered from damages.

They proved their effectiveness during the severe floods and storms of 2020, when they saved the lives and livelihoods of not only their owners, but in some cases other members of the community as well. Their success garnered attention from the media, and they have since been specifically highlighted by the government as a model for wider replication.

Speaking at the handover of new resilient and repaired houses to local low-income households held on April 29, Tran Van Tan, vice chairman of Quang Nam Provincial Peoples Committee, highly appreciate UNDP’s efforts and timely assistance in building and repairing damaged houses for the poor to help them recover from disasters.

UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen and local resident. Photo: UNDP Vietnam

Representing beneficiaries, Luu Thi Phuong living in Que Thuan commune, Que Son district, said “Without this support, I don’t know when my sons and I will be able to build such a resilient house.”

“It is an honor and privilege to hand over UNDP supported storm resilient houses to Phuong and other poor women-headed households in Quang Nam,” Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam said.

She noted that the resilient houses have saved thousands of lives during the historic floods and storms that battered the central region. However, there is still a long way to go to reach all those in need.

Nguyen Van Tien, deputy chief of the Office of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, said “I highly appreciate UNDP’s coordination, which goes directly to the essential needs of the people in disaster-affected areas. These activities not only solve problems for immediate post-disaster recovery, but are also sustainable for the communities where disasters occur frequently, such as in central Vietnam.”

The ASEAN-wide competition seeks ways to tackle plastic pollution in the region, where is having the largest contributors of marine plastic.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has devoted its efforts to a competition aiming to end plastic pollution across Southeast Asia.

UNDP Vietnam Resident Representative Caitlin Wiesen. Photo: UNDP Vietnam

Ending Plastic Pollution Innovation Challenge (EPPIC), an ASEAN-wide competition seeking solutions to join global efforts against plastic pollution, has attracted the participation of a number of contestants in ASEAN member states.

Spearheaded by UNDP with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), EPPIC seeks ways to fight ocean plastic by supporting innovators whose ideas prevent plastic waste and pollution at the local level.

As stated by UNDP Vietnam Resident Representative Caitlin Wiesen, plastic is destroying marine life and polluting the earth at an unprecedented rate, tackling plastic pollution will require multi-stakeholder collaboration and engagement.

Stig Ingemar Traavik, director for Norad’s Department for Climate, Energy and Environment, said different stakeholders need to come together, collaborate, and innovate to stop plastic pollution from reaching oceans, adding that efforts to reduce plastic pollution by contestants to create healthier environments and good jobs in a circular economy were very impressed.

UNDP Vietnam Resident Representative Caitlin Wiesen and winners

EPPIC

EPPIC provides an exciting opportunity for innovators to receive seed funding and incubation training to help them maximize their chances of success.

On January 26, four winners were announced at a ceremony held in Hanoi. They were Galaxy Biotech, Green Joy, and Refill Day of Vietnam and CIRAC from Thailand.

“Today, the EPPIC winners have pitched outstanding, innovative ideas to tackle plastic pollution and we are keen to working with them and our partners from the Governments of Viet Nam and Thailand to implement the solutions in Ha Long Bay and Koh Samui,” said Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam.

Winners have been awarded US$18,000 each to apply solutions in Ha Long Bay (Vietnam) and Koh Samui (Thailand) and enroll for a 9-month acceleration journey delivered by UNDP Impact Aim, opening up opportunities to connect with investing firms and other key development players in ASEAN.

Launched in June 2020, EPPIC Phase I in Vietnam and Thailand recorded ideas to combat plastic waste in coastal cities of Ha Long Bay and Koh Samui in 2020.

Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site located in Quang Ninh province, is one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist attractions, receiving 14 million visitors in 2019.

The initiatives will help address solid waste, especially plastic pollution discharged by tourists and fish-farming that the locality is facing with in an effort to keep Ha Long Bay home to biodiversity and good environment.

A group of 14 finalists include AYA Cup, EcoTech, Galaxy Biotech, Green Joy, GreenPoints, MGreen, Refill Day, and VIFEP (Vietnam); CIRAC, Green Island Foundation, and TerraCycle Thai Foundation (Thailand); P+usTreat, and OceanKita BBN (Indonesia); and Seven Clean Seas (Singapore).

According to UNDP, 159 teams coming from six ASEAN countries namely Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia applied to the challenge with a broad range of solutions to tackle plastic pollution including both upstream and downstream innovations.

EPPIC Challenge will be extended to Indonesia and the Philippines and welcome all innovators from ASEAN to apply.

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese people are showing stronger interest in the National Assembly and issues related to the powerful agency, reflected by their high level of engagement in preparations for the upcoming elections of deputies to the 15th NA and People’s Councils at all levels in the 2021-2026 tenure, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen has said.

More than 69 million voters are expected to cast their ballots at polling stations across the country on May 23, she noted, lauding Vietnam’s efforts in ensuring safety for the important event amid the fourth wave of COVID-19 outbreaks.

Expressing her impression at the vibrant atmosphere across the country ahead of the elections, the UNDP representative underlined that involving in the elections is an important chance for people to practice their rights to choose their representatives.

People’s participation in politics is part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which state that all people have equal rights to engage in public issues, to cast their votes and to run for the elections, she said.

Wiesen recalled President Ho Chi Minh’s statement in the first general election of Vietnam in 1946, saying that all citizens from the age of 18 upwards have the rights to run for the elections and cast their votes regardless their background, religions and race. Seventy-five years later, those principles are still suitable and important, she stressed.

The official cited a recent research by UNDP Vietnam on people-elected female deputies’ contributions to Vietnam’s development in the 2016-2021 period, showing that both male and female deputies consider the interest of voters as the most important factor impacting their viewpoints on a specific issue.

The research revealed that female deputies interact with voters via social media more often than their male peers. In their action plans, female deputies showed greater interest in the areas of education-training and healthcare than male deputies, said Wiesen.

She said that the UNDP hopes to strengthen cooperation with and support to Vietnam in building leadership capacity for people-elected female deputies so that they can implement their tasks better after being elected./.

VNA

Vietnam shows what is possible when a government and an entire nation place health and protecting people at the very center of its Covid-19 response.

Vietnam’s pandemic response provides an excellent example of what UNDP calls “Triple-A” Governance, namely Anticipatory, Agile and Adaptive.

UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen gave the remarks during a virtual conference themed “ASEAN and the Covid-19 fight” held today [May 26] by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USHH) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen at the seminar. Photos: Nguyen Tung

Wiesen referred to a UNDP’s study on “Citizens’ Opinions of and Experiences with Government Responses to Covid-19 Pandemic in Vietnam in 2020” that confirmed widespread public support in Vietnam for the government’s Covid-19 response, saying the move is “in sharp contrast to the trust deficit in governments being registered in many parts of the world.”

According to Wiesen, such achievement came when a government and an entire nation place health and protecting people at the very center of its Covid-19 fight.

Along with tireless efforts of health workers and frontline teams carrying out tracking, tracing and testing, the government has been sending effective messages mobilizing the whole society to work together to defeat the virus.

Low-cost test kits and other innovative responses that help Vietnam keep the pandemic under control were a result of cooperation between the government and private sector, noted Wiesen.

“We have seen the positive dividends of social solidarity and transformative innovation, for example the rice ATMs and zero-dollar grocery stores that provided essential supplies during the first wave of the pandemic,” she added.

“Putting health first has had a tangible economic dividend, with Vietnam the only ASEAN country, and one of very few countries worldwide, to register economic growth in 2020.”

However, as countries around the world, including Vietnam, are experiencing a new surge in Covid-19, having access to vaccines against the virus is now a priority.

Across ASEAN member states, the rate of the population receiving at least one dose ranges from around 33% down to 1%. “Given the constraints on vaccine supplies and roll out, and the concern over new variants, most analysts predict that borders will remain largely closed until 2022 at least,” Wiesen stressed.

In this context, Vietnam’s plan to set up a US$1.1-billion vaccine fund and the decision of the National Assembly to earmark more than half a billion dollars and to accelerate efforts to urgently procure vaccines from multiple sources are important steps for the next phase of the Covid-19 response, she noted.

The UNDP’s representative also highlighted Vietnam’s initiative to apply for WHO approval to become a potential hub of mRNA-based vaccine production for the country and possibly the region, as well as active approaches to several international manufacturers to license domestic production of their vaccines.

Test for ASEAN’s cohesion

Echoing Wiesen’s view on Vietnam’s effective measures against the pandemic, Nguyen Hung Son, Vice President of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, noted the key factor would be the right attitude of both the government and the public in the Covid-19 fight.

Vice President of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam Nguyen Hung Son

“The high level of cooperation from the people is what makes government’s actions truly effective,” said Son.

However, Son pointed out that Vietnam will not be safe from the pandemic until the whole region is safe, and coordinated policies are required at the regional level among countries, including a common vaccine strategy.

“A proposal on a center for public health emergencies that ASEAN is looking into may not be useful for this current pandemic, but will be a key-changing move in the next one,” Son said, adding the priority is to soon put this idea into practice.

Expert Pham Quang Minh from the USSH backed up the idea by saying Southeast Asia was one of the first region affected by the pandemic.

Expert Pham Quang Minh from the USSH.

As of May 24, ASEAN recorded over 3.8 million infection cases and nearly 76,000 death.

“The rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has led to disruption of supply chains and severe impacts on tourism, trade and investment activities,” said Minh.

“The region needs to set up a fund to support country members. As we look at the pandemic as a challenge, ASEAN as a whole would become stronger if we can successfully win over this crisis,” Minh added.

“The pandemic is a test for the cohesion of the bloc,” he said while calling for all ASEAN members to continue cooperating in sharing information, experiences and also vaccines.

“Mass vaccination is the only solution for ASEAN if the region wants to achieve herd immunity by 2022 and eventually economic recover,” he suggested.

Hanoi (VNA) – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) handed over 1,500 COVID-19 test kits to the Ministry of Health (MoH) on May 31 as part of an effort to help put the spread of the virus in northern Vietnam under control.

Phan Le Thu Hang, Deputy Director of the MoH’s Department of Planning and Finance, said UNDP’s support for the country’s fight against the virus and other diseases has been valuable.

“Since 1978, UNDP has always supported Vietnam in many ways. Especially in the context of the current outbreak, this provision of test kits is very valuable,” she said. “We really appreciate this support and these test kits will be delivered to the locations where they are most needed.”

“The Government has done an extraordinary job in managing the COVID-19 outbreaks in different areas. Vietnam’s experiences in containing the pandemic, with the whole of government and whole of society approaches have been recognised the world over as best practice,” said UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen.

“I am moved to see the number of doctors and nurses across the country being deployed to Bac Giang and Bac Ninh provinces. With the funding from JSB of Japan and Ghen CoVy production team, UNDP is providing these test kits to support the urgent testing efforts in these epicentres,” she said.

Ghen CoVy is a health communication campaign on handling coronavirus, with an awareness-raising effect of 90 million people’s views (just on one of the official accounts) for the music video and 11 million people’s interactions for the #handwashingmove #vudieuruatay challenge.

UNDP has also worked with MoH and the Ghen CoVy production team to make the song and the dance introduction available in ethnic minority and sign languages to reach the most people with prevention messages in their mother tongues.

“The campaign was initiated by the National Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health with very limited resources in terms of time, human and financial resources,” said Hoang Diem Huyen, Ghen CoV campaign creator.

UNDP has been working closely with relevant ministries and UN organisations to support the country to respond to COVID-19 , as part of its mission to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and build resilience to crisis and shocks.

Meanwhile, a total of 19 robots have been deployed to ten hospitals in six provinces and cities. The robots are being used to protect frontline doctors and nurses as they provide treatment for COVID-19 patients in intensive care units (ICU) in these facilities. A digital solution for PPE inventory management has been applied in 13 healthcare facilities and is ready for scaling up and extending to other health commodities.

Earlier this year, ten Real-Time-PCR testing devices were delivered and installed at the Centers for Disease Control in ten provinces. The testing devices were procured by UNDP with funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM).

In support of Vietnam’s roadmap for digital transformation to 2025, UNDP’s COVID-19 response project funded by Japan’s JSB is supporting the Ministry of Health to pilot a digital telehealth system in remote provinces to reduce disease transmission risk and enhance universal health coverage, including for ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities./.

VNA