Lao Cai (VNA)✱ – The Gender Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT) programme is the largest Australian-funded project in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai.

On June 5 and 6, a delegation from the Australian Embassy paid a fact-finding trip to Lao Cai where they met with local authorities, businesses and communities who have benefited from the project. Over the past 10 years, Lao Cai province has received support from the Australian Government through several projects and programmes, such as a project on improving women’s economic position by promoting the agricultural value chain in Bac Ha district; a project on sustainable vegetable production and trade in Sa Pa and Bac Ha districts; and a project on women’s economic empowerment via improving access to and use of productive health and family planning services and products in Lao Cai province. In addition, the Australian Government has also provided non-refundable aid for education and the disabled. In particular, the Gender Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT) project, which is being implemented in the 2017-2022 period, is the biggest Australia-funded project in Lao Cai province, to the tune of 17.7 million AUD (around 12.22 million USD). Of the sum, 16.85 million AUD comes from the Australian Government’s official development assistance (ODA) and the remaining 850,000 AUD is sourced from the local budget. The programme works with businesses, non-government organisations (NGOs), and government and civil society partners to build more inclusive business and market systems, within the agriculture and tourism sectors in Lao Cai province. It also works to ensure that local women and ethnic minorities can actively participate in and benefit from related economic activities and growth. During their working trip to Lao Cai, the Australian Embassy’s delegation visited GREAT-funded models such as a cooperative of the “Dao do” (Red Dao) ethnic minority group and a community-based tourism cooperative in Ta Phin commune, Sa Pa township. In a bid to minimise the adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a sharp drop in the number of international tourists, GREAT assisted these cooperatives in transforming their business models and boosting online business activities. The delegation also met with officials of Lao Cai College, which was supported by the Chisholm Institute of Australiam to build training programmes on hotel services for ethnic minority students. The Chisholm Institute and Lao Cai College worked together to develop short-term courses on hotel services and improve the capacity of the latter’s lecturers. In particular, five lecturers at Lao Cai College are eligible to become trainers after taking a short-term course on hotel services that meets Australian standards. Among 367 graduates from the Australia-funded training programme, 82% are females and the majority are ethnic minority women. After the training courses, 324 graduates (88%) have to date gotten jobs in local hotels and restaurants. The Australian government’s non-refundable ODA capital is an important resource in implementing the province’s socio-economic development goals, especially in carrying out the national target programmes on new-style rural area building, sustainable poverty reduction, and socio-economic development in ethnic minority-inhabited and mountainous areas, he added.At a working session between Lao Cai province’s leaders and the embassy’s delegation on June 6, provincial People’s Committee Chairman Trinh Xuan Truong said the Australian assistance has directly impacted the market’s activities, increasing production values, creating incomes, improving living conditions of the poor and local ethnic minority people, and helping to elevate the Vietnam-Australia partnership to a strategic partnership. Meanwhile, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Robyn Mudie said the GREAT project has helped more than 9,000 women in Lao Cai province to improve their incomes, a figure that is expected to rise in the time to come. In the next five years, the project will continue supporting Lao Cai province in agricultural and tourism development, and enhancing economic empowerment for local women, she added. On this occasion, the provincial People’s Committee presented an insignia “For the cause of construction and development of Lao Cai province” to the Australian diplomat, in recognition of her contributions./.