The closing workshop of the project “Improving Living Conditions for Ethnic Minority Communities” in Son La

Attended the workshop were about 70 delegates from different levels of local authorzied departments, local leaders, partner organizations, and stakeholders. The delegation from the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) was led by Mr. Le Cong Luong, Deputy Secretary-General and Head of the Department of Science and International Cooperation with representatives from VUSTA’s Office.

Overview of the final review

This is a project funded by the non-refundable assistance grants from the Bread for the World, implemented from July 2022 to September 2025 in four communes of Son La province. According to Mr. Nguyen Ba Kim, Deputy Director of the RIC Center, after two years of implementation, the project has supported 43 clean water facilities, 24 production water facilities, and 35 livelihood models such as planting teak, Dendrocalamus asper bamboo, and peach trees, benefiting more than 2,000 households.

Alongside infrastructure development, the project has organized 32 training courses on cultivation techniques, water facility management and operation, as well as techniques for planting and tending short-term forest trees in combination with short-term crops; developed one handbook on the management, operation, and maintenance of small-scale infrastructures. With these results, the project has achieved its set objectives, including: improving the living conditions of residents in the four target communes; promoting community-managed and operated models; and ensuring sustainable infrastructure maintenance in cooperation with local authorities.

The representative from RIC reported the results of the project

The workshop also listened to the direct sharing from the representative of Pua Lai (Suoi Bang) community on the gravity-fed domestic water supply model; the Phu Mau (Chieng Yen) community on the production water model; and the Un (Song Khua) community on the livelihood model of forest planting combined with short-term crops. Overall, the communities highly appreciated the effectiveness and contributions of these models to local socio-economic development.

Community representatives share project implementation results at the local level

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Le Cong Luong, Deputy Secretary-General and Head of the Science and International Cooperation Department of VUSTA, highly appreciated the concrete results achieved by the project. He also expressed his delight at the enthusiastic sharing from community representatives, and acknowledged the responsible support of local authorities, relevant agencies with the RIC Center to successfully implement the project. Mr. Le Cong Luong emphasized that VUSTA always pays close attention to, accompanies, and creates favorable conditions for its affiliated organizations to implement projects of practical significance to the community, while ensuring compliance with state regulations.

Mr. Le Cong Luong, Deputy Secretary-General of VUSTA, speaking at the workshop

The workshop also provided time for delegates from various agencies and localities to discuss, share assessments, feedback, and recommendations in order to further improve and develop the second phase of the project, so that it can achieve even greater success and have a deeper impact on people’s lives. The experiences gained from the project are expected to serve as a model for similar initiatives, contributing to improving the living conditions of disadvantaged populations and ethnic minority communities in remote areas.