Vietnam and the 'Demographic Bonus'

One of the joys of volunteering is the ability to get involved with activities and events that would not be available to you in the UK, take for example a consultation workshop on Vietnam’s Population and Reproductive Health strategy for the next 10 years.

Chaired by the leadership of the Ministry of Health and supported by UNFPA , the workshop provided an opportunity to share experience from around the region and opened up a whole new subject area for me…the interesting area of demographics!

Here is a brief summary of some of the key questions, drawn from my notes and publicly available material….

Vietnam, like many countries in Asia and S.E.Asia is at an advanced stage of its demographic transition, that is, there is a marked decline in mortality and fertility from the high rates characteristic of low-income countries to the low rates characteristic of high income societies. In short people are living longer and having less children.

Currently Vietnam is entering a period of ‘demographic dividend’ this means that for around 30 years there will be two or more persons of working age (15- 60 years) for every person of dependent age (under 15 or over 60 years old).

In contrast developed economies such as those in Europe and Japan have moved beyond this stage in their transition, the UK left it around the year 2000. The ‘baby boom’ generation, born at a time of declining mortality but high fertility, are passing through their working years and the old-age dependency ratio has begun to increase….did anyone hear me mention the words ‘pension crisis’ or ‘increased retirement age’?

For Vietnam though the demographic bonus means that, for the next few decades, the working population will increase by 1 million people each year. Provided this workforce is healthy, educated and employment opportunities are available this bonus will give significant impetus to Vietnam’s growth, indeed some studies have indicated that as much as one third of growth in the ‘East Asia miracles’, such as South Korea and Singapore, can be attributed to the demographic bonus.

This presents significant opportunities, but also challenges and Vietnam’s Population and Reproductive Health Strategy for 2011 -2020 is attempting to address these by asking the following questions:

How can Vietnam maintain balanced fertility rates?

Currently Vietnam has achieved a replacement level of 2.11 children per woman, in demographic terms an optimum level. However fertility rates are continuing to fall, due to better education and higher participation of women in the labour market, meaning they are having less children and later…If fertility rates fall to ultra-low levels ie. 1.35 this would result in 30 % of Vietnam’s population being over 60 by 2035. A situation that Japan is already struggling with!

Further, evidence suggests that once fertility rates fall to such levels it is very difficult if not impossible to reverse, it is not just a simple question of telling people to have more children, policies need to be put in place to ensure women can have children and continue to having meaningful employment within the labour market. How can this be achieved?

How can Vietnam accommodate further Population Growth?

Even with below-replacement fertility rates, Vietnam’s population will grow by a further 10 million between 2011-2020, due to the high number of women of entering reproductive age, not because women are having more babies. This is known as population momentum. How can policy makers ensure that this population growth is accommodated in a positive way, rather than exasperating poverty and putting a strain on services?

How can Vietnam manage rapid urbanization and migration?

Most of this population growth will occur in large cities and this will be further exasperated by large scale rural to urban migration that is already taking place. How will this impact urban planning? If services and other amenities in cities deteriorate because of increased population this will significantly affect development, if you think the traffic is bad in Hanoi now then wonder what they will be like in 2020? How will Vietnam respond, for example the building of a new metro in Hanoi?

How can Vietnam best promote reproductive health?

The fact that fertility rates are now down to replacement levels does not mean that sexual and reproductive health programmes can be ignored. Weaknesses need to be addressed in addressing issues such as STI’s and in particular HIV/AIDS, which has greatest impact upon young people of working age, have the potential to diminish the demographic bonus. How should policy makers address unmet needs for sexual and reproductive health services, particularly amongst marginalized and disadavantaged groups such as gay men and other males who have sex with males (MSM) and ethnic minorities?

How can Vietnam resolve the imbalance in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB)?

The imbalance in the sex ratio at birth has emerged as a major gender issue in recent years, currently it is at 112 male births to 100 female births, (the norm is 105). If this trend continues then it may significantly affect Vietnams demographic and sex structure in the next two decades. Scarcity of women could increase pressure on men to marry at younger age and cause a rising demand for sex work, with a subsequent increase in trafficking to respond to this imbalance. How should policy makers address this issue which is deeply embedded in cultural norms, such as a preference for sons, and which is itself rooted in gender inequality?

How can Vietnam adjust to population ageing?

Whilst ageing is not an urgent problem at the present time it needs to be considered now, if Vietnam is to avoid the issues that have arisen in other countries with low fertility rates and ageing populations. Policies that have encouraged smaller families, need to be reconciled with policies aimed at encouraging adults to assume responsibility for the welfare of their elderly parents. How can policy makers address such contradictions?

Thinking about such questions helps us all to recognize that there are no simple answers in policy formation, but workshops such as this one help to share experiences, learn from others and provide an opportunity to participate in the development of sound policies and strategies.

The Kitchen God Day

The most important event in the Vietnamese year is soon to happen, TET, or the lunar New Year. On Feb 14th the Year of the Tiger will be ushered in and family celebrations shall abound. Preperations are already underway, houses are being painted, new furniture is being bought, the streets are being adorned with orange trees and flowers from around Vietnam, the Vietnamese flag is proudly flying from dwellings. Travel is difficult as flights and trains are booked as people move around to be with their families.

The year of the tiger symbolises bravery and protects the household from misfortune such as theft, fire, and the haunting of hungry ghosts, the lost souls that have no one who makes offerings to them, so must scavenge the land of the living for food, and tomorrow is very important day in the preparations for Tet, the appeasement of the Kitchen Gods, here is their story.

There is a popular belief in Vietnam that Tao Quan, the Three Kitchen Gods, are present in the kitchen of every home. These gods observe everything that takes place there. At the end of the lunar year, on the twenty-third day of the twelfth month, they depart to Heaven to inform Ngoc Hoang, the Jade Emperor, supreme divinity of the Taoist Heaven, of their owner's affairs during the year round. On that day Tao Ouan are offered the best of food and spices and are presented with gifts of money and clothing.

Long, long ago, when Earth and Sky met in the Valley of Whispers, in the dense, green forest there lived a woodcutter and his wife. They were very poor and oftentimes the man was unable to earn enough to buy their food. Frustration and worry drove him to drink, and took the beating on his wife. She couldn't endure it any longer. One night, she fled the cottage and was never seen there again.

For days and weeks, the woman wandered in the forest. She was hungry and her feet were torn and bleeding. Finally, she came to a hunter's cabin. The owner was an honest man, who gave her food and permitted her to rest in his home. She kept house for him then, and after some time they were married. They lived together in great happiness, and it seemed that the woman had forgotten the terrors of her previous marriage. One day while they were burning paper money and clothes to their ancestors in the yard, a beggar came in. The woman realized that the beggar was her former husband. Felt sorry for his fate, she gave him money and rice, not wanting her new husband to know. Later, the new husband was told about this and he suspected the woman's virtue.

The woman, to prove her righteousness, committed suicide by jumping in to the fire. Seeing this heart-rending sight, the former husband also jumped into the fire. The new husband, regretting for what he has thought of his wife, did the same as the other two did. The Jade Emperor was so moved by their faithfulness, offered them the title of the Gods of the Kitchen.Based on that legend, on 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household buys to male hats for two men and one female hat for woman, together with three fresh carps (acting as horses for the Kings). After the offering ceremony, the household owner releases the carps to the lakes or ponds nearby.

Although the Kitchen Gods fly to Heaven on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, they will return sharply on the 30th day of the same month before the last moment of the old year comes. You may wonder why there are three Kitchen Gods instead of just one? Well, the reason for having 3 Kitchen Gods is because the Vietnamese traditional clay stove (bê'p, lò) provides three support posts for the pots and pans. Thus we have 3 posts that are bound together at the base - a tri-deity? It is not known which started first, the legend or the stove.

I shan't be realeasing any carps to the Jade Emperor because with the time I spend in the kitchen, virtually none, I can't imagine the news they would bring to him will be particularly flattering...I have tried to find the legend associated with the Bia Hoi Gods but can't seem to find one....

In the meantime Happy New Year to you all

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

"Violence against women and girls continues unabated in every continent, country and culture. It takes a devastating toll on women’s lives, on their families, and on society as a whole. Most societies prohibit such violence — yet the reality is that too often, it is covered up or tacitly condoned." — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, 8 March 2007

Hello, it has been a little while since I updated my blog, such has been the sheer amount of activities that I have been involved with both as part of my assignment at work and a very busy social life in Hanoi.

So to address the gap I thought I would I would try and write a series of articles about some of the issues that the Centre for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP), the organisation that I work for, tackle here in Vietnam. The first of which is about violence against women.

It is a sobering thought that around the world as many as 1 in 3 women will at some point in their lives suffer some form of violence or abuse, often by a husband or intimidate partner. Among women aged between 15- 44 years, the risk of disablement or death from violence is higher than that from cancer, motor vehicle accidents and malaria. Such is the extent of the problem that it has been described “as the most pervasive yet least recognized human rights abuse in the world."

Such human rights abuses are varied and can occur at any point in woman’s life, they include pre-natal sex selection, female genital mutilation, bride burning or dowry related crimes, physical or emotional violence by an intimate partner, trafficking of women and children, exploitation of domestic workers, honour based murders and the brutal use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Lets just for a moment look at just of the hidden, often unreported statistics about this issue.

In the Russian Federation half of all murder victims are women killed by their male partners, to put this figure into perspective each and every year more women are killed as a result of domestic violence in Russia, than the entire number of Russian fatalities resulting from the 10 year Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

Recent studies estimate that each year two million girls between the ages of 5 and 15 enter the sex industry.

In Asia, approximately 60 million women are ‘missing’ killed through infanticide and selective abortion or deliberate under-nutrition.

It is estimated that 500,000 women are trafficked into Western Europe each year often for the purposes of sexual exploitation. Globally trafficking is the third fastest growing crime.

Based on recent studies, more than 130 million women and girls in Africa, Middle East and Asia, have undergone female genital mutilation and an estimated 2 million girls are at risk for undergoing the procedure each year.

In France, 95% of the victims of violence are women, 51% of them at the hands of intimate partners, in the UK 1 to 2 women are murdered by their male partners each week.

The costs of intimate partner violence in the United States alone exceeds US$5.8 billion per year.

But these statistics do not tell the individual stories of women who have been abused. Take the story of just one victim, in just one country, a married women from a small coastal town in Vietnam…

“Some day, when I was supposed to eat my meal, he asked me to go to the pigsty to eat there; he did not permit me to eat inside our house. Another day, I brought a pig-leg to make soup. When I went out for a second, he poured the liquid from the dead fish’s viscera that was used for making pig’s meal into my soup. He was very cruel […] he often hit me.

One time, he poured boiled water over my body. It was lucky that I wore the conical straw hat so that only half my body was burned. I had to go to the hospital and stay in my parents’ house for one and a half months and lie on banana leaves and be covered with the fine cloth used for making mosquito nets”.

The Government of Vietnam determined to ensure that such abuses do not continue brought together various laws and regulations into one single framework in 2007. The Law on Gender-based Violence makes it clear that such abuses are unacceptable and will be severely punished, but in a society where such violence is too often seen as private matter, either to be resolved within the family or endured by the woman as a ‘normal’ part of marriage, its implementation can be problematic.

Fortunately the work of CCIHP is helping to ensure that women are able to access services and exercise their rights under the law. Through careful research and interventions, CCIHP has worked with victims as well supporting services to ensure that women are aware of their rights, that counseling services are responsive to their needs and that the police and justice systems recognize that violence against women needs to be treated seriously and addressed promptly.

Working together with other NGOs, government institutions and mass organizations, CCIHP has tried to ensure that other women do not have to endure the violence described above. But with only 2 shelters nationwide for victims of violence, and where deeply entrenched social norms and attitudes can tacitly condone such abuses it is clear that still more needs to be done not only to ensure the safety of victims but also to prevent such violence from occurring in the first place.

This can only be achieved by tackling the gender inequalities that result in women being viewed as fundamentally of lesser value than men. Tackling such attitudes involves working with men and boys, as well as women and girls, for it is only by changing such attitudes that violence against women will come to be seen as a brutal violation of a woman’s right to live a life free from violence and abuse rather than an accepted and invisible norm

Attached is a short video campaign against domestic violence in Vietnam that draws upon the specific cultural context.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKVBRGCx59E

New home

"It matters not where you live, so long as you live where you are" - Anon

Well the in-country orientation (ICO) is now over and each of the volunteers have now gone to their respective placements throughout Vietnam including, HCMC, Thai Binh and Da Nang. For a quick round-up of the final week of ICO please take a look at Trish's movie;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDHwzELO0EA

The volunteers in Da Nang had a dramatic start to their placement, as it was in this area that typhoon Ketsana made landfall. Warnings however were provided, the authorities were well prepared and, although tragically there were fatalities due to mudslides in the central provinces, emergency procedures worked effectively.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8281159.stm.

The newly placed VSO volunteers in Da Nang are safe and sound and apparently will even soon be starting work.

For those of us based in Hanoi, life has proved far simpler, having already spent 3 weeks in the city we have already had the chance to familiarise ourselves with our surroundings and have been able to find accommodation. I had an immediate choice to make, of whether to live on my own, something I have become very used to or to share with someone else. Well it soon became apparent that the best value was to share a house, and it became even more apparent that myself, Trish and Louisa would find it easy to get along.

So after a few frenetic days of travelling around various districts of Hanoi, we finally settled on the Dong Da District of the city, a locale that was relatively convenient for all, with me being the luckiest as I am within walking distance for work, and there is even a footbridge to cross the road!! The area has everything we could possibly want, a market with fresh produce literally on our door-step, a pleasant lakeside Bier Hoi just around the corner, a large supermarket just a short bus ride away, and for me a barber that does a fine cut-throat shave.

The house is a typical Vietnamese town house, tall and narrow but with plenty of space. The first floor opens out onto street, or should that be alley, and contains living area, kitchen and a small shower room, the second and third floors have two bedrooms and bathroom each and the final storey consists of a large landing, utility area and spacious roof terrace.

During my first night in the new bed, there were some ominous creaking sounds, which were the precursor to the complete collapse of the frame, proving, not for the first time, that I am taller, wider and, yes, considerably heavier than most Vietnamese. But the charming landlord was soon around to fix things and it is now reinforced and very solid, just right for a cool nights sleep under the mosquito net, fan and air-con. The standard of accommodation has exceeded our expectations for the budget, so we are all very pleased. Having settled in I have now began my assignment and I am very much enjoying the experience.

The public nature of blogging means that I shan’t be going into specific detail about my work, but in future blogs I will provide observations about my life here and describe some of the context within which my assignment takes place. So I hope you will join me next week, when I will describe a little about Vietnam’s turbulent but spectacular development story.

Tôi có thể có một bia xin

"No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut"

Sam Rayburn (1882 -1961)

say that again please?

Well the second week has now passed and our fascinating In Country Orientation (ICO)continues. For a quick recap on week one please feel free to watch the delightful slideshow put together by Trish, a co-volunteer, and soon to be my housemate, along with Louisa, who also has a starring feature in the show; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppN8ImThZds.

Each day we have two Vietnamese lessons and we have now progressed from saying our name, to the more complex conversations required to barter at the market. It is to language that I now turn in this blog, for, unlike Sam Rayburn, if I am stay here for two years I will definately need to open my mouth. Yesterday we had our first practical session at the open air market. I refrained from buying a duck as I didn't want it waddling around the hotel bathroom and bought a grapefruit instead. Well at least I thought it was a grapefruit but it turned out to be something else, it was quite tasty though, whatever it was. The fact that I managed to buy anything was quite an achievement and testiment to the skills of our patient and good humoured language teacher who puts up with our outrageous pronounciation.

So why is Vietnamese so difficult? Well for those of you not familiar with this sort of language, it is tonal. This means that the sounds you make and where they are in the word, are equally, if not more important, than the combination of letters that make them up. There are six tones in the Vietnamese language; mid, low falling, low rising, high broken, high rising, and low broken. Thus every syllable can be pronounced in six different ways. Where these sounds occur in each word, is indicated by the diacritic-laden letters that you see in Vietamese writing, (thats the strange squiggles you see at the top and bottom of the letters).

The consequence of this is that different tones can completely change a words meaning. For example depending on how it is said ma could mean ghost, cheek, but, rice seedling, tomb or horse. The possibility for confusion is near endless for example, you could go to buy some oil (dầu), long tone high pitch falling, and instead say (dâu), short tone, low pitch, sudden stop, which means bride, or mistake trousers (quần) for a pub (quán). These are not the sort of confusions you wish to make in polite conversation. Just to make matters more confusing the dialect in the north is different to that in the south. In HCMC (Saigon) the low rising and high broken tones are both pronounced as the low rising tone, and to make matters that bit more interesting the Vietnamese spoken around Hue, in the centre of the country, is considered unique even by the Vietnamese.

So if you have followed me this far...you may wonder how it can be learnt. Well far from frustrating it is quite fun, learning Vietnamese improves your listening skills and exercises facial muscles you didn't know you had. The lessons on the ICO are very practical and the laughter loud, you don't even want to know the embarrasment caused if you ask for pork incorrectly, and most of all the language, like the country and people, is very beautiful as the high and low pitches swoop and glide in a musical manner. So I will persevere, and hopefully my efforts will be rewarded by even more unusual purchases at the market.

However, I have mastered one phrase, and for those of you wondering what the title of this blog is, it states..

"May I have one beer please?"

To which once it arrives the answer can only be,

"Chuc suc khoe!" or "Cheers"

See you next week for house hunting adventures in Hanoi.

Arrival

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”

Freya Stark.

Xin Chao! Hello and welcome to the first Bromblog from Hanoi. It has now been nearly a week since I first stepped of the plane at Na Boi airport, passed through the swine flu medical screening and stepped into the heat and humidity of Vietnam. Unlike Freya Stark I am not alone but am instead welcomed by the wonderful staff of the VSO Vietnam office, Son, Trang and Thuong. I'm efficiently transported to the Au Co Hotel where a welcome basket of fruit, biscuits, tea and coffee awaits me.

In the evening we gather for a Vietnamese welcome dinner and I get to meet, mostly for the first time, the other volunteers in the team. We are diverse bunch in age, experience and nationality coming from the UK, Kenya, Ireland, Canada, Germany/South Africa and Pirkka from Finland who unfortuneatly is still to arrive due to some visa issues. We look forward to seeing her soon.

This shows the range of VSO partnerships both North and South and it is a good mix of experience and backgrounds.

Day 2 is really the start of our In Country Orientation (ICO) designed to enable us to gain confidence in our new environment. The first part of which is learning how to cross the road! The rules of which are simple, step out, preferably not under a bus, keep walking and don't stop until you reach the other side. The mopeds really do swerve to avoid you and the cars, mostly, really do slow down, stopping in the middle really just confuses the whole experience. If there is a large group of you, do not cross the road in single file, as in a school crocodile, as the mopeds cannot swerve around all of you at once and it causes havoc. Instead cross the road in a horizontal file with the bravest person in the hit zone at the end of the row. If you do not obey these rules, you will only ever see Hanoi from one side of the street and never be able to get from one section to the next.

So with the Great Road Expedition mastered, our next adventure was to the Vietnamese Museum of Ethnography. This is a super start to the training, providing a fascinating insight to the 54 different ethnic groups belonging to 5 ethnolinguistic families, (more about language later), that inhabit Vietnam. The largest of these is, unsurprisingly, the Viet comprising 86% of the population, but there are many more such as the Black Hmong, Yao and the Lolo people. Most of these have colourful dress and unique customs, particularly the hill tribes, however these ethnic minorities have often not benefited from Vietnam's economic progress, and how to ensure that they benefit from Vietnam's successes in poverty reduction whilst preserving their culture is an interesting development debate, as it is in many places, that I hope to learn more about during my time here.

Giarai burial tomb and Bahnar communal house at Ethnology Museum of Vietnam

The museum is also home to the delightful Hoa Sua restaurant, not only does this provide excellent cuisine, together with wonderful French style desserts, such as flambe apple crepe, (I was tempted by a rich chocolate mousse), but it also serves as a training facility for disadvantaged young people providing them with the skills they need to work in Vietnam's burgeoning tourist sector, a rapidly growing and important part of its economy.

So I am afraid this blog only takes me through to the second day of my time here so far, but it is long enough already. Our ICO also includes 2 language lessons a day, background in the socio-political environment and development issues, the work of VSO in disability and HIV/AIDS and something I am really looking forward to the opportunity to spend a weekend with a Vietnamese family. It also includes all the numerous practical issues such as setting up bank accounts, including internet banking, mobile phones, emergency procedures, including evacuation procedures, for example, in the event of an avian flu outbreak, which hospitals to use, registering with the Embassy and police etc.. etc... etc..... as well as finding somewhere to live. Each of these is a seperate topic in itself so next week I think I shall write about our often hilarious experiences with the Vietnamese language.

See you next week

Ian

Things I can't pack...

"There's no place like home".
_ Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), Wizard of Oz

Well I think I have finally succeeded in packing the suitcase. Weighing in at 21 Kg, just under the limit, I might even be able to squeeze another book in.

However there are some things that just won't fit so here are just a few....


















..and of course friends and family. I'm sure I will be keeping in touch with you all and hopefully seeing some of you in Vietnam... So take care, good luck and the next post will be from Hanoi.