HA NOI – The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and the United Nations in Viet Nam organized today the closing ceremony for the Joint Programme on Gender Equality. The event brought together more than 150 participants, including policy makers and national experts, from various ministries, non-governmental organizations, development partners and UN agencies.

The joint programme was aimed at improving the capacity of government authorities and other duty bearers to effectively implement, monitor and evaluate the Law on Gender Equality and the Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control. Implemented from 2009 to 2011, the total budget for the programme was USD 4,683,516, of which more than USD4.5 million came from the Spanish government through the Millennium Development Goal Achievement Fund (MDG-F).

Speaking at the event, Nguyen Thanh Hoa, Vice Minister of MOLISA, highlighted that Viet Nam has a long history of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. “This process has been clearly reflected in the enactment of the Vietnamese Constitution and laws, including labour and family legislations.”

Viet Nam is a signatory to a number of international legal instruments on gender, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). However, institutional capacity in the areas of data collection, gender analysis, implementation, monitoring and reporting on the laws and policies remains weak.

The Joint Programme on Gender Equality helped address the issue.