This work was made possible by a generous grant from The Walt Disney Company

Vietnam's apparel and footwear sector has seen fast growth over the past years and it plays an important role in national socio-economic development as the country's second largest export sector, accounting for more than one quarter of the value of all Vietnam's exports. It is the country's largest source of formal private sector jobs and a majority of workers are women. It therefore has a huge impact on children – not only directly as potential workers in the industry or in the informal sectors that grow around the industry, but also indirectly as a major employers of parents and caregivers; affecting the livelihood of millions of families. UNICEF seeks to address key concerns for children through a targeted initiative starting with an assessment to build a comprehensive understanding and evidence of the multiple ways in which children's rights are affected in the apparel and footwear sector in Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding areas, both inside and beyond factory gates.

The assessment includes an analysis of key drivers and underlying root causes, and recommendations on steps companies can take to mitigate adverse and strengthen positive impacts to help implement effective and targeted interventions and develop guidance material, including of good practices on child-friendly business in the footwear and apparel supply chain, at the local and international levels.

The assessment was carried out in 2016 and is based on publically available resources and field research involving stakeholder interviews, factory visits, direct observations and exploratory research to validate the desk study findings and identify additional impacts. Geographic scope focused on the apparel and footwear industry in Ho Chi Minh City (Binh Tan and Thu Duc districts) and surrounding provinces including Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Long An and Vung Tau.

Over the past years, private child care centres and family-based child care groups have been booming in Viet Nam to meet the public demand for under 3-year old child care as public education cannot accommodate fully these children. There have been many concerns about quality related issues of these groups/centres including but not limited to abuse, violence, unsafety, malnutrition, obesity, intellectual delay, etc. As such, this study looks into the actual situation of these groups/centres and to recommend solutions to remove existing barriers that hinders early childhood development especially of children under 3-years old in Viet Nam. The study was conducted by the Early Childhood Education Research Centre under the Viet Nam National Institute of Educational Science, with support from UNICEF Viet Nam since 2015. Field visits were made to six provinces represented three typical areas in Viet Nam, namely densely populated areas (Ha Noi, Nghe An), industrialized zones (Binh Duong, Vinh Phuc) and ethnic minority areas (Lao Cai, Gia Lai).

This Analysis is part of a series of provincial situation analyses of children’s rights that UNICEF Viet Nam has initiated to support provinces under the Social Policy and Governance Programme. The purpose of this initiative is to provide information to allow for provincial planning and budgeting becoming more child-friendly and evidence-based, especially for socio-economic development and sectorial plans.

This report contributes to a holistic picture of the provincial situation of girls and boys in Lao Cai and provides an in-depth analysis of children’s issues, bottlenecks and barriers to the realization of children’s rights in a mountainous area with diverse ethnic minority groups.

UNICEF supported Gia Lai's Department of Planning and Investment, Department of Health of Gia Lai province in undertaking Citizen Report Card (CRC), a social audit tool, in a survey on user satisfaction with healthcare services at commune level. The objective of this survey is to improve the quality of primary healthcare for the people, especially vulnerable groups (children, the poor, ethnic minorities residing in remote and mountainous areas, etc. ), in 6 communes of 3 districts, including H'ra and A Yun communes (Mang Yang district); Krong and Dak Rong (Kbang District); Chu Rcam and Uar (Krong Pa). This study records and analyzes feedback from people who used 5 healthcare services for mothers and children at commune level, including: Antenatal care; Postpartum care; Vaccination/Immunization; Maternal and child healthcare; and health information, education and communication.

Children are special citizens. They are both physically and intellectually young and fragile, so they cannot defend their rights by themselves and therefore mainly depend on their caregivers. The rights of children should be considered when determining the obligations and responsibilities of adults, families, schools, the state and society.

Therefore, for many years the international community has asked countries to ensure that all development efforts support the achievement of the goals related to human development, especially the development of children. On the 20th of February 1990, Viet Nam became the second country in the world and the first country in Asia to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Early ratification of the convention shows that the Communist Party and the State are interested in the implementation of children’s rights. On the 5th of March 1991, the chairman of the Council of Ministers signed the “Declaration of the World Summit for Children” and on the 18th of August 1991 Viet Nam National Assembly promulgated the “Law on Protection, Care and Education of Children.”

Accordingly, the rights of children and the responsibility of the state, families and society were institutionalized by law. Policies for children were implemented along with strategies and plans for socio-economic development plans.