Late April 2021, UNICEF in Vietnam supported Dong Thap Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (DOLISA) to organize a training course on ‘Understanding Child Labour’ for 30 participants from different sectors including welfare, education, health, police, justice and union organizations (Women Union, Youth Union) in Dong Thap province. The training provided a comprehensive understanding around the issue of child labour with key topics including: identification of child labour; prevalence, drivers, consequences of child labour; legislation frameworks related to child labour; action plan on preventing and eliminating child labour; interventions and support in cases of child labour; and inspection on child labour.

The training has helped enhance the knowledge, understanding and skills of related government departments in detecting and responding to cases of children who are victims or at risk of child labour. The training received very positive feedback from the participants as it was the first time they received a comprehensive training on this topic. Engaging the participants from different sectors, the training also provided an opportunity for discussing the roles and responsibilities of each sector as well as the bottlenecks and suggestions for multi-sectoral collaboration in preventing and addressing child labour.

Three follow-up training were conducted at the project districts (Thanh Binh, Thap Muoi, Sa Dec) targeting 120 child protection officers and collaborators who are working directly with vulnerable children and families.

“I graduated as a social worker and am now working at the Center for Social Protection of Dong Thap province. I found the training very refreshed and helpful for my work because I did not have a chance to access this knowledge even in my study at the university. I would recommend integrating this topic into the university training programme in social work. Also, it would be good if the programme can help raise legal awareness of the local authorities and community people on child labour.” – said Ms. Hoa, social worker at Center for Social Protection of Dong Thap province.