Girls Education
Vietnam like many developing countries does not fund primary and secondary education. Families have to pay school tuition and boys tend to be educated beyond the primary level. When you educate a girl you are educating the entire family. Educating girls especially from poor Delta and “floating boat” families has “ripple effects” as educated women tend to keep their daughters in school, delay marriage and childbearing, increase family income, promote family health, and increase their voice in the private and public spheres.
Language Training and Peer Mentoring
Our networks in Vietnam include teachers, principals and university administrators so that girls have support systems to keep them in school. New partnerships in Vietnam will expand our scholarship programs to ethnic minority children in the Central Highlands. Vietnamese language training will increase their educational opportunities. WEAV plans to enlist our scholarship recipients to mentor our primary, secondary and university scholarship recipients.
Microloans and Business Ownership
WEAV seeded women’s business development in 2011 and 2012. This program is now managed by the Women’s Union in the Mekong Delta. The loan has granted nearly 300 microloans. Program size and flexible loan repayment sustains this program.
OUR UNIVERSITY PARTNERS
Can Tho University
Can Tho University (CTU) is the cultural, scientific, and technical center of the Mekong Delta and currently enrolls about 54,000 undergraduates. The majority of our higher education scholarships have been awarded to this university. Many of our 2017 recipients are majoring in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).
Tra Vinh University
Tra Vinh University (TVU) enrolls over 20,000 students ncluding a high percentage of the ethnic minority Khmer. TVU offers a multi-disciplinary curriculum and awards certificates and baccalaureate degrees and some graduate level courses to women, ethnic minorities,and local communities with special demands. WEAV awarded 20 scholarships in 2017.
Dong Thap University
Dong Thap University (DTU) enrolls nearly 6000 disadvantaged students from all over Vietnam. 70% of these young women are poor ethnic minorities from remote areas and are Khmer, Cham, and Chinese. They have been historically underrepresented in higher education. WEAV awarded 20 scholarships this year.
Vinh Long Community College
Vinh Long Community College (VLCC) awards associate and baccalaureate degrees to nearly 5000 graduates. VLCC students are from the poorest villages of the Mekong Delta. WEAV awarded 20 scholarships in 2017. The importance of community college education is so critical in economically challenged communities in Vietnam.