On 9^th August 2016, The Bac Kan Provincial Women’s Union in collaboration with CARE International in Vietnam and the Agriculture and Forestry Research & Development Center for Mountainous region (ADC) held a project planning workshop for the project namely “Women's Economic Empowerment through Agricultural Value Chain Enhancement (WEAVE)”.

Project planning workshop for WEAVE

Attending the workshop were Mrs. Do Thi Minh Hoa –Vice Chairman of the Bac Kan Provincial People's Committee, representatives of Bac Kan’s Departments, CARE International in Vietnam, the Agriculture and Forestry Research & Development Center for mountainous region (ADC), and representatives of 8 banana planting interest groups in 2 communes Thanh Van and Mai Lap, Cho Moi district.

From the success achieved fromt other projects, the Bac Kan Provincial Women's Union in collaboration with Care International Organizations continue to implement the project “Women's Economic Empowerment through Agricultural Value Chain Enhancement (WEAVE)”. WEAVE is part of the long-term program of CARE about ethnic minority women in remote areas in order to contribute to the common goal: Improving the rights of women in economic development, strengthening the voice of women and gender equality. The objective of the workshop is to introduce the project WEAVE, build the 3-year plan for the project WEAVE, and define the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders.

In response to drought which is increasing in Bac Kan, 2013, CARE and partner organizations of the project is the Agriculture and Forestry Research & Development Center for mountainous region (ADC) has worked with interest groups (production team) to find new crops which are better resistant to climate change to enhance livelihood security for local communities. The result is a variety of banana in 2 communes namely Mai Lap and Thanh Van, Cho Moi District were selected due to drought tolerance, which was accepted by local community and has potentials in consuming market.

WEAVE project will be implemented with specific activities such as training management skills for groups, capacity building and banana cultivation techniques, a combination of modern technology and tradition to enhance the sustainability, analyze the challenges that farmers are facing when they take part in the banana value chain, and ensure the land use rights to allow community members to use forest land for cultivation.

As planned, the project will be implemented from 1^st June 2016 to 31^st August 2018. The total budget is 2,497,815 Australian dollars. /.

By Nguyễn Phương, backan.gov.vn