Projects and Partners – VNH Foundation

VNH Foundation: Projects and Partners

Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA)

VNHF works closely with the Ministry of Labor – Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) on a variety of projects in Vietnam. MOLISA is charged with overseeing the following areas of: employment, vocational training, wage and salary, social insurances, occupational safety, people with special contributions to the country, social protection, child care and protection, gender equality, social evils control and prevention.

VIETCOT

The former GDR developed a project in orthopedic technology for Vietnam in 1977/78 as part of a solidarity project. It included the provision of machinery and material, and a training component for a site in Ba Vi. After three years of construction, a school staffed with foreign orthopedic and prostheses educators and equipped with tools and machinery meeting international standards opened in October 1997. The first three-year training course began with 15 participants recruited from several rehab centers across Vietnam. To achieve the actual project goal “Qualified Orthopedic Technologists will be trained and professionally upgraded to be able to start their assignment in the Orthopedic Rehabilitation Centers from the Year 2000 onwards”, the Vietnamese Training Centre for Orthopedic Technologists (VIETCOT) offers a training content based on the standards of the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). Up to now, VIETCOT has produced 45 qualified Orthopedic Technologists Category II (ISPO/WHO), 15 Orthopedic Technologists of the Modular Course Category II (ISPO/WHO) and 30 Orthotic Technologists Category II level.

Association for the Support of Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans (ASVHO)

ASVHO stands for Association for the Support of Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans. ASVHO is charged with improving the lives of the handicapped and orphans in Vietnam, promoting the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, and inspecting the implementation of the Law for the Disabled and other policies for persons with disabilities. VNHF collaborates closely with the association to provide assistance and support to various projects.

The Blue Dragon Children's Foundation

Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation is an Australian charity working in Hanoi with children in crisis. Activities: street kids, children with disabilities, children from rural families living in Hanoi on the streets, who are victims of human trafficking and slavery, mostly to China. Their aim is to rescue kids, reunite them with their families, and provide the needs for recovery and growth. VNHF provides financial and medical professional training to treat underfed and sick street children.

Drafcraft 5 Colors

Deaf Craft 5 Colors is a Hanoi based social enterprise that traces its beginning back to 1995. In 2007, Mr. Tran Dang Thanh (himself a 100% hearing-impaired person) took on the leadership of one unit in “Lan Handicraft”, which was two years later officially registered as a business under the new name Deaf Craft 5 Colors.
Since 2009 Deaf Craft 5 Colors has continually grown manufacturing various products for the local tourist market and the expatriate community in Hanoi as well as for overseas customers. Their mission is to provide development opportunities for deaf people in the area of literacy and vocational training as well as to provide a fair wage employment in a caring social environment.

Green Cross

Since 1993, Green Cross International and its network of national organizations in around 30 countries have used dialogue and on-site actions to promote sustainability, security and collaboration at all levels. VNHF works closely with the Vietnamese projects to allow Vietcot (Vietnamese Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists), an orthopedic center in Hanoi, to provide prostheses and orthoses to around 500 children and adolescents every year on behalf of Green Cross. Doctors from Green Cross Switzerland visit the center on a regular basis to examine the young patients.

The Baan Nok Kamin Foundation (BKNF)

Expanding Arthroscopic Surgery Training

Da Nang, Central Vietnam
The Foundation continues the close partnership among the Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), the Da Nang Orthopedics Hospital (DNOH), and Orthopedic Surgeons and Nurses from Basel, Switzerland. The purpose of the cooperation is to instruct and train DNOH surgeons and nurses in the technique of Arthroscopic Surgery. Patients include children suffering from severe deformities of limps caused by the lingering after-effects of Agent Orange and victims of accidents.
At a meeting in March 2015 between VNH Foundation and DNOH Staff and MOLISA Staff, the Vietnamese surgeons expressed their desire to widen the scope of Arthroscopic Surgery at DNOH to be able to perform arthroscopic surgery on shoulder and ankle joints. DNOH staff would be delighted to receive appropriate training by the Swiss surgeons and nurses. The new initiatives remain under the oversight of MOLISA.

Upgrading of the Orthopaedic Hospital

Da Nang, Central Vietnam
The donation of medical and orthopaedic surgery equipment increased the operation capacity from 780 to 4,000 annually.
The VNH Foundation supported the renovation of the hospital by providing state-of-the-art medical equipment in the form of a fully equipped operating table, a sterilization machine and an arthroscopy tower. The Foundation’s budget for this project was CHF 275,000. The funding of this professional medical equipment was largely possible thanks to the support of Belimed AG, Karl Storz GmbH and Maquet. All three companies made significant price concessions which allowed the Foundation to maximize its contribution. The Foundation also coordinated the partnership between MOLISA, the Da Nang Orthopaedics Hospital, and the doctors and nurses of the Bruderholz Kantonsspital in Basel. The main objective of this partnership was to initiate the provision of free theoretical and practical training to the medical and supporting staff of the Orthopaedics Hospital. The training includes demonstrative operations performed on patients. The Bruderholz Hospital staff has visited the Da Nang Orthopaedics Hospital on six occasions between 2008 and Spring 2010. Their objective is to establish one of the leading orthopedic hospitals in Vietnam. The VNH Foundation is supporting the Bruderholz missions by covering the travel expenses of the training staff.
Background to Da Nang Orthpedic Hospital: The medical facilities that were used by the Da Nang Orthopaedics Hospital were first built by the US government during the Vietnam War and are now managed by MOLISA. Originally an army hospital, the DNOH now specializes in treating orthopaedic deformities, often caused by Agent Orange. All orthopaedic operations sponsored by the Foundation have been performed by this hospital. The hospital has undergone extensive renovation work, which was completed in late 2009. As a result of these renovations and the new medical facilities and equipment, the Da Nang Orthopaedic Hospital has been able to increase its capacity from 780 operations per year to a projected 4,000 operations annually.

Vocational Training Centre

Hanoi
Housing and vocational training of children & adults provide much-needed vocational training for disadvantaged children, to prepare them for specific areas in which Vietnam is lacking professionals. In cooperation with Association for Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans (ASVHO), the Foundation supported the building of a vocational training center for orphaned and disabled children in the Hanoi Region.
The vocational school provides training for disadvantaged teenagers and young adults. It also functions a boarding home for students from remote regions around Hanoi. The main focus will be on teaching English and computer skills as well as sewing.

Children’s Home Expansion

Ninh Thuan
When a home for orphaned children in the Ninh Thuan province reached its housing capacity the VNH Foundation provided funds for expansion to make space for their young tenants as well as for future tenants. The initial spending helped 30 boys; at a later date a second building will be needed for girls as well. The funding created much-needed housing and allows these orphans to attend school. This is another step to help improve conditions in Vietnam’s poorest province.

Hoa Mai Center Orphanage

Da Nang
The Hoa Mai Care Center for Orphans was in established I 2004 by ASSORV, a French association and the Da Nang Peoples Committee.
The responsibilities of the Hoa Mai Center are:
– Cooperating with the authorities of the districts of Da Nang and Quang Nam to receive orphans.
– Taking care and educating orphans by providing education opportunities. Arranging for orphans to study at schools and social education centers.
– Based on the relative relationship situation of each individual orphan, the teachers at the Center will guide them to study at vocational schools, colleges and universities, or reunite them with their relatives.
The Foundation´s assistance over the years has been to provide construction and a medical office, provide for living expenses via a nutrition program, a tutoring program and a yearly Christmas party for the children.
Our future plans for the Center are to provide more housing, and other initiatives such as an administration office, library, community room and dining room.

Educational Scholarships

Ninh Thuan Province, Central Vietnam
Background: One of Vietnam’s poorest areas, the Ninh Thuan Province, has also been severely affected by the lingering after-effects of Agent Orange, as well as by the consequences of global climate change. Many of Ninh Thuan’s children are from disadvantaged ethnic groups. Orphaned or suffering from birth defects, many live in such dire conditions that their parents cannot afford to provide them with basic amenities or a proper education. Although the national average literacy rate in Vietnam is remarkably high at well over 90%, school attendance in Ninh Thuan Province lies at only 74%, and literacy is well below standard.

Koowah Hope Centre

Songkhla Province, Thailand
The project suffered a slight setback when an organization that had initially agreed to run the orphanage was forced to withdraw its support. However, through the International Protestant Church (IPC) of Zurich, the VNH Foundation was introduced to a Swiss missionary couple, Mr. Erwin and Mrs. Irene Gröbli-Schmid. This missionary couple has created an organisation in Thailand called the Baan Nok Kamin Foundation. It is a Thai foundation that is being supported by a Swiss Association (the Verein Zur Unterstützung Von Baan Nok Kamin), based in St. Gallen. The association boasts 160 members throughout Switzerland who fund the activities of the Baan Nok Kamin Foundation. The foundation successfully runs a number of homes similar to the Kuh Wah Centre in various parts of Thailand. At the time of the Kooh Wah building project, Baan Nok Kamin cared for over 200 orphans.