Montréal, October 17th to 20th 2011

Outline Background of Vietnam’s economy. Vietnam’s Labour Market. Key Issues with Vocational Training and Employment. A Vocational School for Disadvantaged Youth. Hoa Sua’s Achievements. Hoa Sua’s Challenges.

Vietnam Background One of the in Asia, growing at about 7% per year; Became the 150 th in 2006 and a middle- income country in 2010; Has a (64% of all citizens are at working-age); (rapid growth in service sectors, particularly tourism). best-performing economies WTO member young population Shift in labour sector

More than people entering the labor market annually; of the labor force is trained (6.5% are trained at vocational colleges); Only of vocational training graduates meet requirements of local enterprises and FDI firms; Vietnam is facing a of skilled workers. Vietnam The Labour Market 1 million 26% 60% big shortage

1. Limited access to education, particularly for the young rural and disadvantaged population; 2. Large gap between the vocational training programs being delivered and the needs of local enterprises; 3. Lack of skills among the labour force. Vocational Training and Employment Key Issues So … What can be done to ensure that graduates from vocational training schools are able to find jobs suitable for what they have been trained to do? What impact do policy and economic issues have?

A social vocational school supports Vietnam’s poverty reduction strategy by providing high quality training and job placements to young people, especially to disadvantaged youth. Hoa Sua School for Disadvantaged Youth What is it?

The Students at Hoa Sua Business model used to provide education to youth who would otherwise not have access. Orphans and street children (26%) Children of extremely poor families (31%) Children of war invalids (19%) E t h n i c m i n o r i t y y o u t h ( 1 0 % ) Abused and trafficked women, natural disaster/ agent orange victims (3%) Hearing impaired and disabled youth (11%) tuition-free

Students B E C D A Professional and social training Uniforms, accommodation, meals and transport Health care and psychological consultations Scholarships Sport and cultural activities Benefits for Students at Hoa Sua

Hoa Sua’s Business Model

Hoa Sua’s Strategy Hoa Sua also provides vocational training adapted to labour market needs to further narrow the gap between training and employment. Hoa Sua School + Enterprises/ Partner Groups Curriculum Development Evaluation & Examination 3 Practicum Placement Job Orientation

First and still non-public Vocational Training Institute in Vietnam; The assessment center for Vietnam Tourism Occupational Skills; Annual intake of students; Approximately disadvantaged youth were trained since 1994; graduates find jobs right after graduation; Aim to reintegrate graduates (many from rural and minority areas) into their home regions and economies; Majority of professional teachers are former students. Hoa Sua’s Acheivements the largest first 750 7, %

As a private school, Hoa Sua is not subsidized by the Government, making it hard to recruit qualified teachers High costs of operating training school-run enterprises Slow down in business due to current economic crisis and increasing competition from other schools and enterprises Early stages of a social economy in VietnamChallenges

Hoa Sua’s Future Develop new relationships with international organizations to strengthen Hoa Sua school Develop more partnerships with private enterprises in Vietnam to provide training and employment opportunities for students Increase self sufficiency and profitability of Hoa Sua’s training businesses

Thank You!

Contact us: For further information, visit the Uniterra table in Rm 710