“Since 1987, Vietnam has moved from a bureaucratic administrative system to an open-door market economy to develop its national economy,” said the vice president of the Hoa Binh Vocational School in Xuan Loc Diocese.

“This has had positive repercussions like economic development,” he said, “but has also had negative aspects. The gap between rich and poor has widened in both urban and rural areas. The school system has not been prepared in time to face globalisation; curricula, educational material and books to pursue international integration are inadequate.”

In speaking to the conference, Fr Nguyen Cong Anh said, “Currently in Ho Chi Minh City, some programmes are helping 5,000 children with food, shelter and schooling; another 20,000 children from the city’s poorest communities are also getting some assistance. But these are stop-gap measures.” Instead, “we now need concrete actions and sustainable solutions to social problems. Social workers must work with parents, communities, mass and religious organisations, and this requires the cooperation of local and international NGOs.”

“In Vietnam, 300,000 people are living with Aids, in every one of the country’s 63 provinces,” a member of Action Aid Viet Nam said. “About 97 per cent of all wards and municipalities in the country have HIV-AIDS patients. If we do not have enough social workers and the right policies to fight the spread of the pandemic, we could find ourselves with one person infected for every 60 households. We’ll have a new case every minute, and women living in families will also be at risk,” she explained.

In concluding the proceedings, Dong Thap University’s deputy rector emphasised the relevant and useful role social workers play in the country’s development. However, he lamented the lack of means available to Vietnamese universities to train social workers, including not enough experienced educators. In addition, he said that the existing curricula are too theoretical and burden students with too many subjects.

Social work has done a lot for society, and has been pro-active in trying to understand and support social change. Dung, project officer at international NGO, told AsiaNews that “the role of social worker means helping individuals, groups and communities to identify issues, solve problems, act as people’s advocate, help social work develop in the field and contribute to the overall human development of the country.” for this reason, “we need to cooperate with international NGOs and religious groups in order to find solutions to the problems that today affect Vietnam.”