Diversifying ideas, actively cooperating with partners and proactively promoting social responsibility

Representatives from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the World Bank, the World Health Organization and a number of other organizations attended the conference.

At the conference, delegates examined the causes leading to a high rate of malnutrition among ethnic minority children and focused on the rate of stunting being twice as high and the rate of thinness being half as high as that of Kinh children. At the same time, the delegates also shared ideas to improve nutrition and health of ethnic minority children.

 Accordingly, some community models are highly valued in improving the quality of meals for children, such as nutritional gardens in each household, nutrition clubs in villages, improving the consensus of parents in preparing meals for children, fostering the livelihoods of households by improving their quality of life and the quality of their meals and making use of plants and animals available in nature (no need for farming) to improve children’s diet.

For Vietnamese Stature Foundation diversifies ideas, actively collaborates with partners in its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

However, according to experts, these models are not really sustainable and are now a challenge. Specifically, most models fall into "transformation" or "disappear" shortly after the projects are withdrawn, due to lack of financial and technical supervision and support as well as lack of linkage. The situation of “every man for himself”, “everybody’s business is nobody’s business”, or where there are too many models that overlap unnecessarily, all calling for resources for their own projects.

There are some organizations in the country that have been promoting social responsibility, but not many, and most of them are from the business world.  They do not really receive attention from the authorities or from the community. The ethos of VSF - “a social, charitable, non-profit organization aiming to improve the physical and mental health of Vietnamese children, for a mighty Vietnam" was mentioned by delegates at the conference as an example of the right approach - working effectively for Vietnamese stature, contributing to reducing child malnutrition and raising the stature of future generations of Vietnam.  This includes three core programs which aim to raise the physical and mental health of Vietnamese children: the School milk program for preschool and elementary school children; Young talent nurturing which promotes the right to children to have an education and Nutritional health for pregnant women.

VSF proactively promotes social responsibility for Vietnamese stature

Ms. Tran Thi Nhu Trang - Director of VSF said: "The primary secret of our effective work is to devote our full attention to the development of the community, and more than anyone, every member of VSF staff is constantly diversifying ideas and actively working with our partners both in our country and abroad to launch programs."

VSF has had and will have projects such as improving knowledge and skills of child care and proper nutritional practice for female workers in industrial zones; Media campaign on nutritional meals for children on the occasion of Nutrition and Development Week 2017 and World Food Day on October 16 2017.

In the context of ever decreasing foreign funding through international organizations, many international NGOs have been forced to downsize, reduce their scale and curtail projects. The mobilization of domestic resources such as For Vietnamese Stature Foundation was a solution appreciated by delegates and experts at the conference. According to delegates, these models have many advantages in implementing "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR). It can be understood that VSF commits to sustainable development through a balanced mix of economic, social and environmental factors. Philanthropy certainly has some positive effects, but it will be more effective if it is a part of the overall CSR strategy.