Latest Foreign Assistance Briefs

- French supermarket chain Big C on Tuesday selected 10 community projects to implement this year as part of its "Big Community" contest, which has received a total of 76 entries. The second contest, designed for Big C staff, encourages them to develop community projects that improve the living conditions of the poor. Each project will receive funds of VND40 million ($1,915). In addition, Big C and Unilever chose two other projects which they are co-funding. The projects include bringing clean water to poor students in a rural area in Hai Phong, vocational training for the poor, and help for the disabled in northern Nam Dinh Province. Last year, eight community projects worth VND320 million were implemented. (Vietnam News Aug 31)

- This year, funds raised for ACDF’s eight charity projects, which include building bridges and roads, constructing medical care and education facilities and raising farmers’ income in Binh Thuan, Long An and, Ben Tre, is $33,359 in total. Initiated since 2004, ACDF is part of AmCham’s annual community activities which aims to support NGOs, private voluntary organizations and social groups. It has so far supported 54 projects with $212,238. (thesaigontimes.vn Aug 27)

- Japan has donated a range of medical equipment totaling over VND2 billion to ($95,200) to a general hospital in Vietnam’s southern province of Dong Nai in a bid to better healthcare services for local residents. This is part of the Japanese government’s program of non-refundable aid to provide medical devices to hospitals in Vietnam’s rural and remote areas. The equipment is expected to help the health facility to treat various diseases and illnesses for local patients effectively, Director of Tan Phu Hospital Nguyen Thanh Quang, said. Mr. Quang added that Tan Phu district is an extremely disadvantaged mountainous area with many ethnic minorities. Previously, local hospitals could not perform complex techniques such as gastroscopy and eye surgery due to lack of medical equipment. (Quan Doi Nhan Dan Aug 30, Vietnamplus.vn Aug 30)

- TNK Vietnam BV, an affiliate of BP’s joint venture in Russia TNK-BP, has announced to fund VND2.1 billion ($100,598) to four community projects in Vietnam. The donation will be used to take heart surgeries for poor patients, cover expenses of scientific researches for 10 groups of students at Hanoi University of Mining and Geology, sponsor 190 poor schoolchildren and deliver 1,200 helmets to schoolchildren in Ho Chi Minh City. Those are social projects which will be conducted in 2012. Last year, TNK Vietnam also donated VND4.2 billion to equip a modern ambulance and train staffs for emergency at Le Loi hospital in Ba Ria-Vung Tau. (Hanoi moi – New Hanoi Aug 30 p4, Phap luat Vietnam Aug 30 p9)

- Taiwan charity agency Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzuchi on Sunday handed over 381 scholarships worth over VND260 million ($12,440) to poor students in district 9 in Ho Chi Minh City. Taiwan charity agency Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzuchi handed over 381 scholarships worth over VND260 million ($12,440) to poor students in district 9 in HCM City. The agency in cooperation with the Women’s Association of District 9 in the city donated the scholarships, each including VND700,000 ($33.5) and some gifts such as a box of instant noodle, of biscuit, of pencil, toothpaste and toothbrush, to students of primary, secondary and high schools in wards Long Thanh My, Long Binh and Long Phuoc. As a non-governmental organization working in Vietnam in the fields of health, education, charity and relief, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzuchi has been providing assistance to underprivileged students twice a year since 2009. On the previous day, the Malaysian Business Council had donated 30 scholarships worth VND25 million ($1,200) in total to needy pupils of Trung Lap Ha primary school in the city’s Cu Chi District. (www.dtinews.vn Aug 27)

- French Professor and millionaire Odon Vallet granted on Sunday 450 scholarships to poor but high-performing high school, college, and graduate students coming from southern Vietnamese provinces. At the ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City, Professor Vallet presented the master’s and college students with VND11 million ($528) and VND7 million ($336) to the high school students each. This year, the French man has plans to award 2,250 scholarships to Vietnamese students who manage to get over financial hardship to deliver impressive academic performances. He has offered more than 16,000 such scholarships worth over VND63 billion ($3 million) to outstanding Vietnamese students and researchers over the past decade. A law and public administration professor at Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and Paris VII Diderot, Odon Vallet decided in 1999 to devote all of his family inheritance, worth 100 million euros ($125 million), to a fund granting scholarships to poor students who have excellent achievements in studies and research activities in France and Vietnam. (Tuoi Tre –Youth Aug 27)