Latest Foreign Assistance Briefs

- The Unilever Vietnam Fund has helped to build and upgrade 20 public toilets while improving public awareness of personal and environmental hygiene in 20 communes in 10 districts of 10 cities and provinces nationwide. The five-year project, starting from 2007, is part of an agreement between the Unilever Vietnam Fund and the Health Environment Management Agency. In 2012, with the new name, “Washing hands with soap for a healthy Vietnam”, the project will come to 24 communes in 12 districts of 12 cities and provinces, including Dien Bien, Yen Bai, Bac Giang, Hoa Binh, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen, Hai Phong, Ha Nam and Nam Dinh in the north and Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh in the central region. With over 6 billion VND funded by Unilever Vietnam Fund and 275,000 bars of soap, the project aims to improve awareness of over 80 percent of local people of personal and environmental hygiene and help to build and upgrade 24 public sanitary facilities in targeted localities. (vietnamplus.vn May 8)

- SCG Group has announced it has started to receive applications from candidates for this year’s 400-scholarship program worth VND3 million each. This is the sixth consecutive year the Thai firm has launched ‘Sharing The Dream’ scholarship program to support underprivileged students from Hanoi and HCMC and Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Tay Ninh and Binh Thuan provinces. Interested students need to hand in documents to their schools by May 30 with a short essay explaining the reason why they deserve a scholarship. SCG since 2007 has handed over a combined 1,800 scholarships to students in the southeast region and Hanoi worth up to VND4 billion. SCG, one of the multi-sector industrial groups in Southeast Asia, has over 200 companies with 35,000 staff members. (thesaigontimes.vn May 8)