Ho Chi Minh City has about 1.5 million children, of which more than 75,000 children are in difficult circumstances, 350,000 children live in immigrant, mobile, poor households (2017)[1], and thousands of them have no identification papers. This problem, particularly the lack of birth certificates, prevents children from accessing basic rights to health, education, and equal development opportunities. Issuing birth certificates for this group of children is a big challenge due to the lack of original documents, evidence on the identity of the children and their parents, legal knowledge and the attention of the family and society, while the relevant legal documents and legal support channels are still inadequate.
Project “A new life page" – Project to promote the right to have birth certificates for children with special circumstances in Ho Chi Minh City, thereby, has been carried out by the Management and Sustainable Development Institute (MSD) since 2014 to support these vulnerable groups of children with difficult circumstances to obtain birth certificates. This project aims to open a “new life page" of a citizen with full related rights and obligations.
– Time: From 2014 to present
– Partners have been and are cooperating: EU JULE, MoMo E-wallet, GENTIS Company, …
– Project objectives:
▪︎ Promote the implementation of birth registration rights for disadvantaged children in Ho Chi Minh City.
▪︎ Raise awareness and capacity of CSOs and communities on the right to have a birth certificate and how to exercise the right in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law; propose amendments to make judicial policies and procedures more friendly that support the realization of the right to birth for all children.
▪︎ Increase access to legal counseling and support services for disadvantaged children to access and be supported with direct birth certificates.
– Outstanding activities of the project:
▪︎ Support in making birth certificates for children with difficult circumstances in Ho Chi Minh City.
▪︎ Build a network of CSOs, community-based organizations and shelters to assist children and families in obtaining birth certificates
▪︎ Communicate to raise public awareness of the importance of birth certificates
▪︎ Advocacy Training on Friendly Judicial Process
▪︎ Organize communication sessions and mobile legal advice
▪︎ Organize an exchange session “Give a new life page" with rapper Wowy
▪︎ Implement fundraising campaigns on online platforms such as MoMo, Global Giving, Kindmate, GiveAsia
▪︎ Organize children’s festivals such as Mid-Autumn Festival, Children’s toy giving ceremony, …
– Project results: So far, the project has successfully supported more than 200 birth certificates for children with special circumstances in Ho Chi Minh City. In addition to the support of partners, MSD Institute and CSOs, community-based organizations and shelters have established the group “A New life page " – a support network to make birth certificates for children. At the same time, the project has successfully organized media festivals, legal advice for children and families, gift giving sessions for children, etc. In 2020, the project has successfully raised funds on the MoMo e-Wallet platform for many cases.
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Families with difficult circumstances who need a birth certificate in Ho Chi Minh City can contact the core members of the A New Life Page group at the following address:
Management and Sustainable Development Institute (MSD)
Ms. Tran Van Anh – Program Director
Email: pro.director@msdvietnam.org – Phone: 024 62769056
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About the Institute of Management for Sustainable Development (MSD)
As a Vietnamese NGO, MSD is taking efforts to enable environment for the development of civil society sector and to promote the rights of marginalized groups, especially children, youth, women and people with disabilities
MSD’s Vietnamese Family Program focuses on efforts to support children’s and families’ rights on Children’s rights education, Children’s rights governance, Global citizenship education, Digital citizenship, Environment protection ambassador, Protection of children from violence, abuse, Promote the right to participation of children and young people, etc.
Email: event.manager@msdvietnam.org
Phone: 024 62769056 – 0852577220
Address: 6th floor, No 15 Yen Lang street, Trung Liet ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi
Website: www.msdvietnam.org
Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/www.msdvietnam.org