* 37 new houses build for poor women, more than VND 1.5 million donations collected
Despite of the difficulty that nearly 30% of the local women are in ethnic minorities, the Provincial Women's Union of Gia Lai has actively supported and promoted the national tradition of mutual affection. Through campaigns, the Union has collected VND 1.5 billion, 500 suits and thousands of working days. Moreover, the Union has mobilized the labor and funding to build 2 houses for the poor women in Lai Chau province and 37 houses for the local union's members and poor women, 18 of whom are in ethnic minorities, and launched a program that collected 40,000 signatures and VND 50 million for the victims of Agent Orange.
* Loans to Women’s Union's members increased 5.5 over the previous term. Poverty rate drops to 10% from 22.4%
By the end of the 2001-2006 term, the capital the Union has mobilized through the joint program with the Agricultural and Rural Development Bank and the Social Policy Bank has reached VND 160 billion, 5.5 times over the previous term. In particular, 25,000 of the Women’s Union's Kinh members gave no interest loans to 18,000 poor women in ethnic minorities for a total amount of over VND 7 billion.
The program on hunger eradication and poverty alleviation for the Union's members has decreased the province's hunger and poverty rate from 22.4% in 2001 to fewer than 10% (based on the old criterion).
* Improvements in personal and professional development for women
In the last 5 years, the Union has closely cooperated with specialized units to provide significant improvements for women, including:literacy training for 1,500 women, vocational training for 1,750 women; 307 training classes on cattle and crop farming, traditional handicraft, and small enterprise management.82 specialized classes on general health, reproductive care, prevention of drug addiction, HIV/AIDS prevention and disease management. In addition to the training efforts, the Union also established savings credit groups for more than 7,500 members.
With personal and professional development training, Gia Lai's women have also actively participated in socio-cultural activities, contributing to the resulting local economic growth of 11.5% per year.
