Vietnam is seeking to strengthen data systems and policy coordination as it reviews two years of efforts to implement the UN convention against racial discrimination and improve protections for ethnic minorities.

Vietnam aims to have all teachers of ethnic minority languages meet national training standards by 2030, as the country works to address shortages of teachers, textbooks and learning materials. 

Ho Chi Minh City is using data, digital skills and new “digital destinations” to modernize governance while preserving the cultural heritage of its diverse ethnic and religious communities.

For ethnic minority communities, digital transformation offers an opportunity to bring cultural values from villages and communities to wider society.

At 84, Hoih Plat still spends months weaving a single rattan tray in Vietnam’s Da Nang. Orders keep coming, but his greatest concern is finding someone to carry on the Co Tu craft.

Vietnamese priests and religious in the Vatican and Italy can serve as cultural and peace ambassadors, helping international communities better understand Vietnam, a government minister said during a visit to Rome.

1. For Thang Ga Lo and Vang Thi Mai, university meant leaving a remote La Hu community for Hanoi and navigating challenges they had never faced before. They finished four years later as joint top graduates.

High in the mountains of northern Vietnam, a remote Hmong village is gaining new roads and livelihoods, with 30-year-old community leader Giang A Thu helping drive a transformation from within.

Vietnam has set a Sept. 20 deadline to connect two priority ethnic minority datasets to the National Data Center, as authorities seek to ensure the information is verified, legally valid and ready for official use.

In recent years, the Party and State have placed particular emphasis on digital transformation among ethnic minority communities.

Due to traditional free-range farming practices, interbreeding severely diluted the purebred Van Pa pig population.

Rooted in rice fields and the rhythms of nature, Xo Nam Pha - a traditional ritual to “ask the sky for water” - is being revived by the Thai ethnic community in western Vietnam, bringing a fading part of village culture back to life.

Once enticed and seduced by bad elements to participate in activities disguised as religion, many ethnic minority individuals in Phu Thien commune, Gia Lai province, went astray.

After dark on a remote mountain in northern Vietnam, adults carrying babies on their backs walk kilometers through the forest to learn to read and write. In one classroom, students from 12 to 60 are starting with first-grade lessons.

Perched high amid the clouds and mountain winds of Son Luong commune in Lao Cai province, Giang Pang village was once defined by hardship and deprivation. Today, this Hmong community is taking on a new vitality.

Vietnam is expanding vocational training for ethnic minority communities. Now policymakers face a harder challenge: tracking whether those skills actually lead to lasting jobs and better incomes.

Employment is widespread among Vietnam’s ethnic minorities, but stable livelihoods remain elusive as workers contend with seasonal jobs, low skills and unpredictable incomes.

Trumpets lead the wedding procession as a Red Dao bride, her face hidden beneath a red veil, crosses a basin after a ritual to ward off evil before joining her groom in 12 bows to their ancestors.

Amid the fields, a small stilt house and bamboo granary rise beneath hanging wind chimes, creating the sacred setting for the Ede people’s prosperity ritual in Dak Lak.