Foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and enterprises committed to providing assistance for Vietnamese communities hardest hit by drought and saline intrusion at a conference held by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) in Hanoi on April 4.

Accordingly, initial support totalling 1.1 million USD will focus on clean water, food and nutrition supply programmes.

As many as 22 foreign NGOs, through a framework agreement signed with the VUFO, pledged to implement 30 programmes and projects between 2016-2019 in 13 affected localities in the central, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta regions, with a total budget of 12.3 million USD.

At the conference, experts and representatives from foreign NGOs, international diplomatic and development cooperation agencies, and international organisations and enterprises discussed building a strategy to deal with the ongoing drought and saltwater encroachment in localities.

In an effort to respond to drought and saltwater, the VUFO’s People’s Aid Coordinating Committee (PACCOM) coordinated with the Disaster Management Working Group (DMWG) and international organisations to evaluate the support needed in six of the affected localities.

Participants reported on the results of their findings on damage and demand, and measures of local governments to cope with the situation. Then, they gave recommendations to call for assistances from international organisations for the localities. They also shared ways to effectively use aid.

Drought and saline intrusion in Vietnam are threatening the livelihoods, food security and water resources of nearly 1.8 million people, including 455,000 children. Thousands of hectares of cultivation land have been damaged, and many households are facing water shortages for daily use, along with other risks related to health, nutrition and hygiene conditions.

VNA