Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) will work with three leading European partners in a programme on research and application of nutrition science to develop special nutritional products for Vietnamese children.

Under the programme, signed on March 1 between Vinamilk, DSM Group and Lonza Group of Switzerland and Denmark-based Chr. Hansen Group, stakeholders will enhance their co-operation in information exchange; clinical research and development of new products, clinical assessment of product effectiveness, human resource training and how to use trademarks and brand names.

Addressing the signing ceremony, Vinamilk’s Chief Marketing Officer Nguyen Huu Ngoc Tran said the company’s strategy emphasises the development of new products that can meet the special needs for nutrition of Vietnamese people, especially children.

In Vietnam, the company has comprehensively partnered with the National Institute for Nutrition to conduct research on the nutritional health of Vietnamese children at different ages, and based on that to increase international cooperation with leading partners on the application of the most advanced scientific achievements and nutrition measures for the country’s younger generation.

The new steps have not only confirmed Vinamilk’s position as the country’s leading dairy producer but also serve as a turning point for the domestic dairy industry in improving nutrition science, contributing to improving Vietnamese people’s physical stature.

Life sciences groups DSM, Lonza and Chr. Hansen are active in health and nutrition and have worked with Vinamilk for many years.

* KOTO - open house for street children

“Know One, Teach One” is the motto adopted by Jimmy Pham, who opened a humanitarian vocational training centre for homeless children in Hanoi in 1996.

The Aussie of Vietnamese origin travelled back and forth between the two countries during his career in the hospitality industry and had many chances to see with his own eyes the hard life suffered by Vietnamese street children. His difficult childhood has inspired the 39-year-old Pham to show empathy with these disadvantaged children.

“I would like to make something new, for the children to have a brighter future,” he told Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper.

Difficulties could not stop the Overseas Vietnamese from opening a humanitarian vocational training and culinary arts centre named KOTO - initials for “Know One, Teach One”.

KOTO provides street children with free 24-month training courses in cooking skills, service styles and communication English. In addition, they are equipped with knowledge and skills for community integration.

His Hanoi-based centre now houses some 50 street children aged between 16 and 22 years old, who will have the opportunity to practice what they are taught at two KOTO restaurants in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Pham said he had resorted to all means necessary to raise funds for the centre’s operations, which cost US$200 per young person each month. As many as 500 street children have benefited from training at KOTO, which was the first community interest company (CIC) in Vietnam, back in 1996.

He added that he was thinking of bringing the idea to other countries outside of Vietnam, such as Cambodia, Brazil and Kenya.