VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a project worth over VND1 trillion (US$47.6 million) to improve the living standards of four disadvantaged ethnic groups: the Mang, La Hu, Cong and Co Lao.

A member of the La Hu ethnic group in the northern province of Lai Chau moves to a new resettlement village in Thu Lum Commune, Muong Te District, with support from border guards and local organisations. La Hu is one of four disadvantaged ethnic groups benefiting from a Governmental plan to improve their standard of living. (Photo: VNS)

According to statistics from the Committee for Ethnic Minorities, the four groups have a combined population of about 17,800 comprising 3,500 households in the provinces of Lai Chau, Dien Bien and Ha Giang.

Most of them live along the border in remote mountainous areas; poor households account for over 60 per cent of the population, 50 per cent are illiterate in national language of Vietnamese, and the rate of child marriage stands at 80 per cent with an average age of 15-17.

The groups hardly have access to fresh water and electricity.

The newly-approved project aims to provide transport, electricity, water supply systems and schools to 70 per cent of the villages within the next five years. Half of the communes' healthcare centres would be staffed with more doctors and paediatricians.

Chairman of Ha Giang Province's Committee for Ethnic Minorities Long Huu Phuc said that over the last five years, the province had been supporting the local minority population under another project aimed at helping ethnic groups with a population of less than 1,000 each, including the Si La, Pu Peo, O Du, Brau and Ro Mam.

"The support helped raise ethnic people's awareness about education, healthcare, agriculture production and environmental protection," he said, adding that their methods could be replicated to great effect in the new project.

An official at Lai Chau Province's Committee for Ethnic People told Viet Nam News that the project would attempt to get ethnic minorities involved in major economic sectors.

However, limited funds pose a challenge to the success of the plan. For example, Phuc said, each pre-school ethnic child was given a monthly allowance of VND30,000 ($1.5) and each household received about VND7.4 million ($350), sums that were too small to create real change.

The province where this project was implemented is home to about 14,600 people from Cong, La Hu and Mang groups, who are concentrated in Muong Te and Sin Ho districts.

Some remote ethnic villages are as far as 200-300km away from the districts' centres, making transport and communication extremely difficult, especially during the rainy season

"Transport infrastructure is the key to improving living standards for ethnic groups—electricity, education, and economic progress will follow," she said.

Every year, each commune would select one student to continue on to high school and beyond, she said.

However, those chosen few have found it challenging to keep up with others in lowland areas, and have urged more investment in the early stages of education.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News