The Project Advancing Women's Economic Empowerment in Vietnam (AWEEV) is a gender-responsive and integrated project designed to improve the economic well-being of poor rural women, particularly ethnic minority (EM) women in Vietnam. It is assumed that increased economic well-being and quality of life will reduce poverty among EM women and their households. This will be achieved through the enhanced promotion of economic rights for poor rural and ethnic minority women in Vietnam and the increased participation by poor rural and ethnic minority women in paid economic activities. Notably, AWEEV has a strong focus on addressing the issue of women’s unequal caregiving burden.

AWEEV adopts a partnership modality among CARE, as the lead partner, and four local civil society organization partners, including the Centre for Organic Development and Support (CODAS), VietED Center, the Institute for Research on Development Communication (RED) and the Women’s Union (WU). The Project will also develop a partnership with the private sector, specifically the Quang Binh tea factory in Ha Giang province and Tam Duong tea factory in Lai Chau province. Furthermore, the Departments of Agriculture and Rural Department (DARD) in both provinces are considered critical partners in AWEEV to promote EM women's economic rights.

The Project will be implemented over four years, from March 2021 until April 2025 in nine communes, including six communes of Quang Binh district in Ha Giang province and three communes of Tam Duong district in Lai Chau province. 1,550 EM women will be supported with capacity building and provided with opportunities to equitably participate in paid economic activities and exercise their economic rights. Among them, approximately 1,400 are tea and ginger farmers. The other 150 women will be reached through identification of women-led grassroots social enterprises (GSEs). These include both on-farm and off-farm businesses in the target locations. Together with women, 1,085 EM men (husbands and partners) would also participate in activities including, but not limited to, selected agricultural production training, gender-responsive dialogues, and dialogues with local authorities and community events.

The baseline study was conducted by TDI Consulting from October- November 2021, with the intention to benchmark the initial status of the project outcomes in selected sites covered by the project and to provide additional findings on the barriers and opportunities that EM men and women face to exercise their economic rights. Lastly, the baseline study was intended to make recommendations on any adjustments needed on the Logic Model and the Performance Measurement Framework.

Reference link: https://ngocentre.org.vn/files/20210818-tor-aweev-baselinestudy.pdf