Reach from Hanoi to Thanh Hoa

From Hanoi to Thanh Hoa, In The Young Migrants' Footsteps Plan Vietnam

Migration & Development Development and migration are closely tied/linked.

Between 2000 and 2009, cities in Vietnam became home for 7.3 million new people. This represents 77% of the Vietnam’s population growth. Internal migration in Vietnam is the first contributor to population growth in urban areas. People either migrate to the main city of their province or migrate to the biggest cities in Vietnam and industrial zones.

Migrants to cities are young, 72% of migrants to Hanoi are aged from 15 to 39. Among those aged 15-19 and 20-24, women make up 53% and 59% of the totals. They go to cities hoping to find a job that will improve their lives, as well as the lives of their relatives, with the aim of sending money back home. Unfortunately, the reality of life in urban areas can result in some disillusion. Migrants face many challenges, such as household registration to access to Government services or protection in their employment and adequate workers’ housing.

Most of them face urban poverty.

In 2009, Hanoi welcomed over 155,000 new migrants. Most of them come from Thanh Hoa province, located 150km South of the capital.

Thanh Hoa province is the only province in Vietnam where people migrate both from the countryside and the city. In 2009, almost 200,000 people left the province.

This is to support safe migration that REACH has recently extended its work to Thanh Hoa. REACH is a Vietnamese NGO that has successfully run the Livelihood Advanced Business Skills (LABS) project since 2008.

This project, initiated in 2004 by Plan Vietnam, has provided skills and jobs for over 4,000 young people through 3 months free tuition fee programs and work placements in Hanoi, then in Danang, Hue and Hoi An. Today, Plan still plays as the key donor to REACH. From Hanoi to Thanh Hoa, young people told us their stories, shared their hopes and fears as well as their difficulties and success.

Source: Internal Migration and Socio-economic Development in Viet Nam: A Call to Action

Infrastructures are still being developped across Thanh Hoa province.

“What is friendship for you?”

During the English lesson of the IT class, at the REACH centre in Hanoi, this the topic four boys were discussing in English in front of their classmates. They were shy but the foreign volunteer teacher encouraged them, helped by his Vietnamese colleague.

At REACH, students learn much more than just a job. As poor and disadvantaged young people, students often don’t value themselves and have a low self-esteem when they start the program. For three months, students not only acquire technical competences but they also learn English, improve their presentation, communication and life skills. Building confidence is as essential as learning a job for them to get a new start in life.

Students at REACH can select to specialise in Food & Beverage, Customer Relationship, Sales & Marketing, Housekeeping or Nail Care.

Thanks to REACH’s extended network with local businesses, over 80% of students get long-term work placements at the end of their training, starting as interns before becoming employees.

“Life in Hanoi is hard. It was especially difficult to find an accommodation at the beginning”.

“I have more sad moments in Hanoi than happy ones. I still prefer my hometown compared to Hanoi”.

Lam, 21 From Thanh Hoa

Thanh Hoa, new partnership model This is for young people like Lam that REACH decided to extend its work in Thanh Hoa. Ms Dung, Training Manager at REACH, explains that the REACH centre in Thanh Hoa is the result of a new partnership model. REACH makes sure students are from the right target group, supports their studies, and ensures the acquisition of soft and life skills. As for the vocational school, it provides the infrastructure and the teachers. With the support and guidance from REACH, the school has started to run the REACH project this year, adapting teaching methods and curricula to students’ needs.

“I wish to have a good job and earn enough money to support my family.”

Phuong, 18 Thanh Hoa

Among the 123 students who are part of the first batch, we meet Phuong.

One of the REACH students in Thanh Hoa

Local partners are essential to implement the project. In Thanh Hoa, Mr Lu Minh Thu, Director of the vocational school, has been instrumental in the implementation of the project. “The vocational training school of Commercial and Tourism of Thanh Hoa has trained young people to jobs in hospitality for several decades already. By teaming up with REACH, I’m proud we can now also welcome poor and disadvantaged students.”

Phuong is 18 and lives with her brother, her mother and her grandmother. Her father divorced when she was 4, letting her and her family in poverty, without any resource. Since Phuong failed the entrance exam to university, she worked in a food store. This job was insecure and as soon as she heard about the free program from REACH, she applied.

Phuong would have never had the opportunity to migrate to Hanoi. In addition to safe migration, offering young people the chance to get skills in their province can enable them to find a job locally, and take part in their province’s development.

They experienced migration

Vi and Cuong, sharing their experience of migrating to Ho Chi Minh City

Contributing to family’s income is very common in Vietnam. Once children have grown up, they send money back home to support their parents and grandparents. This is what Vi, another student, explained us when she shared her migration’s experience in Ho Chi Minh City. She worked for a textile company there and earned 3 million vnd ($150) per month. While it was enough to cover her costs, she could only send 1 million vnd ($50) home every 5 months. Cuong, who also migrated to Ho Chi Minh City, remembered he used to eat instant noodles only to save as much money as he could. He only wished he could work extra shifts.

Vi came back to Thanh Hoa in December 2011. Even though Thanh Hoa is much poorer than HCMC, she decided to return to stay closer to her family. She now wants to find a job locally to help her province develop. With REACH program in Thanh Hoa, we hope Vi will follow the same path as Huy’s, a REACH alumni.

Huy (29 aged), also comes from Thanh Hoa. Like Vi, he tried his luck in Ho Chi Minh City. He was 22 at that time and came back a few months after as life was much harder than he thought. This is when he came to Hanoi that he heard about Plan and applied to the LABS. Specialised in sales, he had an internship at Big C supermarket. Six years after, he stills works at the same place, was promoted as a Delivery Manager, lives independently and can support his parents in Thanh Hoa.

Huy, six years after When we arrive at “Big C The Garden”, a supermarket within a big mall in West Hanoi, where the city expands, Huy welcomes us in his red shirt with his badge around the neck. On his badge, his position is displayed both in Vietnamese and French since the supermarket belongs to a French group. Six years after his graduation from REACH Hanoi, Huy can be proud of his path. He still works where he had his internship and has even been promoted as a Delivery Manager.

Originally from Nga Son district in Thanh Hoa province, Huy finished high school when he was 21 without any qualification.

Hoping big cities would offer the opportunities he was looking for, he migrated to Ho Chi Minh City and lived at his uncle’s place. But without any skills, he could only sell labor where working conditions were extremely difficult. “I think my future was not that bright there, that’s why I came back to Thanh Hoa”. A few months after, he moved to his aunt’s, in Hanoi, to help her at the market. Huy was supposed to stay temporarily in Hanoi but then he heard about Plan and the LABS project. After struggling in Thanh Hoa and Ho Chi Minh City, he knew that it was an opportunity to take a new start.

“Before coming to Hanoi, my only wish was to have a good job to live independently.”

A 3 month free vocational training was exactly what Huy needed to touch his dream. Like all the students at REACH, Huy was really motivated and dedicated to his training and studies. Working hard paid off as he received recognition through his promotion. Huy has now a good life and can support his parents in Thanh Hoa. “My life is even better than all I could have dreamed of” he says.

Alumni are valued at REACH and Ms Pham Thi Thanh Tam, director of REACH, as well as teachers and trainers stay in touch with many of them. Tam, originally from Thanh Hoa herself, is passionate and dedicated to her role. She has developed a strong network of partners to offer job opportunities to her students.

The quality of trainings provides students with good skills and the right attitude too.

Locally, companies know how reliable employees students from REACH can be.

With over 80% of students having a stable job after graduation, REACH has proven itself and can only offer a bright future to more students in Vietnam. “I hope the program will expand to every city in Vietnam to help the disadvantaged young people like me 6 years ago” says Huy.

“My life is even better than all I could have dreamed of. I hope youth from Thanh Hoa will have the same chance I had 6 years ago.”