Standard Chartered Bank and VCF support to empower ethnic minority female students

Accordingly, funded by the Standard Chartered Vietnam and VCF, the two Brighter Path Girls’ Clubs (BPGC) shall be opened to provide education in financial literacy, sexual and reproductive health, legal rights, and leadership skills for rural ethnic minority female students in high schools across Vietnam.

The clubs will be implemented over one year from May 2022 to May 2023 to empower victims of social prejudices and gender inequality and transform them into agents of change in their rural communities.

In addition to the universal goal of encouraging female students to remain in school and postpone marriage, the Brighter Path Girls’ Clubs is designed to create a safe and comfortable environment, encouraging female students to share their difficulties and learn from the program and each other.

Besides providing financial aid, financial experts and volunteers from Standard Chartered Vietnam will participate in consulting and organizing activities for the clubs to improve knowledge and skills in personal financial management and mentorship for the ethnic minority girls.

According to the statistics of the General Statistic Office in 2019, one in four ethnic minority girls is a child bride – some as young as 14 – 15 years old. In several ethnic minority groups, child marriage rates reach 40% to 50% of all females.

In Quang Ngai, in the period of from 2016 to March 2020, there were 921 cases of early marriages. The highest number recorded in the districts of Ba To (483 couples), Son Ha (207) and Son Tay (165). The number of these cases has been gradually decreasing, from 348 cases in 2016 to 89 cases in 2019.

Early marriage and consanguineous marriage have left many bad consequences for many families and society, especially girl and women, and their next generation’s development, gender equality, seriously affecting the quality of human resources in ethnic minority areas in our country in general and Quang Ngai province in particular.

In the case of ethnic minority girls, early marriage means becoming pregnant and giving multiple births during the early teenage years. Compared to girls 20 years of age, the risk of maternal death doubles in adolescents aged 15 to 19 and is four times more likely among girls under the age of 15.

Child marriage is also one of the main causes of ethnic minority girls dropping out of school, depriving them of many opportunities and their own freedom.

Hoang Le