A 11.7-million-EUR project to develop human resources in Vietnam was launched on July 28.
To run until the end of 2010, the project will focus on strengthening local capacity in labour market planning, improving information sources, addressing localities’ demands and training lecturers.
Branching out into vocational training schools and employment centres in 15 provinces and cities, the project will approach local job hunters and seek recruitment information in order to profile the country’s labour supply and demand, and provide consultancy in vocational training.
With major funding coming from the European Union and the International Labour Organisation, the project will also conduct research on the labour demands of trades and economic sectors.
At the launch of the project, Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan praised the project for its focus on helping improve vocational training quality in Vietnam . She said the country’s human resources have been increasingly improving with 35 percent of the workforce having received training. However, she also acknowledged physical and intellectual limitations in the workforce. 
Director of the Vietnam ILO office, Rie Vejs-Kjeldgaard, said that just like other Asian economies, Vietnam has a major challenge in narrowing the gap between professional skills needed by enterprises and those provided by the educational system.
The first Secretary of the EU Delegation’s Section for Development Cooperation, Johann Farnhammer, said the project is aimed to build up a link with ongoing projects that are assisting employment centres to develop their teachers’ staff.
According to the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam now has more than 2,000 vocational training centres which have been actively reforming their curriculum and opening courses in new trades to meet business demands.
The 15 provinces and cities benefitting from the project are Hanoi, Hai Duong, Bac Ninh, Phu Tho and Ninh Binh provinces in the north, Ha Tinh, Lam Dong, Dak Lak, Quang Ngai and Da Nang province in the centre, and Ho Chi Minh City, Long An, Can Tho, Dong Nai and Ben Tre provinces in the south.