On 20 September 2012, the Danish Family Planning Association (DFPA) and Center for Gender, Family and Environment in Development (CGFED) held a conference in Hanoi highlighting the result of a 9-year project to ensure young people’s rights to sexual and reproductive health in rural areas of Vietnam. Steps to make sexuality education part of the school curriculum in Vietnam are now being taken.
DFPA and CGFED have been the forces behind the project and work to advocate for an institutionalization of sexuality education in Vietnam. The project has shown its strength through the outreach and mobilization of community and local government support for sexuality education in the areas Nam Dinh, Bac Giang, Phu Yen and Ho Chi Minh City.
Aiming at promoting sexuality education in Vietnam, the conference was attended by more than 90 people including the secretary general of DFPA, Bjarne B. Christensen, Executive Director of CGFED, Ms. Ngoc and representatives from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health.
Mr. Christensen explained that from Danish experience, good quality sexuality education is based on a legal framework, qualified human resources and good education materials.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen from Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences and the Ministry of Education and Training, it is the right time to have sexuality education in Vietnamese school curriculum.
