The meeting was jointly held by the VFF and the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, drawing the participation of religious dignitaries, representatives from UNICEF and a number of foreign embassies.

In his address, Nhân said this was the first time since the country was liberated that such a conference had taken place to recognise the contributions of religious organisations in these areas.

The conference further affirms the Party and State’s policy of calling on non-State establishments to join the work of social protection and vocational training to assist the disadvantaged and help workers learn new skills.

The VFF leader expected that religious organisations would continue to work with the Front and relevant agencies to increase the quality of social protection and vocational training.

He also asked local authorities to assist religious organisations in establishing social protection facilities and vocational training centres.

Vietnam currently has 113 social protection facilities run by religious organisations, while dozens more are filing for establishment.

Such centres are taking care of nearly 12,000 people, most of whom are orphans, abandoned children, children with disabilities, senior citizens and underprivileged people.

Religious organisations are also running twelve vocational centres, training thousands of workers each year.

At the conference, certificates of merit were awarded to 20 collectives and 27 individuals for their contributions to social protection work and vocational training.

Source: nhandan.com.vn