Estate planning in life insurance

Established in 1831, Generali is present in 50 countries around the world with total premium income of more than €69.7 billion ($85.2 billion) in 2019

To mark this occasion and leave a tangible and lasting recognition of the bond between the company and the regions where it was born and has prospered, Generali announces Fenice 190, a €3.5 billion ($4.2 billion) investment plan to support the recovery of the European economies impacted by COVID-19, starting in Italy, France, and Germany and to then targeting all European countries in which Generali operates throughout the five years of the plan.

Fenice 190 will make the extraordinary initiatives launched in 2020 to tackle the effects of the pandemic permanent, which included investments in support of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the real economy already surpassing the established objective of €1 billion ($1.2 billion).

The more than 70,000 employees of Generali will play a leading role in celebrating the milestone of 190 years of the group’s history.

To add to this initial amount, Generali is pledging an annual commitment of €500 million ($611 million) per year, over the next five years, for sustainable growth through international investment funds focusing on infrastructure, innovation, and digitalisation, SMEs, green housing, healthcare facilities, and education.

“Generali is one of the few companies in the world that can boast such a long history. It possesses an extraordinary wealth of knowledge and experience, thanks to which the group is able to face the challenges of today while contributing to a better future for the communities in which it operates, both as an insurer and a social innovator,” said Philippe Donnet, CEO of Generali Group.

“The 190 ^th anniversary falls in a decisive year in which we must overcome the most serious global crisis of the post-war era and lay down the foundations for a wide-scale global recovery. With Fenice 190, we want to be a leader in this journey, leaving a concrete legacy for the future, with significant support for the most innovative, sustainable, and strategic sectors for the restart of the European economy, while at the same time encouraging the inclusion of those most heavily impacted by the crisis.”

The Fenice 190 plan is implemented through the Generali Investments multi-boutique platform and is open to third-party funds and institutional investors as well as all companies of the group, that can participate in investment allocation based on their own objectives.

The selection of initiatives is guided by an investment committee of the Asset & Wealth Management Business Unit, led by CEO Carlo Trabattoni, with experts in real assets, sustainability, private markets, credit, and equity. The CEO of Generali Real Estate, Aldo Mazzocco, is in charge of the committee which uses an approach based on compliance with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the specific objective to generate a positive impact on the economic recovery and the real economy in Europe.

To date, 10 investment opportunities have already been identified for a multifaceted commitment of €1.05 billion ($1.28 billion), ranging from support to European SMEs, green housing, and infrastructure with a particular focus on digital, health, and energy transition that share a strong focus on environmental and social sustainability.

Continuing with the tradition of exploring contemporary issues through the language of advertising posters, Generali will give five young Italian and international artists the task of interpreting five key areas for the group with the “This is Tomorrow” project, creating posters capable of representing reality in a new way.

The more than 70,000 employees of the group will also play a leading role in celebrating the milestone of 190 years of history. Through a global initiative they will be asked to tell their personal “story” of Generali on a dedicated platform, combining personal experience with the company’s rich heritage.

The contest will select the best stories, identifying 190 Lions who will be able to actively participate in Generali’s 190 ^th anniversary initiatives.

On the group’s institutional website, generali.com , a new section dedicated to the anniversary will display the main initiatives as well as a series of editorial content related to the history of Generali.

By Generali Vietnam

French coach Guillaume Graechen has had a strong attachment to Vietnamese youth football since 2007, when he started out with the Hoàng Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) Arsenal JMG Academy. He has experienced all of the ups and downs that come with a training career, but is considered a symbol of HAGL youth football.

Graechen,43, coached the national U19 team in 2014, finishing second in the AFF U19 Youth Championship, which had a strong effect on Vietnamese football.

In 2019 he led the U19 national team to victory in the International U19 Football Tournament, and recently helped the U17 Nutifood HAGL team finish second in the National U17 Championship.

He is expected to continue to unearth and train more talented young players for Vietnamese football in the future. Thanh Nga spoke with him.

NOW & FOREVER: Graechen plans to live in Việt Nam after he retires.

Inner Sanctum : Could you introduce yourself and tell us why you decided to work in Việt Nam?

Before managing I played for Dijon, Angers, Sedan, and Romorantin. At the age of 29, Guillou Jean Marc contacted me through Dufour Vincent, who was my coach and is currently general manager of JMG Football. I accepted the proposal to become project manager in Việt Nam with HAGL.

Inner Sanctum : You train young footballers at HAGL, you led HAGL in V.League 1, and you also coached national junior teams. Could you tell us about these jobs and the pressure that comes with them?

It was an enriching experience professionally and culturally. Trainer and coach are two completely different jobs. Trainers have time to work with players without feeling pressure from results. It’s all about the pleasure of the game. As a U19 national team or V. League 1 coach, the question of time and results leads to more psychological work regarding the players, but the pleasure and the game must remain the same, though this is not always obvious.

EYE TO THE FUTURE: Young players in the first course of the HAGL Arsenal JMG Academy, including Nguyễn Công Phượng and Lương Xuân Trường.

Inner Sanctum : You trained talented young Vietnamese footballers such as Công Phượng, Xuân Trường and Văn Toàn, who are now key players in the national team with success in regional and continental tournaments. How does that make you feel?

I am proud of all of them and wish them all the best in the future. I also don’t forget all the other players I’ve been involved with, because they have all become good people, and this is the most important thing for me. I also had a very good team of staff, with Nguyễn Đức Bảo as translator, teacher, and supervisor, and Dương Minh Ninh and Nguyễn Văn Đàn as assistants. I thank them for their dedication to the HAGL-JMG project.

TEAM TALK: Guillaume Graechen training with the HAGL team. Photos courtesy of Guillaume Graechen

Inner Sanctum : I know you are a very special coach at HAGL, not only training players but also taking care of them like a father. What makes you do that?

First of all, I have a passion for football and I pass that on to the players. When you work with your heart, with humility and with honesty, the players will invest themselves in the process.

Secondly, the job of manager of a JMG academy requires that you organise all the sporting, financial, educational, and medical aspects, so you have to be in contact with players at all times. I always take on the role of “second father” in order to educate the 10 or 12-year-olds who join the academy.

Inner Sanctum : What do you think about HAGL football in particular and Vietnamese football in general?

HAGL has everything needed to succeed, with magnificent infrastructure in an exceptional setting, good players trained at HAGL-JMG and by the club, a real football stadium with no athletics track around it, and a climate in Pleiku that is perfect for playing football.

Vietnamese football is developing, efforts are being made in infrastructure, stadiums are being renovated, and pitches are getting better, though there is still progress to be made. Ground play can’t be developed on poor-quality pitches, and Vietnamese players have the physical characteristics to play short and on the ground with speed.

FAMILY AFFAIR: Graechen and his happy family.

Inner Sanctum : Can you tell us a little bit about your family in Việt Nam? I know your wife is Vietnamese, so do you feel cultural differences in your family?

I have two boys and a girl. Of course, Asian culture is different from European culture, but love is universal.

Inner Sanctum : You have now been in Việt Nam for many years. What are the advantages and disadvantages of working and living here?

In my line of work, only the place where I live changes. The work remains the same.

For family life, there are only advantages. My family travels between France and Việt Nam, and my children have dual nationality and speak both languages. This opens their minds to travel. Việt Nam is my adopted country, and I will retire here, not in France. The only disadvantage is that my parents and sisters are far away. Video calls just can’t replace human contact.

Inner Sanctum : What impresses you most about living in Việt Nam?

The sweetness of life and people sharing and helping each other, which are becoming increasingly rare in France.

Inner Sanctum : What do you often do in your free time?

I spend time with my family, watch a lot of football matches, and enjoy good Vietnamese food. VNS

ON THE WAY UP: The HAGL team featured many players who are now stars of the national team, such as Lương Xuân Trường, Nguyễn Công Phượng, Vũ Văn Thanh, and Nguyễn Văn Toàn.

AS REQUIRED: Nguyễn Anh Sáu and his family often make products under order from fishing families and tourists. – Photo quangninh.gov.vn

By Thanh Giang

The Hưng Học traditional craft village in Nam Hòa Ward in Quảng Yên Town, Quảng Ninh Province, secured a name for itself over the course of a hundred years and more for making durable and attractive fishing gear from bamboo and wood.

Items such as bamboo boats, fishing baskets, fish cages, and other fishing gear are still bought by fishermen near and far but the craft village is in danger of falling into oblivion despite its preservation efforts.

On a visit to the village, we saw some beautifully decorated houses making sophisticated fishing gear as well as industrial workshops adjacent to rivers and canals making bamboo boats.

According to Nguyễn Anh Sáu, who has 40 years of experience in the traditional craft, the reason the village’s fishing gear is famous is because of the sophistication that comes from selecting the best raw materials. Along with quality workmanship and attention to detail, the strips of bamboo or wood used to make the fishing gear are carefully hand-cut. Products from Nam Hòa are therefore not only durable but also beautiful.

Sáu is considered a skilled craftsman in the village, with unique creativity. In addition to fishing gear, he also makes beautiful miniature bamboo boats for sale to tourists. His house is also the most appealing destination in the village.

“Making a fishing boat involves many steps — selecting the bamboo, whittling strips of bamboo or wood and weaving them into frames, coating the bamboo with tar, and drying everything,” she said.

Vũ Văn Hùng has been in the profession for nearly 30 years. While it takes a long time to make something like a fishing basket, the selling price is low and the profit margin slim.

But he is nonetheless determined to continue the craft. His family spends a lot of their time making bamboo boats and have been applying scientific advances to increase durability.

“There was a time when a lot of people were involved in the occupation, but not now,” he said. “The village’s young prefer other jobs, so it’s mostly only older people still working in the craft. My family still does it, as it is our profession. While I make bamboo boats and fishing gear, though, my wife works in another industry altogether.”

UNDER PRODUCTION: Bamboo boats being made at the Hưng Học traditional craft village. – Photo quangninhtv.vn

Next generation

According to Đàm Chí Thiết, deputy head of the Economic Department in Quảng Yên Town, Hưng Học has more than 500 households but only 60, with about 300 people, make fishing gear, earning about VNĐ5 million (US$215) per person each month.

“Because the majority of young people prefer other jobs, it’s become quite difficult to employ workers,” Thiết said. “Quảng Yên plans to adopt many measures to preserve and develop traditional crafts from 2021 to 2025, including Hưng Học’s fishing gear.”

The town is re-planning production issues, with display shops advertising local products and promoting sales. It will combine the preservation and development of its craft villages with eco-tourism and spiritual tourism, to attract more visitors. Other types of services can then be developed as well.

Training courses will be held to improve traditional occupations, with products made for fishing, transport, and tourism.

Craftsman Sáu was very happy to learn that the town had started a project to preserve and develop its traditional craft villages.

“We remain enthusiastic and confident about our craft,” he said. “But it is difficult to make ends meet. We want to keep our jobs, so we hope that local leaders will give us the support we need to modernise our production methods. As well as making bamboo boats, fishing gear, and other agricultural tools, we also make souvenir items.”

But Sáu is concerned by the reality that young local people just don’t want to follow in his footsteps.

“Nam Hòa’s fishing gear, especially our bamboo boats, have long been trusted by customers everywhere,” he said. “I can still earn a good living. A small bamboo boat can sell between VNĐ300,000 and 1 million. My house often has local and foreign tourists visiting. But my children just aren’t interested in learning the craft.”

Similar to Sáu, three generations of Nguyễn Văn Thinh’s family have been involved in the craft.

“People in my generation could try their hand at other jobs, but love their traditional craft and are trying to keep it going. Economic interest is only part of it — if we didn’t love the job we wouldn’t be pursuing it and trying to improve it,” Thinh said.

“It’s actually quite a hard work, and I’m not sure either of my two children wants to be among the next generation of craftsmen. To do this job you must be passionate, and that can’t be forced on anyone.”

With plans in place to make the Hưng Học fishing gear village and others like it attractive tourist destinations and with the gradual implementation of a project to preserve and develop traditional craft villages in Quảng Yên Town, hopefully more and more people will return or stay so that these centuries-old occupations continue well into the future. – VNS

NEXT IN LINE: Đặng Văn Nống’s family has been making fishing gear for many generations. – Photo dantri.com.vn

The U.S. government on Saturday authorized Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, enabling millions more Americans to be vaccinated in the coming weeks and setting the vaccine up for additional approvals around the world.

The J&J vaccine is the third authorized in the United States, following ones from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, both of which require two doses.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the emergency use authorization of the J&J vaccine for adults aged 18 and older following Friday’s unanimous endorsement by the agency’s panel of outside experts. Shipments to vaccination sites are expected to begin Sunday or Monday.

President Joe Biden hailed the move but cautioned Americans against celebrating too soon. “Things are still likely to get worse again as new variants spread,” he said in a statement, urging people to continue washing their hands, wearing masks, and maintaining social distancing.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we cannot let our guard down now or assume that victory is inevitable,” he said.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are based on new messenger RNA technology, showed higher efficacy rates in pivotal trials that used two doses versus J&J’s single-shot vaccine. Direct comparison, however, is difficult because the trials had different goals and J&J’s was conducted while more contagious new variants of the virus were circulating.

“We believe that people should take the vaccine they are able to access,” the FDA’s acting commissioner, Dr. Janet Woodcock, said in a call after the authorization, noting the three vaccines had not been studied head-to-head.

“We feel that each of these vaccines will be effective, will prevent hospitalization, deaths and should be used,” she said.

In J&J’s 44,000-person global trial, the vaccine was found to be 66% effective at preventing moderate-to-severe COVID-19 four weeks after inoculation. It was 100% effective in preventing hospitalization and death due to the virus.

There were very few serious side effects reported in the trial, which also offered preliminary evidence that the vaccine reduced asymptomatic infections.

More study is expected. The FDA on Saturday dismissed the idea that evidence proved the vaccine prevented transmission between people and added there was no data to determine how long the vaccine’s protection lasted.

J&J’s vaccine is expected to be used widely around the globe because it can be shipped and stored at normal refrigerator temperatures, making distribution easier than for the Pfizer/BioNTech SE and Moderna vaccines, which must be shipped frozen.

“It potentially could play a very substantial role if we have enough doses because it’s only a single-dose vaccine and that will make it attractive to people who are difficult to reach,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. “It’s one and done.”

The U.S. government, which has purchased 100 million doses of the J&J vaccine, plans to distribute about 3 million to 4 million next week. That would be on top of the around 16 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines the government already planned to ship across the country.

“We are ready to roll it out,” White House senior adviser Andy Slavitt wrote on Twitter after the authorization. Johnson & Johnson said it had begun shipping vaccines to the government.

J&J plans to provide a total of 20 million doses by the end of March, which along with the more than 220 million total doses expected from Pfizer and Moderna would be enough to fully vaccinate 130 million Americans.

So far, the United States has distributed more than 90 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, some of which have been used for second shots. About 14% of Americans have received at least one dose, according to U.S. government data.

COVID-19 has claimed more than half a million lives in the United States, and states are clamoring for more doses to stem cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.

Public health officials have warned about a rise in the prevalence of more contagious variants of the virus, adding to the urgency to get millions more people vaccinated as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, they said, mask wearing and other measures to curb the virus spread should remain in place as recent declines in COVID-19 cases appear to be leveling off.

The J&J vaccine is also under review by the European Union, where deliveries are expected starting in April and would build on the region’s thin supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca Plc shots.

In South Africa, regulators were awaiting the FDA decision as their government looks to deploy more J&J vaccine against a variant of the virus called B.1.351 that is able to evade some vaccine protection.

J&J’s vaccine is being rolled out there prior to official authorization for about 500,000 healthcare workers in a bid to stem infections from the variant, which has swept across the country and spread globally, including to the United States.

The vaccine is one of the few that has been tested in clinical trials against the variant and had a 64% efficacy rate at preventing moderate-to-severe disease in South Africa.

J&J said on Friday that the company was developing a second-generation vaccine that would target the concerning South African variant, and it will be ready to start Phase I trials by this summer.

J&J’s vaccine uses a common cold virus known as adenovirus type 26 to introduce coronavirus proteins into cells in the body and trigger an immune response. J&J is testing a two-dose version of its vaccine, with results expected this summer.

by Hoàng Vân Anh

Hà My Yoga was founded by yoga teacher Lê Hà My and specialises in teaching beginners the basics of the spiritual discipline and how to avoid injuries in those less-than-limber early days.

Despite now being based in Sweden, she continues to teach Vietnamese students via her archive of online videos and also writes about how to use props to make it easier to practise. A book is also in the pipeline.

She first practised yoga seriously in 2016. As someone who enjoys sport and movement and had tried many different things, she found savasana — the five minutes of rest at the end of every yoga class — to be unique compared to other practices.

Later on, she aspired to teach to the standard of Indian teachers and fortunately won a scholarship for a training course at the Om Factory HANOI – School of Yoga. And that was when she underwent a change in career.

HELP FOR BEGINNERS: Hà My and one of her many props. Photo Hà My Yoga

Her previous job in HCM City didn’t have a fixed schedule and was quite stressful. She quit that job to fully focus on the 200 hours of teacher training, and when a later opportunity fell through she decided to stay in Sweden and start teaching yoga.

Within a few months, she was at it full-time, with up to 20 hours of classes a week. She practised providing instructions in both Vietnamese and Swedish simultaneously, and was also able to plan classes under any topic the studio asked of her.

“The best part about teaching at Om Factory, which is a big studio, is how I receive constant feedback from the sales team, which originates from customers,” Hà My said.

“After a year of working there, I gained so much experience that I now teach better classes and deliver better value for money to students.

“My favourite thing about practising yoga is how much calmer I have become. As a career, I’m very serious about it, to the point that I want to pass down the craft and the business to my future children and grandchildren. I used to always show up late at my old job, but that has never happened since I started teaching yoga and engaged in constant self-reflection.”

When asked why she focuses on props and beginners, Hà My said that both are interrelated. Since moving to Sweden, she must be her own boss and find her own students, so she narrowed it down to beginners.

“I learned a tip from marketing classes: non-users always outnumber users, so I wanted to target those who were entirely new to yoga,” she said.

She has come to better understand the perspective of beginners and their concern about injuries. The focus on props allows beginners to gain similar benefits from the different poses, with the goal being to later discard the props.

EASY AS 1, 2, 3: Three different stages are presented via simple illustrations for students to get into the Warrior 3 pose. Photo Hà My Yoga

The yoga market in developed countries like Sweden has now become saturated, and it’s hard to stand out. In Việt Nam, which is still a relatively new market, she feels more helpful and appreciated.

“I enjoy teaching in Vietnamese as I understand the nuances and the mindsets of Vietnamese people,” she said. “It makes giving instructions and explanations a lot simpler. And since I understand Vietnamese body structures so well, I think I want to teach Vietnamese people more.”

Hà My actually had the idea for an online video archive before COVID-19 pandemic struck.

“Online classes allow me to retain and share the same information, and so many more people can access it compared to the naturally limited number of students in a studio,” she explained. “So I systemised my knowledge into a comprehensive online class.”

Her online classess were originally targeted towards customers in Sweden. Vietnamese people also expressed interest so she made a version in Vietnamese.

PERSONAL TOUCH: Hà My also teaches yoga to the Vietnamese community in Sweden. Photo Hà My Yoga

Filming and completing full classes online wasn’t so easy for a one-person business.

“There are so many mishaps with cameras and mics,” she said. “Each class is an hour long, so if something goes wrong I have to re-record the entire class. It’s a lot harder than it seems, with filming and editing.”

While some people believe beginners should start practising in a studio, Hà My believes she can instruct them much better via her videos. Her instructions clearly explain what people often do wrong, so students can easily get into the right pose. The only difficulty is for students to practise in their own time, as it’s easy to slacken off without an official schedule.

Learning how to run her business on multiple platforms has meant acquiring a lot of new knowledge.

“Everything I did looked so amateurish early on,” she recalled. “But along the way, I figured out how to cut costs and attract more customers. It’s been hard, but I just need to keep going, because finishing it is better than perfecting it.”

Right now, Hà My is working on more videos for people who have completed her 42-hour class package. She is also teaming up with another teacher to create an online yoga platform.

Her goal for this year is to receive more help instead of doing it all by herself, to make the entire process more efficient. – VNS

The central region’s woes with natural calamities have badly affected locals’ way of life

Just a few hours prior to the October 28 arrival of the strongest storm seen in Vietnam in the last 20 years, Bui Thi Chin’s family in Binh Son district of the central province of Quang Ngai was completing the final stages of preparation for the incoming threat.

For the families of millions of people in other central coastal provinces, storms and floods have become a familiar part of their lives for many years. However, 2020 has brought disaster over disaster for the central region with some of the strongest storms ever experienced in recent weeks, on top of the difficulties that the global health crisis has brought in recent months.

Chin said that when she learned of storm Molave’s approach to the mainland, she was so worried and could not sleep for several nights. It was projected that the eye of the storm would most likely be located over Quang Ngai. “The wind began to blow so fiercely from the afternoon. However, my family had promptly reinforced my home’s resistance and moved our belongings to the attic, so I feel safer. My husband and I will also be in the attic for the next few days because heavy rains can lead to flooding,” said Chin.

The house of Chin’s family is one of more than 3,200 storm- and flood-resilient houses constructed in the central coastal provinces of Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai jointly funded by the Green Climate Fund, the Vietnamese government, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The partnership aims to improve the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate change-related impacts in the central Vietnam.

Along with Quang Ngai, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien-Hue have also been battered by persistent torrential rains, causing widespread flooding and landslides. Since October 5, prior to Molave’s arrival, nearly 150 people have been killed or gone missing, more than 270,000 houses have been flooded, over 37,500 homes have been damaged, and around 57,000 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters, as reported by the UNDP and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Vietnam Disaster Management Authority in Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien-Hue.

Storm- and flood-resilient housing is helping flood-hit families

Providing shelter

During the flooding, the storm- and flood-resilient houses like Chin’s begin to take effect in ensuring the safety of people’s lives and property. In the severely-flooded Thua Thien-Hue, nearly 600 such homes have withstood the recent relentless weather, including during historically high flooding over the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, in Quang Binh, many people have lost almost all of their household possessions to the floodwaters, but there are also those who are more fortunate because the storm- and flood-resilient houses are not only a safe shelter, but also act as food storage facilities.

Nguyen Van Duoc’s family in Son Thuy commune of Le Thuy district is one of the households in this case. He said his house is a meaningful asset of his life, and he decided to have it built after receiving advice and support from the UNDP as well as the local government.

Elsewhere Duong Thi Trinh, residing in Le Thuy commune in Quang Binh, also shared her gratefulness to own a solid house because it not only becomes a shelter for her family but has also been a common home for many neighbouring families in recent flooding days. “We are fortunate to have a cosy and safe place to live,” said Trinh.

According to Dao Xuan Lai, UNDP assistant resident representative, and head of Climate Change and Environment, storm- and flood-resilient houses must ensure criteria such as being resistant to both storms and floods and having flood-proof flooring, while construction cost is kept low.

“A qualified storm- and flood-resilient house must have a foundation made of reinforced concrete, brick, or stone, columns and beams made of reinforced concrete, wall built with brick or stone, flood-proof floors, and a roof that can withstand wind speeds about 100km per hour,” Lai explained. The foundation is relatively high compared to normal, and the flood-proof floor must be at least 1.5m above the 6-metre flood level of a historical flood which occurred in 1999. Flood-proof floors (Mezzanines) should have a minimum area of 10 square metres and are made of reinforced concrete or solid wood with safety floor railings made of sturdy iron, steel, or wood.

Flood-proof futures

The resilience of these important homes after major floods has illustrated the outstanding advantages of the buildings. Particularly, for households with difficult circumstances – the main beneficiaries of the project – such housing helps protects lives and assets, quickly stabilises livelihoods, contributes to building a safe community, and proactively mitigates the impacts of climate change.

As a result, there are calls for the model of storm- and flood-resilient houses to be replicated and scaled up in central coastal provinces that are severely damaged by natural disasters.

Nguyen Van Thuc, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Son Thuy commune in Quang Binh said, “In addition to poor and disadvantaged households, we should expand the scope to support near-poor households in order to build resilient houses in extremely difficult areas.”

The suggestion is already part of the plan for the UNDP project to replicate resilient housing models. According to Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP resident representative in Vietnam, it has mobilised $100,000 from its emergency resources to assist the government and vulnerable and flood-affected people in the central region through building such homes.

In addition to 600 storm- and flood-resilient houses in Thua Thien-Hue, more than 1,000 houses in Quang Binh and Quang Nam and thousands more in localities of Quang Ngai and Thanh Hoa have been gradually appearing since 2017 and will continue to be built until 2021. More than other 800 resilient houses are planned to be built in the next year.

“UNDP will continue to support vulnerable and flood-affected people by building resilient houses,” reaffirmed Wiesen.

A day after storm Molave directly ripped through Quang Ngai with wind speeds reaching 100km per hour, causing many houses to have their roofs blown off and large trees uprooted, Bui Thi Chin informed that her whole family was safe there, and her property had not suffered much damage. She and her husband felt safer than before, and the house did its job despite heavy rain and strong winds outside.

Chin said emotionally, “Vietnamese people have a saying about settling down and thriving. Hopefully many people in Quang Ngai from my hometown as well as people in other central provinces will have warm, safe houses like ours so that floods and storms will no longer become an obsession and bring heavy losses.”

As fact, in Vietnam, there are already many varying designs of resilient houses such as floating homes, and buildings with concrete pillars that are being constructed in several provinces in the central and south of the country.

“Most of the houses built under this programme are very sturdy and beyond the standard requirements. They are very durable,” said Nguyen Manh Khoi, deputy director of the Housing and Real Estate Market Management Agency under the Ministry of Construction.

These houses have not only been built through contributions from the UNDP initiative but also from policy bank loans and support from international donors, commune resources, and other social resources.

“We have developed a project to build 4,000 resilient houses for poor people who are vulnerable to disasters. As we have been implementing this project, we received much appreciation from the locals, who were very excited. Currently, the provinces are implementing the project, and while its budget is not particularly large, we think that it has had a real practical effect so far,” said Tran Quang Hoai, director general of the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority.

Equipping localities in climate fight Insurance gap adding risk to families Escaping poverty via breed initiative Beekeepers buzzing with initiative’s enhancements Hopes for continued aid for at-risk families Quality breeds aiding rural families Modern technology complementing flood-resilient home creations Flood-proof homes saving the day for central coast families Poorest areas offered helping hand with breeding initiative Storm-hit families grasping the knowledge to overcome Livelihoods transformed with mangrove forest protection Storm-proof home initiative transforming living conditions Resilient homes on flood plains giving hope to at-risk families Resilient homes rescue those in storm- and flood-hit areas

By Hoang Oanh