Report on the gender communication campaign in Vietnam

Abstract

The CGIAR Research Initiative on Sustainable Animal Productivity for Livelihoods, Nutrition and Gender Inclusion (SAPLING) in Vietnam focuses on the pig and beef value chains to package and scale up tried and tested technical innovations (in animal health, genetics and feed) and socio-institutional innovations (e.g. policies, gender and youth-based disadvantage and market systems). SAPLING aims to improve women's and youth's livestock productivity, livelihoods and nutrition and reduce negative impacts on climate and the environment. Work package 3 (WP3) of SAPLING in Vietnam aims to increase economic and decision-making power for ethnic minority women by addressing local norms that discourage women from engaging in some roles and benefits in livestock.
In 2023, the SAPLING gender team cooperated with experts from the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) to conduct qualitative fieldwork in Mai Son District, exploring the main social (with a focus on ethnicity) and gender norms that hindered women's involvement in livestock production. Based on the findings of gender norms, the gender SAPLING team developed key gender communication messages to change awareness and behaviour of gender inequality in livestock production. Then, the Thang Long Creative Agency (TCA) team validated the identified gender messages and established the best communication approaches for a strategy on social behaviour change communication (SBCC).
Together with the SAPLING gender and TCA teams, the Vietnam Women's Academy (VWA) developed and implemented a communication campaign based on the recommendation for the SBCC suggested by TCA. The communication messages were then finalized, respecting the rights mentioned in the Law of Gender Equality (2006). The campaign promotes women's empowerment in the livestock sector and contributes to consolidating the achievements of interventions from other SAPLING work packages.