New Life Page for "Invisible" Children - Vietnam

1. The Management and Sustainable Development Institute (MSD) has documented and classified cases regarding the children in need of birth certificates. The project group directly identified and committed support for 62 cases until 31st, October, 2019; 21 other cases, in the meantime are being handled by other civil society organizations. In total, we have taken 83 cases.

2. A training course entitled “Legal Aid in birth certificate registration for disadvantaged children living in Ho Chi Minh City” was held on 21st and 22nd, August, 2019 in Ho Chi Minh City to raise awareness among civil society and community based organizations about the Vietnamese legal system, necessary administrative procedures and other requirements for helping the children in need register birth certificates. Besides, with the consultancy of 28 participants, media and operational plans of the project were also developed involving all stakeholders.

3. A handbook guiding birth registration procedures for children has been compiled and revised with the participation of different stakeholders.

4. The group “New life page" was also founded with the membership of Ho Chi Minh City’s Center for Legal Aid, project officers of MSD Vietnam, and other civil society organizations with the aim to join hands to provide legal assistance for disadvataged children living without birth certificates. The group actively communicatethrough 5 channels including Email, Zalo, Facebook page: A new life page (Trang moi cuoc oi), an online library and meetings held on every last Saturday of each month. Two first meetings were successfully held on 26th, October and 30th, November this year.