Experiences of the project lead to the next stage

Approximately nine months have passed since the global outbreak of COVID–19. Despite the impact of the pandemic, people in Nam Giang District has been taking new actions to introduce their products and services to the customers. In the village where main income comes from tourism (Cotu ethnic tour), people have to start producing commercial agricultural products because all reservations of the tour have been cancelled due to COVID–19. As one of these attempts, they started delivery service of the traditional Cotu food. Furthermore, they came up with the idea to conduct online Cotu ethnic tour. Currently, the preparation of the online tour has been going on and will be available for sale in this coming November. (Refer our website and SNS for detailed information). The success in providing 2 tons of beans to the market during the nationwide lockdown has increased the confidence of Cotu people and motivated them for new challenges.

Cotu people have conducted some events in Da Nang to introduce Cotu cuisine and local specialties developed in the project

Maybe these foods will be in the delivery menu in the near future.

Social participation of ethnic minorities is indispensable for the stable economic growth of the country. However, it is not easy to involve ethnic minorities in social activities, and Vietnam is one of the countries that have to solve this important issue. This project has promoted the participation of local people and contributed to not only increasing the income of communities but also revitalizing the local community. Mr. Le Chi Thanh, Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Nam Province appreciated the project's achievement and named the model established in this project as “Nam Giang Model.” In 2019, the local government requested FIDR to expand this model to nine districts of the province.

Nam Giang district has abundant natural resources. The products utilizing these resources are valuable and have the potential to attract customers. Anyone can participate in the process of developing and providing these treasures to the market. Therefore, our next challenge is to establish a distribution channel and build the network to connect people and products from the mountainous border areas of Quang Nam Province with other areas and the market.

“There were many people and stakeholders participating in this project. We tried to listen to the voices of as many people as possible and proceeded with the project while prioritizing the harmony among people and the nature in order to make everyone happily participate in the project”
(Ms. Do Thi My Hoa/ Assistant Project Manager)

“I believe that all of us have something to be proud of. I am grateful that I was able to contribute on creating a system in which everyone can participate and share their happiness”.
(Ms. Nobuko Otsuki / Country Representative)

Recently, local people have been motivated a lot, and they told us that they are ready to receive a larger amount of order. It can be seen that the project has been completed in the success of revitalizing the community by the initiatives of local people. We hope that this model in Nam Giang district will be spread to other areas in the next project, and more people can participate in the community revitalization.