On May 30th, 2016, the delegation of the Embassy of Ireland including Ms. Fiona Quinn, Deputy Head of Development, Ms. Reachbha Joan Fitzgerald and Ms. Ciara Begley, Officers of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland, Mr. To Ngoc Anh, Senior Advisor for Poverty Reduction, Embassy of Ireland in Vietnam visited and worked with Hoa Binh DEMA, the authorities of Hop Dong commune and the community of Sim Trong village, Hop Dong commune, Kim Boi district, Hoa Binh province.
Sim Trong is the poorest neighbors in Hop Dong commune, the village involved in the project “Piloting community-based operational and maintenance (O&M) infrastructure in 135 communes” from 2015. Since then the village had applied community-based O&M to maintain 3 irrigation works. After maintenance, irrigation works improved conditions to control water for 9.5 hectares agricultural land. In the process of maintenance, community groups have mobilized 217 working labor equal to 32.550.000 VND (65% maintenance budget of 3 works).
One of three irrigation works in Sim Trong village named Na Bi
In the visit to Sim Trong village, Ms. Fiona Quinn expressed her impression with presentation of Ms. Dinh Thi Thi – Community Group member. Ms. Fiona Quinn shared that during the four years she worked in Vietnam, this was the first time she saw a confident woman to represent her community and shared with a visiting delegation, as well as other women participated in the meeting were very confident.
Ms. Dinh Thi Thi presented community-based O&M procedure in her community
In 2016, Sim Trong village planned to maintain 2 irrigational works including 1 work supported 7,000,000 VND from P135 and the remaining work supported 11,300,000 VND by the project.
Memory photo among the delegation, community group members, beneficiaries, local authorities and RIC
