Past:

The Cau Han Community Development Project was founded in 1997 by the HCWA to help impoverished children in District 7 HCMC with access to education, nutrition, and healthcare, and to support communities affected by HIV/AIDS. Since its conception, the Cau Han has provided support to thousands of beneficiaries in and around the District 7 area. The Cau Han facilitates communities at-risk of or affected by HIV and AIDS and Impoverished and Migrant communities, and does so through a multitude of interventions and approaches. Some of the means we use to serve these communities include nutritional, educational and literacy programmes, vocational training, counselling and provision of care and essential services. The primary objective of the Cau Han project is to support, educate and train disadvantaged children and their families.  By improving their standard of living, our goal is that they leave Cau Han prepared and equipped with the skills needed to be productive members of society. 

Present:

Currently, the Cau Han project is a drop-in support centre and educational facility for children and adolescents aged 6 – 18 and their families.  As Cau Han provides services for children and families from Immigrant and Migrant communities as well as communities affected by HIV and AIDS, the services that it provides are broad and aim to help individuals with support based on their needs. We support these individuals and their families with a variety of projects including everything from providing care and education to helping obtain legal papers for the children and families which The Cau Han supports.  

Some projects that are crucial at the Cau Han; supporting the children with their educational needs including scholarships and school materials, creating access to healthcare for families affected with HIV/AIDS, securing work-based training and vocational placements for the adolescents in the programme and hosting child forums and workshops which aim at promoting the rights and laws of children and to prevent violence and child exploitation. 

A fundamental aspect of supporting children and families affected with HIV and AIDS is targeting community stigmatisation and discrimination. At the Cau Han, we do this through hosting meetings, and training and awareness raising sessions for local communities, increasing the knowledge surrounding HIV/AIDS. This is also done through the training of peer educators within the communities. 

All of this is only achievable through the hard work of our staff, various volunteers, working with various branches of local government and local authorities and the support of donors. 

Future:

Due to a lack of funding and Covid-19,  we are in serious need of funding and support for 2021-2022.  To help us achieve our goals, we need help and support from donors. To support us click here. 

Our goals continue to represent what Cau Han has always strived to achieve, which for the period 2021 – 2022 are as follows:

• To provide access to education for impoverished children, migrant communities, and children from HIV/AIDS-affected communities
• To provide educational training and workshops for parents and the local community, peer mentors, and core collaborators on Children’s Rights and HIV/AIDS issues
• To work towards achieving the global 90-90-90 HIV/AIDS goals, challenge stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV/AIDS, and empower members of HIV/AIDs affected communities with education, health care, and nutritional support
• To facilitate the education, empowerment, and social and professional integration of migrant communities into wider Vietnamese society
• To provide educational workshops and training to community members to assist in the avoidance of child abuse throughout society