Posts by Neena Bhandari

Gender Equality Will Be Key to Achieving SDGs in Viet Nam

0 Comments read Environment & Development, Features, Gender
Pham Thi Kim Viet, a tour guide, shows visitors the map of Huế, a city in central Vietnam which was the seat of the Nguyen Dynasty emperors. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Ha Noi/Hoi An (Vietnam), 27.04.2017 (IDN): Pham Thi Kim Viet is up before the rooster heralds the crack of dawn. The rice in the cooker is beginning to boil as she tosses freshly chopped vegetables and fish in a wok. She then hurries to wake her two daughters, 12 and four years old. At 7am, dressed in laundered uniforms, she drops them at school on her trusted old scooter and proceeds to Hoi An, 30km from her home in the mountains of Dai Loc district in central Vietnam, to report for work as a freelance tour guide.

“Each day is a struggle to make ends meet. I work between 10 and 12 hours a day during high tourist season to earn US$20. During low tourist season, there is very little work and I constantly worry about paying bills and putting food on the table”, says Viet, who has been coping with mental and financial abuse from her husband. The physical violence ended, when he moved out, but he drops in anytime, sometimes to demand money.

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Education & Jobs Crucial As Cambodia Records Pro-Poor Growth

0 Comments read Education, Environment & Development, Features, Gender
Children await the arrival of King Norodom Sihamoni on the streets of Siem Reap. Photo Credit: © Neena Bhandari

By Neena Bhandari

Siem Reap/Battambang (Cambodia), 30.03.2017 (IDN) – The once conflict ridden, impoverished country of Cambodia has made significant strides towards stability and progress, but it is still facing several socio-economic development challenges.

In 2016, it became a lower middle-income country after recording an annual average economic growth of seven percent over the past decade. “The country’s economy has trebled and the number of people living in poverty has halved in the last 15 years. We have to set development issues in the context of those successes,” says Nick Beresford, United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Cambodia Country Director.

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More Indigenous Doctors Aim To Close Australia’s Health Gap

0 Comments read Health & Science, Indigenous
Vinka Barunga. Photo Credit: University of Western Australia

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 27.12.2016 (IDN/The Wire) – Vinka Barunga was born in the Worrara tribe of the Mowanjum Aboriginal community in the remote town of Derby in Western Australia. As a child, she witnessed disease and suicide amongst her people, which made her resolve to one day become a doctor and help break this cycle of suffering. She is one of six, the largest cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) students, to graduate in Medicine/Surgery from the University of Western Australia this year.

Australia has fewer than 300 Aboriginal doctors, but things are gradually changing. Vinka is determined to be the first full time doctor in the town of her birth, situated around 2,400 kilometres north of the state capital Perth in the Kimberley region. It is the gateway to the state’s resource rich north, surrounded by mudflats on three sides, with two distinct seasons.

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