Switzerland’s capital city, Bern, donated USD130,000 toward a water supply project in Ha Giang province’s Quan Ba District on April 19.

Ha Giang women carry giant water tanks for dry season (Photo: Danviet)

Bern’s Mayor, Alexander Tschaeppaet, at the donation ceremony

The donation is part of the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Switzerland and Vietnam.

The funding comes from donations of 130,000 citizens in Bern city, who gave one dollar each, to Caritas Switzerland, a Swiss NGO. Caritas solicited the money to continue with their water supply project in Quan Ba, one of the poorest and most underprivileged districts in Vietnam.

At the donation ceremony this morning in Hanoi, Bern’s Mayor, Alexander Tschaeppaet said, “Bern city wants to do something significant on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Vietnamese-Swiss diplomatic relations.”

“The city’s decision to fund for this project stems from the initiative “Solidarit’s eau Suisse” by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). The initiative calls for donations from Swiss communities for a clean water supply project in a selected country. Communities can join the effort by encouraging citizens to donate USD1 each for the project.”

The clean water supply is one component of Caritas’ general community development project in Quan Ba District, which began in 2002.

The clean water supply project in Quan Ba is divided into two phases. The first phase, from 2002 to 2009, invested USD137.880 in 12 hamlets in Lung Tam, Thanh Van and Quyet Tien communes. The second phase from 2010 to 2013 generated USD138,000 for 15 hamlets in three other communes in Quan Ba.

Up to now, the project has helped to build seven clean water works in Lung Tam, Thanh Van and Quyet Tien communes, which now benefit 724 households and four local schools.

According to chief representative of Caritas Switzerland, the donation from Bern’s citizens will help residents in Quan Ba to maintain a clean and sustainable water supply. At present, they have to store water during the rainy season, then haul it long distances to their houses.

“In the dry season,” he noted, “residents must ration water for daily use because of the long and severe droughts induced by climate change.”

Caritas Switzerland is an independent humanitarian relief organisation that started operations in Vietnam in 1993, with focus on the northern region of the country. Now they are implementing two “sustainable livelihood” programmes, one in Quan Ba and another in An Phu, Ha Tay Province. The organisation also provides support to disabled children in Ha Giang.