Hello everyone, this is Ms. Som. Would you like to watch the live?

What products does the family need to buy?…

Ms. Luong Thi Som, Hua Na village, Tong Lanh commune (Thuan Chau district, Son La province) gracefully and enthusiastically opened her livestream selling session. With just a few simple operations on her smartphone, the Thai ethnic woman quickly started the livestream selling session, "professionally" stirring up a fun and comfortable atmosphere for viewers, even though in 2020 she was still shy and not "skilled"...

“In the 4.0 era, online sales have become very convenient. During the day, when you go to work and at night, you can watch livestreams, choose clothes and close orders easily. Many customers text to place urgent orders: 'Sis, I have to go to a wedding next week, please ship me a shirt in the right size...!'”, said Ms. Luong Thi Som.

Regularly, there are two livestream sessions a day, the noon session from 12:30 and the evening session from 20:30, she brings products: Com shirts, skirts, bedding, brocade pillows... to widely introduce to women in Thuan Chau district in particular, Son La province in general. After nearly 5 years of diligently selling and taking advantage of the benefits of digital platforms, Ms. Som has now created a stable source of income to raise her children and improve her family's economy.

Not only conducting livestream sessions to sell clothes, many cooperatives owned by women in Thuan Chau district are making efforts to keep up with digital transformation, boldly conducting livestream sessions to introduce local agricultural products such as: dragon fruit, passion fruit, hawthorn, products from hawthorn vinegar, honey, Trong Nguyen tea... to bring local agricultural products closer to customers in Son La province, as well as neighboring localities.

“In recent years, the District Women's Union has identified digital transformation as an important task, opening up many opportunities for innovation in the work of the Union and supporting women to easily exchange and acquire knowledge, experience, and good models in economic development; overcoming all prejudices and gender barriers…”, Ms. Luong Thanh Thuy, Chairwoman of the Thuan Chau District Women's Union, Son La province shared.

Currently, in Thuan Chau district, many types of agricultural products and local specialties are being developed. Therefore, recently, the District Women's Union has coordinated with units to open training courses for business households and cooperatives owned by women, helping women access many forms of business, introduce products and agricultural products to customers through livestream sessions and know how to build and manage sales websites (instead of just selling at traditional markets as before).

The Association has coordinated with agencies and units to provide instructions to help people preserve and transport agricultural products safely to consumers... In particular, it has implemented activities to support women in applying science and technology to enhance the economic power of ethnic minority women... The encouraging sign is that many women have taken advantage of social networking sites to sell consumer products, agricultural products, and specialties of Thuan Chau district that are OCOP certified. From there, the district is forming many models of ethnic minority women starting businesses applying information technology and digital platforms in the process of promoting and introducing products, initially increasing income.

In addition to supporting female members to apply technology to improve labor productivity and economic mastery... in 2024, the Women's Union of Thuan Chau district also focuses on digital transformation in the activities of the Union. Sharing with reporters about the digital transformation journey, Ms. Luong Thanh Thuy, President of the Women's Union of Thuan Chau district (Son La province) recalled the time when she became an "involuntary" actress, co-creating scripts, participating in skits, listening to the thoughts and aspirations of women in the work of building the Union stronger and stronger when participating in the contest "Application of information technology in Union activities" in 2024.

Clip of women in Son La selling local agricultural products on e-commerce platforms:

According to the digital transformation information of the Son La Provincial Women's Union, by March 2024, the Provincial Women's Union had received and processed 8,428 documents; issued 3,181 documents directing and implementing the work of the Union, women's movements...; in which, ensuring 100% of documents were issued and processed entirely on the network environment, using digital signatures. At the same time, 6 training conferences were organized to improve and popularize digital skills and the ability to apply information technology for 600 officials of the Women's Union at all levels; deployed online competitions launched by the Central and the province (Provincial Online Folk Dance Competition; Competition to learn about the Law on Gender Equality, Competition to learn about Digital Transformation of Son La province, Competition to learn about Administrative Reform of Son La province; Competition to learn about Democracy at the grassroots level; Competition to learn about Digital Transformation of Son La province...).

Over 1,000 communication documents were posted on the website or official social networking platforms of the Provincial Women's Union; training on digital transformation, information technology application, and safe use of social networks for 11,015 union members. About 3,000 members and women (of which 30% are ethnic minority members and women; 50% are OCOP entities) were supported with knowledge and skills to participate in and apply digital platforms, e-commerce platforms, and production and business were supported with knowledge and skills to use smart devices, electronic transactions, and use social platforms in economic development and financial management activities. In addition, in 2023, the Provincial Women's Union also coordinated with banks, credit institutions, and payment institutions to implement the collection of membership fees by non-cash payment methods on the internet, mobile devices, etc.

Highly appreciated for the application of information technology in the activities of the Association, each female officer and member of the Hanoi Women's Union is always proactive and active in proposing new initiatives and ways to improve the work of the Association, helping women in the area to quickly, systematically and accurately access information and instructions from all levels...

During 7 years of working for the Association, Ms. Do Thi Phuong (Standing Committee Member of the Women's Union of Dan Phuong District, Hanoi) realized that propaganda on social networking sites such as Facebook and Zalo groups still has some limitations. By chance, during a chat with young people, she learned about Padlet software. The more she learned, the more "confident" she became: This will be a useful tool to help innovate the Association's propaganda work. The interface is easy to see, easy to access, quick and methodical access to information... In particular, mini games can be inserted, when members answer questions correctly, they will receive small gifts. Content such as videos, propaganda links, Association activities... can be easily posted on the electronic board on the application, helping women to receive information without being distracted by advertising activities, product introductions...", Ms. Do Thi Phuong shared.

The propaganda content is fully and systematically posted on Padlet software of the Women's Union of Dan Phuong district (Hanoi city).

Talking to reporters, Ms. Phuong said that at first when applying it to the Association's activities, the women were still hesitant to operate it... But at the meetings, she persistently guided the members to access it, stimulating them by playing games with prizes; then, everyone gradually accepted it, and the number of visits also increased. Currently, the Padlet page "Dan Phuong Women" is the main channel to convey propaganda information to women members and is operating well. However, this Padlet page is just a small idea to support the Association's propaganda work and help women quickly, systematically, and accurately grasp information in the area. Each female cadre at her workplace, as well as at the Hanoi Women's Union, is also very enthusiastic about the Association's activities, they also regularly make new suggestions and ideas...

After 6 years of working in tourism and homestay business following the traditional model (mainly welcoming regular guests and word-of-mouth), recently, Ms. Huynh Thi Tuyet Mong (Chau Thanh district, Ben Tre province) started promoting and introducing images and videos of the resort on Facebook.

“Before choosing a tourist destination, young people and families tend to look up information and images on social networks, websites, etc., so I started researching and learning how to make videos, create articles and images on Facebook Fanpage with the desire to introduce experiences to customers, as well as send gratitude for participating in the experience... When posting on social networks, we approach and advise many customers who have plans to travel and relax during the holidays; creating a source of potential customers in the future...”, Ms. Tuyet Mong said.

In recent times, the Women's Union of Ben Tre province has also increased the application of information technology, participating in the digital transformation process. The Union at all levels has actively proposed and mobilized many resources to fully equip computers, devices to connect to internal online meetings, integrating and launching forms of information technology application in conferences and meetings organized by the Union. At the same time, applying digital signatures, using the I-Office document management and operation system in document processing, shortening the time for information exchange and saving office costs. Currently, most of the management, direction and operation activities of the basic levels have been carried out in the network environment, instead of reporting paper documents as before.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa, President of the Women's Union of Ben Tre province, excitedly shared the highlights of the Union's digital transformation work in mobilizing 2,200 female members to participate in 150 women's saving groups to buy 1,466 smartphones; building 350 models and activities applying information technology in activities; all Union bases have women's groups and teams for digital transformation. Currently, many Union bases have voted and collected opinions of union members through the email boxes "Listening to women speak", "Suggestion box for building the Union" on a number of applications and software, establishing and effectively exploiting zalo groups, facebook pages, and fanpages of the Union.

“Women at the Women's Union of Ben Tre province still tell each other about the '15 days and nights' campaign in the propaganda work of installing digital signatures for people. In this campaign, the Women's Union registered the implementation target; actively guided women members and people of all walks of life to install and use digital applications to carry out public administrative procedures. Fortunately, at the end of the campaign, we mobilized 100% of the Union's officials and people to successfully install nearly 20,000 VNPT Smart CA personal digital signatures; installed VneID level 2 electronic identification accounts. At the same time, we mobilized over 3,000 members and women to open bank accounts and 2,579 business households to create QR Codes for online transactions, contributing to the implementation of the cashless policy. Through the implementation, the collective of the Women's Union of the province has built an initiative with the content of 'Application of information technology in credit and savings management', which was recognized as a provincial initiative. 2024", Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa shared.

Digital transformation work is of interest and focus to all levels of the Women's Union of Ben Tre province.

In particular, on the occasion of the 94th anniversary of the Vietnam Women's Union on October 20, 2024, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Women's Union launched the application "Ben Tre Women's Handbook", an application that operates on both the website and the app with modern technology, an optimized interface to meet the needs of propaganda, reporting on Union activities, integrating statistics of members and providing many other convenient functions for users. With this application, in the coming time, female union members in Ben Tre province will have an additional information channel to access propaganda content and Union activities more quickly.

In recent years, especially in 2024, in addition to effectively implementing the annual theme "Enhancing the application of information technology in the activities of the Union" ... Women's Unions at all levels nationwide continue to pay attention to and raise awareness and capacity of women in applying IT for production and business, creating opportunities for women to participate and benefit from the digital economy. Accordingly, about 1,000 female entrepreneurs and new female entrepreneurs have been improved in their capacity to use social networking channels, create advertising banners, create QR codes, build online sales channels ... create booths on e-commerce platforms Lazada, Shopee, Tiktok ..., build a management system for startup support teams, support female businesses to register for OCOP certification, upgrade OCOP products ...

The 2024 "Women's Creative Startup and Green Transformation" Competition received 2,545 startup projects (an increase of 26% compared to 2023), the quality of startup projects participating in the competition is increasingly high, associated with innovation, technology application... has spread the entrepreneurial spirit among members and women nationwide. The Vietnam Association of Women Entrepreneurs focuses on organizing training programs and seminars attracting thousands of members and female-owned businesses to participate; organizing over 200 domestic and foreign trade promotion events to introduce products, seek investment opportunities, expand product markets to participate in the digital economy... However, women's digital transformation still faces many difficulties.

In the process of creating digital content, Ms. Huynh Thi Tuyet Mong (Chau Thanh district, Ben Tre province) shared that she wanted to create short videos to post on social networks, taking advantage of the "explosion" of the social network Tik Tok, but building and developing an effective channel that has the power to spread to the community is not easy.

“Some videos I post on this platform are often blocked or reported as violations… I don’t know how to fix this problem. I hope that the Ben Tre Provincial Women’s Union will have many programs and courses to help women build brands, introduce and promote tourism products through short videos on various digital platforms,” Ms. Huynh Thi Tuyet Mong confided.

“The biggest difficulty in the work of the Association is bringing applications and software to disseminate information closer to specific groups of members, including middle-aged and elderly members,” shared Ms. Do Thi Phuong, member of the Standing Committee of the Women's Union, Dan Phuong district.

Clip shared by Mr. Matt Jackson, Chief Representative of the United Nations Population Fund in Vietnam:

During his time as the United Nations Population Fund Representative in Vietnam, Mr. Matt Jackson has implemented and participated in many programs in the field of gender equality and support for women and girls in many provinces and cities in Vietnam, especially in remote areas. Mr. Matt Jackson shared that women are playing a very important role in the development of Vietnam, from the local to the national level. However, society is witnessing major changes in population and technology, it is important that women need to grasp the opportunities of the digital age. Understanding and applying digital technology not only helps women develop themselves but also opens up opportunities for employment, business and financial management... This is also the key to helping them balance their personal life, work, and family care roles...

Many programs and activities support Vietnamese women, especially in the field of digital transformation.

“Gender inequality exists in every province, every country in the world. Each context and region faces its own challenges. In some areas of Vietnam, especially mountainous provinces with large ethnic minority communities, we must ensure that information and recommendations are communicated in a way that women can understand and access, appropriate to the local language and context. But that information must be sensitive to local culture and characteristics, this is the key factor to make the message truly reach the people,” said Mr. Matt Jackson.

As Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Ben Tre province, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa also frankly pointed out the difficulties and obstacles in the process of digital transformation for women such as: Lack of funding to regularly conduct training, fostering, and improving technology skills; information technology infrastructure is not yet synchronized, although computers are equipped and covered everywhere, many places are damaged and lack of funding for replacement.

Internet coverage, as well as access to high-speed internet, is still uneven between rural and urban areas, especially for elderly members and women in remote areas. The grasp of knowledge and skills in applying information technology software is still limited; there is a lack of digital equipment and smartphones. Although the Women's Union at all levels always pays attention to promoting and training knowledge and skills on using social networks; guiding non-cash payments and preventing fraud in cyberspace, in recent times, female cadres and members have also encountered many risks: Risk of revealing, losing personal information, being exploited, scammed... in the digital environment.

Along with women in provinces and cities across the country, Son La women are striving to overcome all difficulties and adapt to digital transformation.

Faced with these limitations and difficulties, in the coming time, the Women's Union at all levels of Ben Tre province will continue to implement programs to make breakthroughs in applying information technology in the activities of the Union. At the same time, it will maximize the advantages of social networking sites in communication activities, ideological orientation, moral education, lifestyle for members and women; guide and mobilize members to share, post, and comment on positive information; fight and refute bad, toxic, and negative information.

“Especially, multiply typical individuals and groups in digital transformation, applying information technology in the activities of the Association; proactively guide and support members and women to participate in digital transformation activities, e-commerce transactions, access public services on digital platforms, use smartphones to access information in a modern way. In addition, organize training courses to improve knowledge and skills in applying information technology for staff; guide the gathering of members through a pilot model of gathering women on cyberspace to improve the quality of Association activities...

Furthermore, to limit risks for women members when participating in the digital environment, the Women's Union at all levels provides knowledge and skills so that women know how to participate safely and effectively, promote and understand the benefits of digital transformation, as well as potential risks and dangers so that they are aware of protecting themselves and their loved ones when participating in the digital environment," said Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa, President of the Women's Union of Ben Tre province.

Along with women in provinces and cities across the country, Son La women are striving to overcome all difficulties and adapt to digital transformation.

Not only Ben Tre, in Son La province, women also face difficulties on the digital transformation journey. Specifically, in Thuan Chau district (Son La province), more than 90% of people are ethnic minorities, the level of women is still limited, lacking knowledge and skills to use social networks to introduce and promote local products... especially older women.

“Supporting women to develop local agricultural products still faces many difficulties. Most of the ideas of women participating are from small businesses and cooperatives, which have not been invested in many criteria... Besides, when selling online, customers cannot directly see the products, they can only observe them online, but the product packaging is not eye-catching, the way the products are introduced does not depict the highlights of local products...

In the coming time, to support members in livestreaming and selling online, the Women's Union of Thuan Chau district will continue to coordinate with specialized agencies and units to increase the organization of training courses on applying digital technology in connecting and consuming local products and agricultural products for female union members, enterprises, cooperatives, and cooperative groups owned by women. At the same time, actively inform organizations and individuals about digital transformation in agriculture such as: Choosing appropriate standards, criteria, and production processes; using software to digitize production activities, connecting e-commerce platforms... ", Ms. Luong Thanh Thuy emphasized.

Article: Hong Phuong

Photo, clip: Le Phu, NVCC

Presented by: Le Phu

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/long-form/xa-hoi/phu-nu-thich-ung-nhanh-voi-chuyen-doi-so-20250305091415406.htm