The Japanese embassy in Vietnam and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Vietnam signed an exchange of notes on February 10, with the ceremony witnessed by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Nguyen Hoang Hiep.
Funded by the Japanese government and implemented through UNICEF, the project will run from 2026 to 2030 and be carried out by the Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority under the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.
The programme aims to better protect children, families and communities in disaster-prone areas by improving access to information and strengthening knowledge and skills for preparedness, response and recovery, while building long-term resilience to climate change.
Organisers said it is expected to benefit about 27 million children, families and communities nationwide through improved disaster risk reduction planning, early warning and prevention. Targeted activities in Cao Bang, Lao Cai, Nghe An and Ha Tinh are projected to directly support about 2.2 million children and 7 million people living in high-risk areas.
Hiep said the project would strengthen Vietnam’s disaster risk reduction system, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups, especially children. He praised the long-standing cooperation with Japan and UNICEF and reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to protecting communities most exposed to climate-related hazards.
Japan’s ambassador to Vietnam, Ito Naoki, said Japan was pleased to continue working with Vietnam and UNICEF to advance disaster risk reduction efforts. He said improved risk identification and analysis, early warning systems, disaster risk governance and prevention would help reduce the impacts of floods, inundation and landslides.
UNICEF’s representative in Vietnam, Silvia Danailov, said children contribute least to climate change but are among those most severely affected by its impacts. A child-centred approach to disaster risk reduction, she said, would help ensure disaster management systems and social sectors are inclusive and responsive to children’s needs.
Vietnam has faced increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters in recent years. Typhoon Yagi in 2024, along with severe floods, inundation and landslides in 2025, caused significant losses, highlighting gaps in risk information, early warning mechanisms and local prevention efforts.
The project will support improvements in disaster risk information systems for policy-making and early warning, strengthen risk-informed investment such as safer schools and community infrastructure, expand local early warning mechanisms, integrate disaster risk reduction and climate change education into the national curriculum, and promote youth participation in disaster preparedness and response.
It aligns with Vietnam’s commitments under the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, the Paris agreement and the sustainable development goals, and reflects Japan’s stated focus on human security.
