Peace House Shelter Project

As you may be aware, John Sargent, a member of the Rotary Club of Caloundra Pacific, is in Hanoi, Vietnam for a few months as a Business Advisor on Australia's Business Volunteer Program. He is working with the Vietnam Center for Women and Development (CWD), which sits under the umbrella organisation – the Vietnamese Women’s Union. One of their projects is to assist in ending human trafficking.

Peace House Shelter Project, PHSP, run by Center for Women and Development – a subordinate unit of Vietnam Women’s Union, was established as a joint effort by Vietnam Women’s Union and Spanish Agency for International Development Co-operation (AECID) to strengthen Vietnam’s effort to end trafficking in persons. PHSP aims to empowering and helping to reintegrate survivors; supporting to policy making and implementation and playing an active role to raise awareness of the societal impact of gender-based violence as manifested in human trafficking.

Need-based support services including safe accommodation; health care, counseling, vocational training, job placement, and legal aids are provided for women and children who are survivors of trafficking in persons. As a pilot model established in 2007, the Project has so far supported more than 250 trafficking survivors from different provinces and backgrounds across the country.