In Southeast Asia, more than 50% of jobs were deemed to be unstable by the ILO in 2017. This instability particularly affects women (+8.2% compared to men) who have limited access to casual work. Furthermore, although young people’s access to education has improved in recent years in Southeast Asia, it is still insufficient in underprivileged environments: for 20% of the poorest people, the net rate of secondary school education is just 64% in Vietnam and 21% in Cambodia. In view of this situation, vocational training and support to small entrepreneurs appears to be a suitable solution. The tourism sector is also identified as a major lever of economic development and social integration for these populations.

The Seeds of Hope program launched at the end of 2016 allowed the updating of training in electricity and vehicle maintenance at two partner technical training centers in 2017.

Since 2013, the IECD has also invested in Support to Small Entrepreneurs, in particular street vendors who are among the most marginalized. The threshold of 1,000 entrepreneurs supported was exceeded in 2017 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Furthermore, yhe IECD supports the breadpastry making school in Hué, a genuine social business which generates revenue from its sales that covers 95% of the school’s operating costs. In 2017, a second bread-making school was launched in Ho Chi Minh City with 20 students. A 3rd establishment will be opened in July 2018 in Yangon (Myanmar).

In Thailand, the Karen minority, isolated in the mountains near the border with Myanmar, is excluded from the
country’s economic development. The hospitality school in Mae Sot was created in 2009 to train young people mainly from this minority. The success of this school has encouraged the IECD to innovate with the creation of a regional platform (ASSET- H&C) which currently brings together companies in the hospitality-catering training sector with a view to encouraging the exchange of good practices and improving the training offering. The ASSET-H&C network brought together 14 vocational training establishments which improved their practices through constructive exchanges. Six of them also benefited from an environment and energy audit.