A Belgian social activist has been presented with the medal "For the Cause of Women's Liberation" for his great efforts in helping Vietnamese poor women in rural areas improve their living conditions.

The medal was granted to Mr Christian Vanwert, representative for the Nord-Sud Cooperation organisation from Belgium, by Ms Nguyen Phuong Minh, Vice President of the Vietnam's Women Union (VWU), in Hanoi on Thursday.

Mr Vanwert has coordinated with the VWU since 1994. In his capacity, he has encouraged Nord-Sud Cooperation to provide facilities for vocational training to provincial associations for women in Ha Tay Province and Hue City.

They have also supplied water filtering and egg incubating equipment to rural women in various parts of Vietnam. This support helps poor women in these areas expand production, find employment, and increase their income.

He called upon the Belgian Government through the Belgian Agency of Technical Cooperation to finance the VWU's project of improving its institutional capacity in managing credit/savings programmes for poor Vietnamese women.

This project was implemented in 1997 with first-phase capital of more than US$1.9mil. With his help, the VWU also received active assistance from the International Fund for Agricultural Development. (IFAD).

(Source: Nhan Dan, VNA)