Digital transformation in ethnic minority areas

At the shoe store located in the Dao ethnic minority hamlet at the edge of the forest in Hamlet 6, Thanh Son Commune, Dong Nai Province, after the customer chose a pair of sandals that she liked, Ms. Hoang Thi Thanh (Dao ethnic minority) opened the QR code on her phone for the buyer to pay. After checking that the money had been deposited into the account, the seller and buyer parted ways happily because the transaction was complete.

Mr. Hoang Van Thai (Dao ethnic group), a prestigious person among ethnic minorities in Hamlet 6, Thanh Son commune, paid for the goods by bank transfer.

Recently, buying and selling by bank transfer like at Ms. Hoang Thi Thanh's store has been taking place quietly but quickly in most ethnic minority hamlets in remote communes like Thanh Son.

In the forest transfer

Ms. Dieu Thi Ut (Choro ethnic group), a prestigious person among the ethnic minorities in Hamlet 5, said: Most of the Choro people's fields are far from their homes. Therefore, when buying goods online, the delivery person often has no one to pay. At times like that, the neighbor will receive and check for them, if the goods are correct, they will call the buyer to transfer money to the delivery staff. This is very convenient for both the buyer and the delivery person.

According to Mr. Tran Hoan (delivery staff), the hamlets in Thanh Son commune are quite far apart. In densely populated residential areas, the concrete roads run smoothly, but in houses located in the middle of large fields, the roads are both far and very difficult to travel. Therefore, making payment by bank transfer saves time and fuel for the delivery person because he does not have to go back and forth to the customer's house many times.

According to Mr. Nong Van Quyet (Tay ethnic group, hamlet 8): From the edge of the concrete road to his house is about 2km, there is a bumpy, honeycombed rock path that can only fit a motorbike. It is easy in the dry season, but in the rainy season, those with weak driving skills can easily fall. Recently, the family has borrowed money from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies to send their children to school, to build clean water and rural environmental sanitation works. Previously, every month when paying interest and saving money, the head of the Savings and Loan Group would come to the house to collect money or he would go to the head's house. On rainy days, it was difficult for the female head of the group to travel to his house. But since the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies app was installed on the borrower's and the head's phones, and the mobile network was stable, everything has become simpler. After transferring money, he took a screenshot of the money transfer to save and sent it to Zalo messages for the head of the group to update the information.

Mr. Nong Van Quyet (Tay ethnic group, Hamlet 8, Thanh Son commune) discussed with the Head of the Savings and Loan Group of Hamlet 8 about using the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies app to transfer monthly interest instead of having someone come to his house to collect the money like before.

In addition, according to Ms. Hoang Thi Lan (Tay ethnic group, hamlet 6): During the process of moving from the northern mountainous provinces here, the Tay ethnic group maintained the traditional art form of singing then - playing tinh. When communication was convenient, the Tay people in the commune and in the countryside directly called each other on video to instruct each other on new songs, correct each other's lyrics and melodies. Or when needing to buy a guitar, people from the countryside called directly on video so that people here could choose at the store, if they were satisfied, they would transfer money immediately and the goods would be sent to the commune.

Dong Nai currently has 484 prestigious people among ethnic minorities and 98 village elders representing nearly 406,000 ethnic minorities.

Thanks to the telecommunications network and familiarity with using applications on mobile devices, even though she is far away from the farm, Mrs. Lan still monitors the activities of her grandchildren at home through connecting to the security camera at home. Or she can easily look up information about the health insurance card of each family member to register to buy it again on time. When buying, she transfers money to the agent without having to meet in person.

Use social networks safely

The fact that ethnic minorities in Thanh Son commune are familiar with digital transformation as they are today must first of all mention the efforts of authorities at all levels when they have paid attention to investing in building telecommunications infrastructure to residential areas.

At the same time, according to the Party Secretary and Chairman of the People's Council of Thanh Son Commune, Ngo Hoang Hai: Training activities on safe use of social networks, prevention of online fraud, support for making ATM cards and using banking apps, installing apps related to performing administrative procedures... for ethnic minorities are regularly organized by authorities at all levels.

Ms. Dieu Thi Ut added: “Ethnic minority people like me who have prestige among ethnic minorities receive 800,000 VND in support from the State every month. To help ethnic minority people set an example in digital transformation, the former Provincial Ethnic Minority Committee, now the Department of Ethnic Minorities and Religions, and the bank support the opening of free ATM cards and provide instructions on safe use. Every month, when I receive a text message, I know that the allowance has been deposited into my account, instead of having to go to a state agency to sign and receive it directly. When I see a prestigious ethnic minority person over 60 years old using an ATM card and transferring money clearly, people around me also boldly learn and use it. At the same time, with calls impersonating authorities to scam, because they have been trained, ethnic minorities know how to prevent it: do not listen, do not believe, do not follow.”

To help prestigious people in ethnic minorities, village elders and ethnic minorities effectively implement digital transformation, use social networks safely, according to Mr. Tho Ut, Deputy Director of the Department of Ethnic Minorities and Religions, National Assembly delegate of Dong Nai province: In the coming time, consulting, training and direct guidance activities on digital transformation will be carried out by competent agencies to help people better apply digital transformation to life safely, increasing the effectiveness of connection between the Party, government and ethnic minorities.

Mr. Hoang Van Thai (Dao ethnic group), a prestigious person among the ethnic minorities in Hamlet 6, added: In the past, every time he went to the field at the edge of the forest about 5km from his house, his phone lost signal. To contact each other, he could only run from the field to his house or run to the main road to catch the signal. Now, even though he is sitting in a hut guarding the field in the middle of the forest, he opens the newspaper on his phone to read comfortably and listen to music online. Although accessing information is easy, he and his fellow villagers always remind each other to choose to read on official news sites and be wary of bad, toxic, provocative content.

Literature

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/chuyen-doi-so/202508/chuyen-doi-so-trong-vung-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-1fd248e/