Enhancing digital capabilities for women in mountainous regions.

QTO - In the context of today's strong digital transformation, women in mountainous areas face many difficulties in accessing the achievements of science, technology, and innovation. Besides the challenges of lacking infrastructure and facilities, there are concerns about limited education and awareness, and a reluctance to change, clinging to old ways of thinking. Overcoming these obstacles is crucial for women in remote, disadvantaged areas to change their mindset, confidently master technology, and contribute to improving their own lives, families, and communities. One of the leading solutions is to strengthen training and capacity building in digital skills for women.

Ms. Tran Thanh Hien, President of the Women's Union of Truong Son commune, shared that previously, with the support of Project 8 "Implementing gender equality and addressing some urgent issues for women and children" from the National Target Program for socio -economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, many women in the former Truong Son commune have made changes in their thinking and working methods, and not a few have learned to apply digital technology in production and business development. However, many difficulties still remain in the efforts to digitalize the highlands.

In reality, the entire commune currently has 28 branches (9 villages and 19 hamlets) with over 1,700 members, of which nearly 50% of the branch officials do not have smartphones. This is not to mention the relatively high percentage of illiterate women members. Therefore, accessing digital applications in the implementation of association work faces many challenges. The Truong Son Commune Women's Union has developed a plan to implement "digital branches," but it has not yet been able to do so, due to the aforementioned reasons.

Ms. Ho Thi Que, from Truong Son commune, participates in a training course on enhancing digital skills organized by the Provincial Women's Union - Photo: Provided by the interviewee.

In the context of general difficulties, the Women's Union of Truong Son commune has prioritized the dissemination of information on digital transformation, both by going directly to the grassroots level to provide hands-on guidance and by actively integrating digital skills training into conferences, meetings, and training sessions. In 2025, the Union organized one training session on information dissemination skills on social networks, guidance on creating video clips for communication work, guidance on installing public digital signatures, integrating health insurance cards on VNeID, and updating identity cards on VssID for 80 young cadres and members. The Union has also issued a plan to implement Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo and the "Digital Literacy Movement" for the general public.

Through this, activities will be implemented to raise awareness, knowledge, and digital skills among officials, members, and women; gradually forming habits of learning, working, and interacting in the digital environment; and promoting the application of information technology and digital transformation in the association's activities and the lives, production, and business of its members and women.

According to the plan, in the coming time, the Women's Union of Truong Son commune will select, build and launch models such as "Digital Family," "Each Union official - A digital identity," "Digital business women's group," "Women helping each other in digital transformation," etc. At the same time, it will promote the "Digital literacy" movement, integrating it with the "Building the Vietnamese woman of the new era" emulation movement, and linking it with the breakthrough "Comprehensive digital transformation in the organization; accompanying women and the work of the Women's Union."

“The Women's Union of Truong Son commune hopes to receive support to improve the quality of communication on digital transformation, training, and reaching out to remote villages and hamlets. In 2026, one of the key activities of the union will be to pilot forms/activities applying information technology in gathering, developing, and managing members and attracting women and members to participate in union activities online; strengthen propaganda on the union's fanpage and other social platforms and strongly implement the "Digital Literacy Movement",” added Ms. Tran Thanh Hien.

In Huong Lap commune, besides the common difficulties faced by women in mountainous areas in accessing digital transformation, ethnic minority women, although having participated in training and guidance, still need to learn and improve many skills and knowledge, especially in applications for online sales and online administrative procedures.

Ho Thi Va, Chairwoman of the Women's Union of Huong Lap commune, said that women urgently need in-depth and thorough digital skills training courses, providing hands-on guidance so they can easily apply the skills to their daily lives, as well as to their production and business activities.

Over the past period, the Provincial Women's Union has implemented many effective solutions to support women in mountainous areas in accessing digital transformation. However, more efforts and sustainable solutions are still needed to address the difficulties in this journey. Besides improving the quality and innovating training and communication on digital transformation, focusing strongly on the grassroots level, developing practical models immediately after training, such as community digital technology groups, digital branches, and digital women's clubs, will play a crucial role in helping women in mountainous areas avoid confusion when accessing technology and easily apply it in many fields, from economics and education to healthcare. Furthermore, it is necessary to seriously evaluate the quality of training courses on digital transformation to learn lessons and improve the effectiveness of subsequent training courses.

MN

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/khoa-hoc-cong-nghe/202605/tang-cuong-nang-luc-so-cho-phu-nu-vung-cao-8cd439d/