The Australian Government-funded Gender Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT) Program hosted an online training course on October 4, 2021 focused on promoting agricultural products and community-based tourism services on Lazada Vietnam, one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in the country.

More than 70 representatives from the GREAT Program, government agencies, GREAT’s business partners and ethnic minority women working in agriculture and tourism sectors attended. They learnt how to promote and sell their products and services on Lazada’s e-commerce platform.

The training course was part of GREAT’s broader support to address digital inclusion and strengthen the capacity of business partners and ethnic minority women so they can better connect with markets and improve business performance. Building digital skills is also integral to the GREAT Program’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery plan to support local communities and business rebound from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Phil Harman, GREAT Team Leader, highlighted the importance of digital inclusion in the activities of partners and the potential for greater digital inclusion to empower women.

“Digital skills are necessary business skills these days. However, COVID-19 has highlighted the digital divide for both women and ethnic minority communities. We are working to ensure that ethnic minority women have both the skills and tools needed to capitalise on e-commerce platforms including Lazada,” said Mr Harman.

Mr. James Dong, Chief Executive Officer of Lazada Vietnam and Thailand said: “Being able to digitalise and pivot online has been a lifeline for many businesses – especially those in traditionally offline sectors such as agriculture and tourism. Women and ethnic minorities have suffered the brunt of the pandemic, so it is heartening to see programs like GREAT drive initiatives that equip businesses and communities to sell effectively on eCommerce platforms like ours. We believe this will also help mitigate the impact of supply chain disruptions and challenges in the long run for these groups.”

About the GREAT Program

The Gender-Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT) Program is a flagship program of the Australian Government’s Aus4Equality portfolio. The Program is scheduled to run until 31 December 2021 with an investment of AUD 33.7 million over four years. The Provincial People’s Committees of Son La and Lao Cai provinces are the Program’s key counterparts.

The Program is working with business, NGO and government partners to build more inclusive business and market systems within the agriculture and tourism sectors in Son La and Lao Cai provinces. By ensuring that businesses, and the wider market systems within which they operate, engage with and benefit women and ethnic minorities, more people can participate in and benefit from related economic activities and growth.

It also advocates for and educates on gender equality, working directly with business, government and NGOs to influence policies, attitudes and practice.

As of June 2021, the Program has achieved positive results, including 15,415 women having increased income, 834 women having new jobs, 82% women having improved confidence in their technical capability and AUD7.6 million co-invested by the private sector. Many products of GREAT partners have been exported to high-end international markets including EU, US, Japan and Korea or being distributed in large supermarket chains in Vietnam such as Tops Market and Aeon Mall.

About Lazada Group

Founded in 2012, Lazada Group is the leading eCommerce platform in Southeast Asia. We are accelerating progress in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam through commerce and technology. With the largest logistics and payments networks in the region, Lazada is a part of our consumers’ daily lives in the region and we aim to serve 300 million shoppers by 2030. Since 2016, Lazada has been the Southeast Asia flagship platform of Alibaba Group powered by its world-class technology infrastructure.