Our Story

Who We Are

HopeBox was established in 2018 as the first social enterprise in Vietnam to respond to the lack of comprehensive psychology and economic recovery services for gender-based violence (GBV) survivors in Vietnam post-rescue. 

Why We Exist 

HopeBox came from the simple idea and mission of helping Vietnamese women who have experienced GBV obtain a fresh start. Research from the National Study on Violence against Women in Viet Nam 2019 showed:

• 63% of Vietnamese women have experienced one or more forms of physical, sexual, emotional and economic violence and controlling behaviours by their husbands in their lifetime. 
• 32% in the last 12 months. 
• 90% did not seek to report the abuse at the time. 
• Violence is a learned behaviour. Women victims of violence are more likely to have a husband whose mother was beaten or who was himself beaten as a child. 

Our Values

Respect

Empower

Skills

Partnership

Employment

Compassion

Teamwork

The Context

• Vietnam ranks 77 out of 149 countries in progress toward gender equality according to the 2018 Global Gender Gap Report. 
• GBV remains the largest single threat to women's physical and psychological health and significantly weakens women's educational and employment opportunities according to the World Health Organisation. 
• According to the OECD, Rural women often engage in vulnerable self-employment (poor working and living conditions, low and insecure incomes, long working hours and unreliable employment) and face different challenges to women in cities and therefore require additional support and services.

Barriers to employment

• Lack of access to safe accommodation
• Employability skills (job search, problem-solving and interpersonal communication) and life skills are crucial for GBV survivors to secure employment and advance in their careers. Still, there is a severe lack of agencies providing these skills in Vietnam.
• Lack of trauma-sensitive training impedes a woman from gaining successful long-term employment
• Current agencies providing vocational and job placement services for GBV survivors do not have the capacity to address psychological issues, commonly found among survivors, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorder. As a result, many GBV survivors may choose to drop out or can only partially benefit from these services.

HopeBox Solution

To address these gaps, HopeBox provides a six-month program that includes: 

• Safe accommodation 
• Employability skills (including hospitality skills training, job search skills, career development skills, life skills, trauma healing and work-based therapy.
• Personal development - counselling services, compassionate communications workshops, emotional intelligence
• Referrals to relevant support services such as legal advice. 

Our Impact

• Enhance their sense of safety and self-esteem, interpersonal and vocational skills, social capital and psychological functioning within 06 months.
• Strengthen the resilience of women who have experienced gender-based violence, therefore, improving the livelihood of GBV survivors who are predominantly rural/ethnic minority women and their integration to metropolitan areas.
• Provide access to utensils and the tools that mean women are able to develop their skill set, increase their participation in leadership and transfer these skills after their time at HopeBox.

As an outcome HopeBox’s graduates are better able to enter the workforce and sustain long term employment and financial independence.

Our Vision 

We aim to be a pioneer social enterprise in Vietnam that leaves no women or children behind because of gender-based violence. 

Our Mission 

We want to empower our women by giving them a safe place to live, to enable them to earn money and to receive an education. By doing so, we are making it possible for them to live free from sexual abuse and violence and providing them the means to raise their children a non-violent environment.