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Overcoming Challenges to Bring Policies to Ethnic Minorities

A Lưới District in Thừa Thiên Huế Province, with over 75% of its population belonging to ethnic minorities and facing significant socio-economic difficulties, encounters numerous challenges in promoting voluntary social insurance.

The district social security office actively directs service organizations to identify potential participants and apply flexible, creative communication strategies suited to local conditions. Additionally, it closely collaborates with local authorities to implement comprehensive solutions, organize dialogue sessions, and visit villages to enhance awareness. Special attention is given to communicating in ethnic languages to ensure that the Party's social welfare policies reach ethnic minorities.

“Thanks to the implementation of multiple solutions, our district now has over 1,700  voluntary social insurance participants and more than 50,000 people covered by health insurance,” said Võ Đại Quang, Director of A Lưới Social Security office.

Nguyễn Quang Hải, Director of Hướng Hóa District Social Security office (Quảng Trị Province), shared that since ethnic minorities typically work on farms during the day and return home only in the evening, the office, in cooperation with local authorities, organizes evening communication sessions to maximize participation. The industry's officers carefully select content, using concrete examples to convey the importance of voluntary social insurance effectively.

Local leaders further disseminate information in ethnic languages to ensure that 100% of participants fully understand their rights and benefits, encouraging them to enroll in the policy.

“To reach Tri Village and Cù Bai Village in Hướng Lập Commune—home to a large ethnic minority population and located more than 80 km from the district center—we travel over three hours to conduct awareness sessions on social insurance. After each session, many residents voluntarily register for social insurance,” said Nguyễn Quang Hải.

Diversifying Resources to Ensure Policy Sustainability

In mountainous and ethnic minority regions, developing voluntary social insurance remains a complex challenge. While participation rates have increased, the number of ethnic minority workers enrolling—especially in voluntary social insurance—remains relatively low.

Statistics show that of the 122,377 ethnic minority individuals participating in voluntary social insurance, only 70,196 reside in the 25 provinces with land borders (as of September 2023).

Meanwhile, over 35 million workers nationwide have yet to join social insurance, primarily those in informal employment sector such as rural workers, seasonal laborers, freelancers, and ethnic minority workers. Expanding voluntary social insurance coverage in these areas necessitates suitable support policies.

To encourage participation, the Government currently subsidizes a portion of voluntary social insurance contributions for the poor, near-poor households and other eligible groups. This reflects the state's commitment to supporting disadvantaged communities, particularly in mountainous regions.

However, as a long-term policy, voluntary social insurance faces challenges in high-poverty rate areas. Even after enrolling, many people struggle with financial difficulties when contribution deadlines arise, suffer losses from natural disasters, or are influenced by external perceptions about social insurance benefits, leading them to withdraw from the program.

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Thus, mobilizing additional resources to increase contribution support or gift voluntary social insurance packages to poor households and disadvantaged workers is essential for ensuring the policy’s sustainability in mountainous and ethnic minority areas.

Beyond central government funding, several ethnic minority regions have introduced additional support policies. For example, between 2022 and 2025, Quảng Nam Province has allocated approximately VND 37.2 billion from its local budget to subsidize voluntary social insurance for participants. Poor and near-poor households receive an extra 10% subsidy, while other groups receive an additional 5%, raising the general support level by 10%.

Similarly, Quảng Trị Province has implemented a policy for 2023–2026, offering an additional 20% support for poor households, 15% for near-poor households, and 10% for non-specialist workers in villages and neighborhoods.

Notably, at its 11th session, the Quảng Ninh Provincial People’s Council passed Resolution No. 02/2022/NQ-HĐND, approving financial support for voluntary social insurance contributions from 2023 to 2027. From January 1, 2023, Quảng Ninh Province subsidizes an additional 30% of contributions for poor households, 20% for near-poor households, and 20% for other groups, based on the rural poverty threshold applicable at the time.

Moreover, Quảng Ninh continues to fully subsidize health insurance premiums for ethnic minorities living in newly developed areas and those residing in villages and communes that recently emerged from extreme poverty status between 2021 and 2025.