An international nonprofit organization awarded scholarships to 70 needy female students in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang on Sunday.

The US-based Asia Foundation presented VND1.2 million ($57) to each of the students who are enrolled at high schools in the province.

The scholarship recipients are among the 110 An Giang high school female students who won financial aid from the foundation in the 2012-13 academic year. The funding, provided through the Vietnam Study Encouragement Association, is intended to give a helping hand to the poor schoolgirls so that they can continue their studies. The nonprofit will supply more support to underprivileged female students in the province, according to William Taylor, Asian Foundation’s Deputy Country Representative in Vietnam. Founded in 1954, Asia Foundation is a non-profit and non-governmental organization with a focus on the development of a peaceful, prosperous, just and open Asia-Pacific region.

It has been active in An Giang since the 2004-05 school year.