Project "Youth for Environment" - The journey of creativity connection

According to statistical data from General Statistics Office on the population, labour force, employment and education of young people in the period 2015 - 2020, youth aged 16-30 years old makes up about 23.2% of Vietnam's population, which is equivalent to nearly 23 million people in 2020. This is a great number of young forces who contribute to the development of the country in all fields, including the environment. With the participation of young people, positive changes to the environment from the youth community will form good habits, and build sustainable development programs for Vietnam in the future.

Project “Youth for Environment” of VSF is the only Vietnameses initiative among 13 ones which received sponsorship in the Asia-Pacific region in 2020 from Earth Journalism Network. Being implemented from February 2020, the project has carried out activities to increase youth participation in environmental issues, as well as to promote positive changes in environmental policy of the government and businesses towards sustainable development. After 1 year-implementation, the project has achieved some impressive results.

The project has organized 13 activities for young people with the support of 10 media agencies, including: organizing 6 trainings and talk shows, 2 field trips to reflect the current environmental issues; launching “Initiatives for Environment”, creating a series of environmental non-profit short films; and a workshop for project share and assessing.

At the workshop, independent assessor – Dr. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Minh presented the project's results after 1 year-implementation. In particular, the expert especially emphasized the unexpected positive impacts of the project, such as:

• Attracting more than 200 young people to actively participate in environmental communication, which brings the number of beneficiaries to 7,600 people in the first year.

• As of April 2021, Green Eyes Fanpage – the main communication channel of the project has reached 3,615 followers with nearly 372 thousand engagements.

• Mobilizing support and cooperation from many prestigious social organizations such as WWF, WCS, MSD, Live & Learn and especially the participation and sponsorship of BAC A BANK

• VSF has become a member of the National Coordinating Committee of Vietnam Business for Environment  - VB4E

To acknowledge the efforts of Green Eyes group, journalist Do Doan Hoang - Dan Viet newspaper also shared: "With a series of investigative articles with the participation of Green Eyes group on the hunting, trafficking and killing of migratory wild birds, the Prime Minister has issued directive to the People's Committee of Hai Phong city in order to investigate and penalize lawbreakers to protect wild birds in Vietnam. This is one of the great successes, because not all articles on wildlife species are paid attention by the Prime Minister. Some Green Eyes members, beyond expectation, participated in the training program of WCS - the second largest conservation organization in the world thanks to the success of the series of articles".

Journalist Do Doan Hoang - Dan Viet newspaper

The workshop also appreciated and honored the sponsors, advisory board and individuals/partners who have accompanied the project, and shared some activities that will be implemented in the next stage.

With the participation of 3 new core members of Green Eyes group, the second stage of the project is expected to continue to be an environmental information channel for young people with innovative communication forms and youthful approach.

Also, the project continues to maintain the companionship of the Advisory Board, organizes training sessions on environmental communication, and facilitates young people to participate in field trips with experienced journalists. In addition, many new activities are planned such as the contest to find innovative environmental communication products - Plastic Talk; Media Tour on plastic waste at Universities; The contest to find and sponsor for Initiatives on environment solving from youths; online and offline communication campaigns; and Environment Day – a contest for environment ideas and exhibition of environmentally friendly products by students of universities in Hanoi.

Sponsor representative of BAC A BANK, Ms. Vu Thu Hang shared: “After 1 year-companionship, I have noticed a remarkable majority in each young person. I would like to thank the project "Youth for Environment" of VSF, the advisory board and all partners for helping Green Eyes group develop and spread a lot of environmental messages. BAC A BANK is very proud of selecting a program/project that is truly valuable and suitable for our 5 pillars of sustainable development, which is linked to nature protection. This is also the central thought of Madame Thai Huong - General Director of BAC A BANK. Hopefully in the coming period, we will continue to accompany the project “Youth for Environment” and other projects of VSF to spread good values ​​to the community."

Ms. Vu Thu Hang - Sponsor representative of BAC A BANK

Nguyen Ba Khai - one of the core members of Green Eyes group - phase 1 touchedly shared: "Project Youth for Environment not only helps us gain more knowledge, encourages young people to make great efforts in environmental protection; but also helps us raise awareness, create more opportunities for us to participate in programs and projects related to communication and environment. We would like to thank VSF for giving us the opportunity to take part in this meaningful project, as well as thank the Advisory Board for guiding and supporting us during the last year. The project is a part of helping our youth become more meaningful.”

Nguyen Ba Khai - Core members of Green Eyes group - phase 1

“In the new stage of Green Eyes group, we hope to create more interesting content, to access new media methods to bring the project closer to young people, as well as engage in practical activities towards the environment," Le Minh Quan, a core member of Green Eyes group - phase 2 added.

Le Minh Quan - Core member of Green Eyes group - phase 2 

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Earth Journalism Network - a global network, established in 2004, promoted media/press activities on environmental problems. In 2020, the network seeks creative ideas from networks of journalists, media organizations, and academic organizations throughout Asia and the Pacific region with the aim to: Enhance media coverage and public awareness of environmental issues, such as climate change, pollution, biodiversity degradation, wildlife trafficking, usage and management of natural resources; Strengthen knowledge, skills, and collaboration at the national and regional levels for environmental reporting. In addition to financial sponsorship, the organizers also provide technical support and networking for sponsored units.

 [ii] 13 activities of the project include:

(1). On April 1, 2020, the project created Green Eyes group and its communication channel;

(2) Also in April, the project established an Advisory Board which consists of  the leading environment and communication experts

(3) On May 27, 2020: held project sharing workshop;

(4) On July 1, 2020, the first training for young people was “The fundamentals of environment”;

(5) On 7/7/2020, the project organized the training “Media writing skills”;

(6) On July 13, 2020, the third training “Communication planning skill” ended the training series for young people;

(7) On October 17, 2020, the project held Talkshow "Youth and businesses take action to reduce plastic waste pollution in Vietnam";

(8) On November 28, 2020: Talkshow “Youth and press - Act for a green environment”;

(9) On March 27, 2021: Talkshow "Youth and social organizations - Act for a green environment” and "Non-profit environmental film series introduction";

(10) From September 2020 to January 2021: conducting field trips in Cat Ba, Ha Giang, Nghe An;

(11) Creating a series of non-profit environmental short film;

(12) On July 29, 2020, the project launched “Initiative for Environment'' and sponsored 5 best projects.

(13) In May 2021, the expert assessed the effectiveness of the first stage of the project and proposed ideas for the final workshop.