Empower Young Climate Activists in Vietnam

Dear supporters of CHANGE Vietnam,

I am happy to share with you about the follow-up projects after Vietnam Climate Leadership Camp (VCLC) 2017. With your support we were able to complete VCLC last year and continue the follow-up projects with three dedicated young project leaders.

Project leader, Lê Thi Thanh Tuyen, established CYCIAE (Center of Youth Community Innovation and Action for the Environment) and aims to organize 16 workshops from April to August 2018 for 40 university students in Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province. The topics of the workshops include climate change, project management skills, ways to explore and develop themselves for environmental education, etc. She has completed 6 workshops and had positive and encouraging feedback from the students.

Another project initiated by Lê Hoài Phong and Nguyen Thi Bích Trâm is called R-access and they are organizing 5 classes (3 completed) for 30 primary school students in Tra Vinh City, Tra Vinh Province from April to July 2018. The classes introduce climate change issues and teach the students how to live a greener life in the Mekong Delta which is vulnerable to climate impact. Phong and Trâm also help to install LED lights in the classroom for energy saving and place recycling bins for students to do waste sortation.

With your support, the project leaders are able to carry out what they learnt from VCLC 2017 and empower the young Vietnamese in the ongoing climate projects. The seed of hope is growing slow but it starts!

CHANGE Vietnam sincerely thanks for your kind support to enable the change among the young generation. Please see the full report in the attachment. 

To support the upcoming VCLC 2018, please contact us.

Sincerely yours,

Lê Van Tien Phát

phatle@changevn.org

Project Manager of VCLC, CHANGE Vietnam

• Full follow-up report (PDF)
  

I. Project overview:

Date

 27 November – 02 December 2017

Objective

1. To build capacity (campaigning skillsets: community organizing, communications and project management) for the local young climate activists who will carry out campaigns in communities affected by climate change.
2. To provide local young activists with tools and tactics to strategically fight against coal expansion in their provinces.
3. To build a network of campaigners in the south.

Participant

28 youth: 23 university students, 1 high school student, 1 university lecturer, 3 non-governmental organization workers

Budget (USD)

8,348 raised, 5,405 used, 2,943 remaining for follow-up projects. 

II. Project overall evaluation:

• Although the camp was delayed to November due to insufficient funding in time, VCLC 2017 went well overall. Lots of potential climate leaders had been found from different backgrounds: students, lecturers, photographers, NGO staffs, etc. They had participated enthusiastically during the camp and keep in touch after the camp.
• Participants learnt about issues of climate change and environmental degradation.
• Participants were equipped with skills and knowledge about leadership, teamwork and 350 campaigning skills.
• The best 5 projects submitted by the camp participants in January 2018 will be supported by VCLC fund.

III. Follow up:

VCLC 2017 will be followed up by the below activities

1. In January 2018, we will collect camp participants’ project plans

     and choose the most promising ones to support financially. The

     result will be announced by March.

2. For next camp, VCLC 2018, we start planning and applying for  

     fund/grants in order to execute the project in other region of

     Vietnam, such as central or northern region.

Links:

• report video from Thanh Nien

• VCLC phase 1 report (PDF)
  

Dear our valuable donors and prospects,

Thanks to a highly effective crowdfunding campaign in September, we were able to kick off the 1st phase of Vietnam Climate Leadership Camp (VCLC) and will continue our crowdfunding for 2nd phase in November. I would like to update our progress so far as below:

#Fundraising

Until 31 Oct we have raised $8,380 of $11,986 goal (69% achieved) from crowdfunding, corporate partners and non-profit organizations. YES! With your help we are able to hold the first year VCLC in the Mekong Delta which is the most climate-vulnerable area in Vietnam.

In order to give the best quality of training to the young participants in VCLC and to provide sufficient financial support to their follow-up local initiatives, we are trying our best to raise the rest $3,606 (31%) on Global Giving or our own Donate page www.changevn.org/donate.

#Phase 1 progress

VCLC phase 1 will be held in An Giang, Vietnam from Nov 28 to Dec 2 and the recruitment of camp participants have just finished with more than 160 applications from Mekong Delta young people. There're many potential projects submitted that inspires us to follow up in the 2nd phase to empower them to bring it into life.

#Phase 2 preparation

Learning from past experiences and some other environmental leadership training events, we realized that without specific follow-up coordination efforts, only very small percentage of the participants of these events could maintain the enthusiasm to continue their leadership role with the climate movement. Therefore, we need to work closely and motivate them to ensure successful implementation of their community-based projects.

Beneficiaries of this phase will not only be the members of the best 5 teams who will run the most impactful  projects, but also the  people who are most vulnerable to climate change, or affected by pollution, or energy crisis, including: women, children, elderly and poor people. With continuing support from CHANGE to the local youth, we believe that VCLC projects can scale up to a nationwide movement and sustain the model in coming years if this first year pilot proves to be effective.

Until VCLC 2017 is completed, we will be sending you a report about the outcome and the youth’s feedback. You'll know what your donation has helped fund, what accomplishments we have achieved.

Please consider telling your friends and family about our project and work with us to achieve the fundraising goal. $3,606 is still needed to sponsor for participant’s follow up projects. 

With gratitude,

Nguyen Minh Thu (Ms.)

Links:

• VCLC kick off