The project aims to educate disadvantaged young people growing up in SOS villages about environmental protection and sustainable development, as well as empower them to solve local issues.
The project is being implemented from November 2023 to November 2024 with a total budget of 6,600 EUR from Sparkfunding.
Youths from 14 SOS Children's Villages across Vietnam are provided with opportunities to work with local partners, NGOs, and other social organisations to implement projects to improve the quality of life for children and adults in their villages and in the community.
Project participants are introduced to the UN’s Youth Participation and receive support to establish Self-Governing Councils, which can help to design their own project proposals and implement the project for 1 year.
As a result, 14 out of 17 SOS Children's Villages in Vietnam have established Self-Governing Youth Councils to work with local staff to implement projects on solving community problems, aiming at the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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A recycled fashion show was held as part of the project |
The reason why the project targets youth in SOS Children's Villages is that these youths have a narrower social network and less access to external resources. They need to be given learning opportunities to help unlock their potential, strengthen their social connections, and integrate into the community.
Therefore, building a network of connections, learning, and empowering this group of youths, who are considered vulnerable, will help them become more confident and self-reliant.
Over the past year, 14 projects by young people at SOS Children's Villages in 14 provinces and cities across the country have demonstrated their creativity and understanding as well as their sense of responsibility to the community.
The projects focus on solving environmental problems through practical activities such as redesigning and reusing old trash cans or barrels to make trash cans or waste collection and sorting areas; using scraps and leftover fabrics to design clothes; organising fashion shows with gender equality themes; and making paintings, dolls, hairpins, and handicrafts from scraps.
Some projects set up venues to exchange inorganic waste (milk cartons/plastic bottles) and organic waste for gifts (cans/plants/organic fertilisers).
Some project members have coordinated with local young people and officials to organise communication activities, such as cycling and hanging slogans at crowded places, which state: “Release fish, don't release trash.”
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Collecting milk cartons for recycling. |
Other projects focus on building documents on children's rights in child-friendly language and images through organising drawing classes and discussions on issues related to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. These events were attended by experts on child protection.
Under the ‘Youth Power 3.0: Gen Z – Say Yes’ project, a total of 504 young people have been trained on Youth Participation and Environmental Protection, while 330 young people have directly participated as project coordinators from 14 Villages.
Among them, a representative from the Da Lat Village Self-Management Council was selected to attend the 8th ASEAN Children's Forum in Laos, and a representative from the Nha Trang Village Self-Management Council was nominated for the Generation Hope - Child & Youth Participation for Solutions in Climate Action fund, which was founded by the ChildFund Asia Regional Office.
Empowering young people, especially disadvantaged young people from SOS children's villages, not only helps to raise their awareness of environmental issues and environmental protection, but also fuels them with confidence and the ability to make and implement plans as well as develop many necessary skills to move towards the future.
The ‘Youth Power 3.0: Gen Z – Say Yes’ project also succeeds in affirming youth’s role in the community, thereby helping them change their perception of themselves and encourage them to share their understanding and knowledge with everyone.
