In November 2020, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Sunwah Group in Vietnam, Sunwah Foundation has cooperated with Vietnam National University, Hanoi to launch the “50 Young Environmental Ambassadors in Vietnam in 2020” in Hanoi, with the participation of 50 students from various universities across Vietnam. After a five-day training course conducted by environmental experts in Vietnam and overseas, these students returned to their university and community to prepare and implement various environmental projects.
On 17 April 2021, the Final Pitching Session of the “50 Student Environmental Ambassadors in Vietnam 2020” project was successfully held virtually, with the participation of the students and the board of judges, including Ms Betty Chan – Executive Director of Sunwah Foundation, Ms Do Van Nguyet – Director of Live&Learn Vietnam, and Dr Truong Ngoc Kiem – Vietnam National University Hanoi (VNUHN) Youth Union’s Secretary. Fifty Student Ambassadors have implemented their projects, funded by Sunwah Foundation, over three months from December 2020 to March 2021. The projects covered a wide range of fields including environmental workshops, social media campaigns, educational activities, business and scientific research to raise awareness in the public as well as find new solutions regarding environmental protection.
The board of judges was impressed by the excellence in launching the projects. Many of them have created impactful events with exceptional growth in social media and public engagement. The Student Environmental Ambassadors also proved the effects of their projects through successfully fundraising and attracting attention and support from local government and other environmental NGOs in Vietnam.
All of the presented projects are set to be continued and scaled up in the coming time, even after the “50 Student Environmental Ambassadors in Vietnam 2020” project is completed. Sunwah Foundation will continue to support and act as a bridge to connect these meaningful projects with related partners, institutions of the Sunwah Foundation network, not only in Vietnam but worldwide.
At the end of the Final Pitching Session, the board of judges announced the team of Sunwah Global Young Leaders Network (GYLN), Ho Chi Minh City Chapter with their project namely I CAN as the Winner of the “50 Student Environmental Ambassadors in Vietnam 2020” Project Competition. The “I CAN” project is a biodiversity education project, which aims to raise awareness of students about biodiversity and ecosystem conservation in Kon Plông – Kontum (central highland of Vietnam), encouraging school administration to apply biodiversity learning activity into the education program for all applied secondary school in Kon Plông through the instructional guideline developed by the project team and experts.
Besides, 4 other projects were given the Outstanding Project Awards including “Green Closet” by Sunwah GYLN Hanoi Chapter members; “Use-less Plastic” by University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City students; “Purple Petal” by Hue University students, and “GASED” by University of Sciences, Vietnam National University Hanoi students (a new initiative of converting agriculture residues to sustainable energy). All of the 5 above-mentioned projects will continue to receive special support from Sunwah Foundation and Sunwah’s worldwide network of partners. The Winning team also received sponsorship for a training and exchange program at the University of Alberta in Canada.
The Final Pitching Session concluded the “50 Student Environmental Ambassadors in Vietnam 2020” started in November 2020. The project received numerous positive feedbacks and thank-you notes from all stakeholders, achieving its mission of connecting like-minded young people and encouraging them to inspire other people to protect our environment together.