Lens on Mekong
We realised there is a lack of understanding of the personal narratives of local farmers among these environmental challenges and their hope for the future. We held panel discussions with 6 scientists from Vietnam, taught youths the art of empathy and interviewed farmers to better understand their lives. At the end of the workshop, our participants created authentic videos highlighting the challenges of farmers. Through the spread on social media, our videos can potentially attract scientists and entrepreneurs to Vietnam and help to alleviate the situation.
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Key messages
Lens on Mekong allows us to learn a sense of Humanity and Empathy. Whenever we go there, people treat us to meals although they are not wealthy. In the lesson of empathy, it’s more than understanding their problems. It's also about respecting their choices and not imposing our opinions on how they should lead their lives.
We are proud of Lens on Mekong though it is a small drop in the ocean of this abstract concept of climate change. We have encountered rejection, criticism, doubt, yet what is unwavering inside us is … Energy, Love, and Hope. What we hope is to spread the message of across the world to make people care about these issues. We need to share responsibility and empathize with the Mekong community. Have you tried to listen to Mekong ’s voice that is waiting to be heard?
Lesson 1: Awareness about interdependence among countries.
Recognise that your actions have impacts on another country. Even a country like Singapore that is not connected to Vietnam - buys illegal sand. We are all connected by trade, challenges and potential solutions. We need to recognise that the effects of the region will eventually come back to hurt us and the future generations. Vietnam is the 3rd biggest exporter of rice. Environmental catastrophe can decrease the volume of food and price volatility in the world.
Lesson 2: The community need stronger enforcement and better engagement.
The locals’ awareness about environmental protection is not high enough, many of them lack education. Their life is at risk with unmanaged waste which require behavior changes. Many people work under harsh conditions and barely make ends meet. The suggested solution is that the communities could raise their voice in these conferences and participate in the decision making process.
Lesson 3: Youths are a strong agent to drive change.
Youths have passion and creativity to convey messages but lack guidance and resources. Youths are thriving to have a global mind by delving into the culture to understand their problems and their innovations. They try to see what they can bring over or bring back to their country. However, we struggled to communicate with public systems in the licensing process. We need stronger support and collaboration with the public sectors to make things happen.
Me as a panelist when I was 20!
Spoke on behalf of Lens on Mekong in the Regional Forum on Building Resilient Asian Deltas, WWF International, Bangkok (10, 2019).
The experience was refreshing! I have never interested in giving speech in Conferences because of the limited knowledge. WWF reached out to me after seeing us on the documentary of BBC. I was so nervous to join the panels, I knew there would be big figures! So I sent out my presentation "Script" to my beloved professors at School of Global Studies to have their feedback. I want to make sure what I want to say makes sense to the audience! And my team leader told me "Just say what you know, and know what you talk about". All of this support gave me the confidence to sit in the same rows with other people from the UN, Embassies and government. I shared what we learnt and some impacts our work achieved, without no slides eventually.
My takeaways from this event: The purpose of the conference itself is beautiful and inclusive. I do appreciate WWF for giving me a chance to share our voice, on behalf of Lens on Mekong, and understanding about the global issues. The most meaningful lesson to me is the emphasis on nature reservation which should be integrated within transnational boundary and a need of a transparency framework to build the joined knowledge related to climate change and environmental vulnerability. There are 2 key take-away messages to spread to my community including bringing people together to share knowledge and always observing what is happening outside. It is true that we cannot solve problems alone, but we can do it with others joining hands, and that is truly what has made our project happen in Vietnam. For the next step, we are planning to reach out to the amazing WWF communication team who could enable our media-messages to go further. The message is that what Mekong people are suffering is beyond climate change - it's their life and death."
The core element project
Becoming the Co-founder of The Core Element Project has much bettered my personal development. Our mission is to facilitate young people in Hanoi to activate their self-development through building workshops and online campaigns. The period to launch the project helped me to find out the definition of leadership on my own. Leadership must be the combination of individual self-awareness and community connection.
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What I learnt from TCEP
My first step to work on a social project
Connection
Within 3 days of training, 20 different people got so close to each other and formed 3 different groups working on 3 fields of sustainable development. Such special techniques as games and activities gave us mutual understanding to be united and collaborate to pursue a common goal- brand new projects. The power of connection helped us to choose our partners to continue the mission in the afterward 4 months. I realize each individual might harbor many ideas to solve problems, but we can not tackle them unless we are connected and find out suitable companions to overcome difficulties on the social work journey.
Project running and problem solving
Normally, most of people misunderstand naming problems is naming the ways to solve the problems. For instance, while the problem is the lack of soft skills among students, it is identified how to better students’ soft skills. The coaching process with experienced people facilitated me to look at issues from different perspectives in a systematic way.
For the first time, I accessed different tools to recognize my real interest to solve social issues, see my potential to start a new project with new people. The SMART strategy scales the project whether it is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound. I got certain skills to run a project like managing risks by preparing backup plans and accounting budget. LIFE MAP is a reflecting tool for me to review my life from the current moment and imagine about the future that I want to continue. The 6 THINKING HATs stimulates individuals to step into everyone’s shoes to find ways to form groups to work together...
Trust and Determination
Difficult times hardly separated my team though we got stuck with ideas or lack of fund. We know how to identify problems but there are so many things to focus on and it was not easy to point out one specific direction to follow. Eventually, we determined to conduct successful workshops and outcomes for our strong trust in one another, particularly in our leader. So far, I am aware that trust is the weapon to maintain any relationship and survive in this complex life.