Workshop online: Never too young to be a Green Leader

Being part of Children's Forum 2020, on the morning of August 6th, 2020, the online workshop "Never too young to be a Green Leader" was held through Zoom Meeting.

The workshop launched with the attention of Mr. Koen Duchateau -  Head of Cooperation Delegation of the European Union (EU); Mrs. Nguy Thi Khanh - Director of the Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID) and especially 02 young environmental activists - Kayte and Nyla from the US. It had attracted nearly 200 students, parents and teachers from many schools in Hanoi to participate in the workshop.

At the opening ceremony of Children's Forum 2020, Mr.Koen  spoke: “The European Union in Vietnam is promoting activities about clean energy and eco-friendly lifestyle. Therefore, we really need young people, Green Leaders who have a voice and creative ideas in the community to solve social and environmental issues.

Mr. Koen Duchateau speaking at the workshop

As the first Vietnamese to win the Goldman Environmental Prize, Mrs. Nguy Thi Khanh shared some experiences and motivations for students: “To become a Green Leader, at first, you need to have desire to be an influential person and a contributor to society. We now live in a challenging world with many social and environmental issues. If each individual is not being aware of those, we will not be able to solve the problems that we have to face in the future. If we don't act now, when?”

Mrs. Nguy Thi Khanh shared some experiences and motivations for students

Besides, 2 young environmental activists - Kayte and Nyla shared about impact of climate change and motivation for students to become Green Leaders. They suggested that young people should do small activities first and gradually raise their voices in school, community and even in global climate change forums. They also motivate students to have practical contribution to the environment and apply learned knowledge into creative ideas for sustainable development.

Not only delivering speech, Kayte and Nyla also answered Vietnamese student's questions helping them have a better view of what they can do now. Small actions such as classifying and recyling waste, reducing power consumption and propagating to family members and friends will make big impact on the environment. Moreover, students have an opportunity to participate in activities for changes of NGOs like GreenID, bringing their green solutions and voice closer to policy makers.

A game named "Finding Clean Air and Green Energy" had been held with the view to creating an interactive and joyful space for students to gain more knowledge about energy and air pollution. Top 9 students who had quickest and most correctly answers received lovely gifts from GreenID.

The interesting questions help students gain more knowledge about energy and air

Result of the game

We believe that after the workshop, all students have gained a lot of knowledge and motivation to pursue their dreams of becoming "Green Leaders". Vietnamese students are all young people with lots of positive energy and good ideas. Let's study hard and apply what you learned to real situations that we are facing and find solutions for them. And take action now because: "Change starts with me, change starts with us".

This activity is part of the project "Civil society meets RE&EE: training, seminar and communication skills to boost RE&EE as a key tool for sustainable development and green growth strategy in Vietnam (E-Enhance)", funded by the EU.