Swedish Ambassador Ann Måwe joined students of A Túc Primary and Secondary School in central Quảng Trị Province in an activity to raise awareness against child, early and forced marriage. — Photo courtesy of the Embassy of Sweden

QUẢNG TRỊ — Students of A Túc Primary and Secondary School in central Quảng Trị Province participated in an event to raise awareness against child, early and forced marriage on Tuesday.

The activity was held as part of the Plan International’s signature Girls Takeover series in celebration of the International Day of the Girl (October 11th).

At the event, Swedish Ambassador Ann Måwe let a girl take over her role as a part of Girls Takeover. “Girls Takeover” is an initiative by Plan International to provide opportunities for girls to experience leadership roles in various fields.

Swedish Ambassador Ann Måwe said, “each of these last four years, I have had the opportunities to listen to energetic and resourceful girls. I have met girls who are proud leaders of their communities, girls who are brave to challenge harmful norms and stereotypes, they all aspire to lead the change they expect in a better world with gender equality. This is the reason we wish to support them and contribute to their empowerment.”

This year, H.T. Hậu (Pa Cô ethnic minority) and H.T. Hằng (Vân Kiều ethnic minority), students at A Túc School, had a chance to take over the positions of the Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Ann Måwe and Plan International’s Acting Country Director Phạm Thu Ba. They described to the two female leaders their and their peers’ struggles, namely child, early, and forced marriage. Hằng and Hậu also shared how they overcame challenges and their desire to create meaningful change to their community.

Hậu shared her excitement to take the position of the Swedish Ambassador to Việt Nam for the first time.

“Where I live, I have only seen female teachers and a Commune Vice Chairwoman, and I have never thought that women could be an Ambassador, or an Acting Country Director. Today, after “taking over”, I am honored and confident. I will do my utmost to become a helpful and capable person, to strike for a better life for myself and others, especially girls. I want them to understand that girls and boys are equal,” she said.

Ambassador Ann Måwe and Plan International’s Acting Country Director Ba observed and participated in A Túc School’s activities to raise awareness against child, early, and forced marriage and to introduce Em Vui, an online platform designed to empower the digital capacity of ethnic minority girls, boys and young women and men (age 10 to 24 years) through improving digital literacy skills and knowledge of online safety within the “Protection of girls and boys from cyber bullying and gender-based cyber violence” project.

The platform promises to be helpful for ethnic students to understand their rights, improve online safety capacity, and be able to protect themselves from potential harm, including human trafficking and child marriage, especially in a time when more children, adolescents and youth are using the internet for learning and accessing services.

Plan International’s Acting Country Director Ba said, “we strongly believe that project activities including offline promotion events like this and other online activities on Em Vui platform will not only improve the online safety knowledge and skills of ethnic youth but also offer them opportunities of self-development so that they can be the change they aspire in the future.”

On the same day, Ambassador Ann Måwe also visited Plan International’s Sponsored Children, who were supported by Swedish donors. — VNS