The best ideas of young Vietnamese teams and individuals were honoured at the Youth ambassador for sustainable development awards ceremony held in HCM City on January 9. — Photo courtesy of ActionAid

HCM CITY — Young Vietnamese with creative ideas for sustainable development for ASEAN countries were honoured on Monday in HCM City.

The "Youth ambassador for sustainable development" awards were co-organised by the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities under the Việt Nam National University - HCM City (VNU-HCM), Centre for ASEAN Human Resource Research and Training (CAHRRT), Aid for social protection programme Foundation Vietnam (AFV), and ActionAid International Vietnam (ActionAid).

The awards aim to recognise contributions from the youth from ASEAN countries to build an integrated, resilient, and sustainably developed ASEAN.

It focuses on four main themes, including environment protection, sustainable development, climate adaptation and promoting the youth's role in implementing sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The organising committee received a number of well-prepared initiatives with a high possibility of application.

The initiatives focus on solving problems related to smart cities adapting to climate change; gender equality; mental health care for young people after the COVID-19 pandemic; small enterprises and livelihoods for disadvantaged groups with a digital application; and environmental protection and solutions based on the digital economy.

Nine outstanding initiatives were selected to enter the interview round and pitch in the final round.

The judges' committee evaluated and awarded prizes to initiatives from individuals and groups from Việt Nam and Indonesia.

The value of the prizes was from VNĐ20 million (US$850) to VNĐ100 million ($4,245), which helps the winning teams and individuals realise their initiatives with support from specialists in the upcoming year.

Vietnamese youths won one first prize, one second prize, one third prize and two encouragement prizes at the first awarding ceremony.

A student team from the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities won first prize with the topic "Improving the capacity to build and develop support networks for women in small-scale production and businesses in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta in the context of digital transformation."

The topic was honored for its practicality for not only providing solutions to increase income but also contributing to the implementation of policies on gender equality, capacity building and self-reliance for rural women in the delta.

“Through this award, young people are motivated to improve their capacity, empowered to incubate social project ideas and develop a youth network that is active in solving social issues,” Phan Thanh Định, vice principal of the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, said.

ASEAN is seriously affected by rising sea levels, unusual floods, landslides, forest fires caused by climate change, unsustainable exploitation and use of resources, and environmentally unfriendly production methods.

It has a population of nearly 700 million people, of which 34 per cent are young people aged from 15 to 34.

This award is an effort to create space and resources for young people to implement their initiatives and contribute to building an adaptive, integrated, and sustainable ASEAN.

It launches within the framework of the project “Engaging youth as global citizens in Việt Nam,” which aims at equipping Vietnamese youth with necessary skills to be proactive and confident in proposing and implementing initiatives, and leading their community to participate in actions responding to climate change and achieving SDGs.  — VNS