Final Round of "Youth Drivers for Change" Awards 2021

Mục lục Ẩn

1. “Youth Drivers for Change” Awards 2021

2. Final Round of the “Youth Drivers for Change” Awards 2021

“Youth Drivers for Change” Awards 2021

The “Youth Drivers for Change” Awards is a program organized by Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) under the Youth Drivers for Change project with funding from Irish Aid. Going through seasons, the program has recognized and honored abundant positive and creative contributions of young people across the country to social projects. This year, the “Youth Drivers for Change” Awards 2021 focuses on seeking projects of young people with the spirit of action for the sustainable development of the community and adaptation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic during the period of 2019 – 2021.

Final Round of the “Youth Drivers for Change” Awards 2021

The final Round of the “Youth Drivers for Change” Awards 2021 was taken place with many changes, this is the first year that the program was held ONLINE via the Zoom platform and was broadcast live on the CSDS VN fanpage. After nearly 3 months of selection and evaluation, the Organizers selected 5 excellent projects to enter the final round out of over 46 applications sent to the program.

List of 5 selected projects:

Hear. Us. Now
Online medical network in Viet Nam
Youth+ Community of self-direction and job connection for the youth
POSEIDONS
V.GEN STATION SUMMER COURSE

The final round 2021 received a great deal of attention from young people/community project teams throughout Vietnam, attracting nearly 200 direct and indirect followers via the Zoom platform. This year’s program had the participation and evaluation of the Jury panel with 41 members, who are from NGOs, representatives of universities, businesses/enterprises making impacts on society, the press, independent advisors to social projects and youth leaders who are active across the country.

In the opening speech at the final round of the “Youth Drivers for Change” Awards 2021, Mr. Don Tuan Phuong – Director of Center for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) said that currently, the youth movement to serve the community had been thriving in Vietnam. Young people had a lot of positive creative energy. Through the “Youth Drivers for Change” Awards 2021, “CSDS hopes that youth organizations will have opportunities to meet and connect with representatives of NGOs in Vietnam and internationally, representatives of universities, consultants in many different fields. Additionally, we expect that the social activities of the youth will be linked with the activities of businesses and entrepreneurs, thereby strengthening and expanding cooperation.”

Next, each team had 3 minutes to present their project – 12 minutes for them to answer direct questions of the judges. Many questions were raised around the operation, sustainability as well as connectivity of projects. In addition, questions about the professionalism, accuracy and science of a number of educational and medical projects were also concerned by the judges. This year’s awards included an assessment of support/adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was considered one of the highlights in line with the practical needs of society.

During the time when the judges scored the teams, the program created open discussion rooms, creating a connection space between individuals and youth organizations with mutual interests and operational goals. There were four main topics discussed:

Education, self-development
Medical – Health
Working with people with disabilities
Environment and policy advocacy on the environment

Award categories

With the spirit of urgent work and fairness of the judges, this year’s award selected 8 excellent teams with 6 award categories:

? 01 First Prize: Online medical network in Viet Nam

? 01 Second Prize: Hear. Us. Now

? 01 Third Prize: Youth+ Community of self-direction and job connection for the youth

? 03 “Prospect” Prizes:

V.GEN STATION SUMMER COURSE
POSEIDONS
Math Modelling Contest 2021 – Hanoi Math Modelling

? 01 Prize “The youth promote gender equality and diversity” was awarded by the Embassy of Ireland: Vietnam Asexual Awareness Week – Asexual in Vietnam

? 01 Prize “The highest online voted youth project” went to the project “Hanh trinh vang” – iGo Club

Sharing about the “Youth Drivers for Change” Awards 2021, Mr. Phan Dang Cuong – Senior Advisor on Strategy and Policy of the Irish Embassy shared, “This year is the 5th year that the Irish Embassy has accompanied the program “Youth Drivers for Change” of CSDS, although our partnership with CSDS has been much longer, we still consider this annual award as one of the key events of the project Youth Driver for Change as well as a highlight event in the Irish Embassy’s partnership with CSDS and one of the important activities on youth development, youth capacity building, team development.”

Despite the changes in organizational form, the “Youth Drivers for Change” Awards 2021 has been still a playground where young people could meet, exchange and broaden their network of connections with other departments in society. All 5 teams were highly appreciated by the judges for their practical and visionary activities to help solve social problems. The contest will be a stimulus for them to learn and improve from the contributions of the judges, the organizers, and not only stop at the current results, but they will try harder in the next steps to achieve this goal which “can bring the most value of dedication and youth to the community” – Huynh Le Thai Bao, representative of the Online medical network in Viet Nam – the project won the first prize in the contest.

Closing the journey of the program “Youth Drivers for Change” Awards 2021, the organizers of the program once again congratulate the winning teams. And CSDS hopes that this will be a great encouragement for the youth/community project groups to continue to contribute and confidently participate in the program in the upcoming seasons.