With support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), on December 7, 2020, The Institute of Population, Health and Development (PHAD), Nguyen Du Secondary School, the Institute of International Economics and Law (IIEL), the Institute for Sustainable Development Management (MSD), and the Center for Sustainable Community Development (SCODE) and other organizations have co-organized the Final Round “Finding The Ambassador of The Country 2020″ at Nguyen Du Secondary School, Hanoi. This is an activity within the framework of the “Water Ambassador 2020” Behavior Change Communication campaign aimed at school-aged children under the USAID-funded “Vietnam For Environmental Health Activities” project. The event also aims to mobilize resources to support the construction of a school water supply station for Waterfall Love Kindergarten, Tam Tang town, Tam Tang district, Lai Chau province. Attending the event were representatives from Nam Tu Liem District Education and Training Department, representatives of Hanoi City Council and Nam Tu Liem District, representatives of PHAD Institute, IIEL, MSD, and SCODE center, and representatives of schools participating in the contest and all students of Nguyen Du Secondary School and reporters.

The contest and media activity “Finding Water Ambassadors 2020” has used innovative and child-friendly approaches to educate children on the protection, safe and economical use of water as well as the importance of sanitation. Right from the preliminary round, the program has attracted about 10 thousand students from Nguyen Du Secondary School, My Dinh 1 Secondary School, Ly Nam To Secondary School, Cau Cau Secondary School, Nam Tu Liem Secondary School, Trung Van Secondary School, My Dinh Secondary School 2, Luong The Vinh Secondary School in Nam Tu Liem District, Thai Thinh Secondary School (Dong Da District), Chuong Duong Secondary School , and Trung Vuong Secondary School (Hoan Kiem District) participated in the selection of the 40 best students to participate in the Final Round. In the Final Round, 40 students went through the Golden Bell Contest to learn about water, and the 7 best students who passed the Golden Bell challenge continued with the rhetoric. The preparation of the elaborate rhetoric of the 7 best students has made all stakeholders, teachers and students admired with knowledge, data, clear messages in protecting the environment, especially water protection in Vietnam. Your main messages include: “Water is essential but limited, we must save water with small daily actions such as turning off the faucet, using enough water, re-utilize the cleanser to irrigate plants, etc.”, “Water is our life, protect the water source”, “We are our own water source”, “We are our own water , each student, teacher, parent, individual, etc. who is responsible for protecting water resources, using water properly in daily activities”. You all deserve to be the Best Water Ambassadors of 2020. The judges selected the 7 best contestants to award 3 Style Ambassador Awards and 4 Ambassadors of the Country award in 2020. These 7 students received the reward of a 3-day, 2-night field trip to Tam Tang town, Tam Tang district, Lai Chau province to bring the message of the Ambassador of Water and Clean Water to The Waterfall Love Kindergarten, and 4 water ambassadors received the gift of a small project worth VND 500,000 per contestant. This money will be used by the children to carry out small projects to propagate and spread the role and meaning of clean water in life.

Actively participating in the contest “Finding The Ambassador of The Country 2020″, Ha Anh, 6th grade, said “I really love this event. I learned a lot of interesting knowledge about water and the need to use water economically as well as to protect water sources. In particular, I love the song “Wash Your hands!”. When I get home, I’ll teach you, my sisters, my brothers and my friends! I have been chosen to be one of the Ambassadors of the Country in 2020, I will make efforts to protect the water resources with my friends.”
The transfer activities of the 2019 Ambassadors are the students, transferred to the new ambassadors in 2020 are secondary students and will continue to look for ambassadors 2021 is a great succession of young people who make up the change. The Image of the Ambassador will convey a positive message about the future generation of the country living with the desire to cultivate understanding, responsibility and sharing with the community, especially for rural and mountainous areas with difficulties in accessing clean water.

In addition to the final round of “Finding Water Ambassadors 2020″, the event also had a variety of activities to communicate and interact with more than 600 students of Nguyen Du Secondary School and participating schools through warm-up games, the play “Water Ambassador Journey 2019″ performed by the Ambassadors of The Country 2019 and flashmob dance with the steps of washing hands of students in the lesson. singing “Wash your hands!” written by musician Nguyen Van Chung exclusively for the Water Ambassador program, etc. Real activities give children the opportunity to share perspectives and a positive, fun, interactive and effective learning space to change attitudes and behaviors towards water use and protection. By supporting the construction of a clean water supply station for Thu Love Kindergarten, the event also aims to spread and replicate communication activities and mobilize resources to more effectively mobilize local resources to carry out water and sanitation activities in rural areas and poor mountainous areas of Vietnam.


Mr. Nguyen Kieu Cuong, Project Director said: “Children are the most affected by clean water. However, we believe that if properly propagated and shared knowledge, children are also the most accessible and changing object, can even share and impact adults. At the same time, we want the media event to spread, so that communities, localities, businesses, and donors can join hands to solve the problem of water and sanitation.”

In the coming time, PHAD Institute, MSD Institute and partners will continue the series of education and communication activities using clean water properly and economically to schools and mobilize the participation and contribution of localities, communities, businesses and other stakeholders in supporting environmental health protection for children and communities.
For more information, please contact phad@phad.org
Contact: Le Nguyen Ha Trang – Project Officer
The USAID-funded “Local Activities for Environmental Health” project is a five-year initiative funded by USAID and implemented by PHAD Institute and partners to enhance the capacity of local organizations and strengthen cooperation in addressing environmental health challenges in a practical and sustainable way , especially water issues related to public health. The project focuses on addressing water issues related to public health in Ha Nam and Thanh Hoa through the mobilization of resources and diverse participation of local organizations to enhance access to clean water and sanitation toilets in poor communes. The project also aims to provide sustainable solutions through the application of local initiatives to address water and living issues: https://bit.ly/2KT0uZE
The Institute for Health and Development Population (PHAD) phad institute is a scientific and technical non-profit organization that is a member of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA). PHAD appreciates the spirit of long-term cooperation at work and always strives to provide independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policy makers, health professionals, private and public organizations. PHAD believes that people deserve to live in a healthy economic and social environment and have good mental and physical health. PHAD is an interdisciplinary research organization oriented towards understanding and improving the health of the people, especially women and social groups that are vulnerable, through research, training, and community health support interventions. Learn more about PHAD at the http://www.phad.org Institute for Sustainable Development Management (MSD) As a Vietnamese NGO, MSD strives to act for a developmental environment cons favourable to the development of social organizations and promote the realization of the rights of marginalized and vulnerable community groups, especially children, young people, women and people with disabilities. MSD’s Vietnamese Family Program focuses on efforts to support children’s and families’ rights in Children’s Rights Education, Child Rights Governance, Global Citizen Education, Population Citizenship, Environmental Protection Ambassadors Protecting Children from Violence, Abuse, Promoting Child and Youth Participation Rights, and learning about MSD at: http://msdvietnam.org |