Vietnam Youth Forum

Changemaker: Uyen Nguyen

Vietnam Youth Forum (VYF) 2010 took place between July 18th and 22nd in Hanoi, Vietnam. Participants of the Forum were young people aged 16-22 who were concerned about the current and future development of Vietnam. The forum provided its 30 participants with an opportunity to connect, discuss, and learn from each other about critical issues that Vietnam and the world are facing nowadays.

The issues that were presented and discussed at VYF10 included culture preservation, education reforms, sustainable development, and environment protection. VYF10 integrated a wide range of activities: guest-speakers’ lectures, roundtable discussion, debate, workshops and field trips in order to create an interactive environment where participants could maximize their potentials and come up with their own solutions to social issues. VYF 2010 was a continuation of VYF 2008 (June 25-29, 2008) and VYF 2009 (July 20-25, 2009), both of which were well-received by participants and guest speakers. After the two Forums, many participants created their independent projects related to the environment, education and gender equity.

VYF 2010 will revolve around the theme of “Change.” Accordingly, the slogan for this year’s forum is set to be: “Youth – The Seed of Changes” VYF 2010 did not limit discussions to structural changes at macro scale. The Forum familiarized participants with the idea how they can change themselves – their mindsets and lifestyles – before working to change the society for the better. After the conference, participants of similar interests formed working groups or started their own project with the support of VYF Board members.

Our Goals:

• Help VYF participants broaden and deepen their knowledge of social issues.

• Equip VYF participants with essential skills for starting and running a project such as leadership, organizing, presentation, social interaction, teamwork. – Create a network of passionate and committed young leaders.