Vietnam Youth Parliament - Mekong Chapter

(VNYP-Mekong)
Concept Note
Background

The Mekong delta region, home to more than 20 million Vietnamese people, has an important
role to play in national food security and has great potential for development.1 However, the
region is also suffering from the negative impacts of climate change (CC) such as drought,
saltwater intrusion in the dry season and floods, landslides in the rainy season, affecting the
socio-economic development and infrastructure of the region.2 These challenges could put the
Mekong Delta at risk of being wiped out by the end of the twenty-first century3 without the strong
involvement of stakeholders, in which young people play an important role.

According to a survey by the British Council, 69% of Vietnamese youth said they would like to
contribute to addressing environmental issues and climate change.4 However, young people
lack awareness of their role, knowledge, capacity and confidence to participate in policy-making
processes as well as access to channels of dialogue on this topic.5 To eliminate these barriers, it
is important to create safe spaces for young people to participate in policy processes, improve
political literacy, and advocacy capacity.6 VNYP-Mekong was established with the mission of
addressing these issues, in order to increase the participation of young people in policy
advocacy focusing on 03 urgent regional themes related to energy, water, and agriculture.

Project Overview

Viet Nam Youth Parliament (VNYP) is an educational project aimed at raising awareness, role,
and capacity of Vietnamese youth in the country's legal and policy-making process. VNYP was
founded in 2016 by a group of young intellectuals interested in the role of the young generation
in the country's policy-making process.

Inheriting from the VNYP model that was successfully applied to 220 young people in two
simulation seasons of the Vietnam Youth Parliament (2016 - 2018), the Vietnam Youth
Parliament - Mekong Chapter (VNYP-Mekong) project is initiated to build a network of
pioneering youth in the Mekong Delta region and the Southeast Vietnam – who play a major role
in contributing positively to the sustainable development and adaptation to climate change of the
region through climate advocacy activities based on indigenous knowledge, cultural diversity
and social equality. Specifically, the project will nurture and build the capacity of 90 typical young

1
People's Police Newspaper - Climate change and the Mekong River story (2020)
2
Current situation and impacts of climate change on economic development in the Mekong Delta - Mr. Nguyen Quynh Hoa (2017).
3
Climate change risks drowning the Mekong Delta - IHE Delft Institute for Water Education (2022).
4
Next Generation Vietnam Report – British Council (2020).
5
Special Report: Youth For Climate Action in Vietnam 2022 - UNDP Vietnam (2022)
6
Climate Action and Green Economy with Children and Youth in the Mekong Region – UNICEF (2021)
people of the Mekong region through a series of training activities, seminars, simulation
sessions and social projects; and more than 5,000 other young people through communication
activities.

Project Goals and Objectives

Goal: Building a network of potential Mekong youth leaders who actively contribute to
sustainability of the region through climate advocacy activities based on local knowledge,
cultural diversity, and social equality.

Objectives:

1. Objective 1: Mekong Youth Leaders understand the root cause of regional issues in
selected themes, local knowledge, relevant stakeholders, and current national policies to
support the transition of the region.
2. Objective 2: Kickoff youth innovation process and policy engagement through Local
Conference of Youth - Mekong Chapter and Extracurricular Activities to generate a youth
manifesto and help the youth to ideate practical solutions to solve climate change related
issues in the region.
3. Objective 3: Turning speech into actions through implementation of selected youth
solutions with two awarded mini sub-grants for three focus themes.

Beneficiaries

The program will recruit 90 young people from the age of 18 - 29 who are studying and working
in any field from the following provinces and cities are divided into 3 committees, each
committee of 30 delegates:

● Southeast Committee: Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Binh
Phuoc, Tay Ninh
● Lower Mekong Delta Committee: Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu,
Vinh Long, Ca Mau
● Upper Mekong Delta Committee: Hau Giang, Long An, Dong Thap, An Giang, Can Tho,
Kien Giang

Each committee was then further subdivided into 03 sub-committees, each 10-person
subcommittee focusing on 03 main topics of the program:

● Energy Transition
● Water Resources Management and Protection
● Climate Resilience Agriculture

In addition, project activities and public awareness campaigns will be carried out on the official
Facebook page throughout the project to reach out to at least 5000 people.
Tentative Timeline
Contact Information

If you need further information, please contact the project team via email as below:

1. Nguyen Hai Linh

Representative of Vietnam Youth Parliament (VNYP) & Head of External Affairs
Email: hailinh.work@gmail.com

2. Nguyen Son Tra

Representative and Leader of Vietnam Youth Parliament - Mekong Chapter
(VNYP-Mekong) & Head of Program Development
Email: sontranguyen2871@gmail.com