Young Leaders Forum: Engaging young people in building a sustainable future
On Saturday the 4th of September, the Australia-Vietnam Leadership Dialogue (AVLD) hosted the virtual Young Leaders Forum (YLF) as part of the 2021 Dialogue. The forum is entirely youth-led and youth-designed, providing an opportunity for attendees to hear from UNESCO Representative and 2021 AVLD delegates from various sectors, including health, agriculture, arts, technology, business, education, tourism and media, from Vietnam and Australia about ways to build a better and more sustainable future.
Over 500 young people from all over Vietnam interested in sustainability registered for the YLF and eagerly asked questions to further understand how they can contribute in their own lives and communities, and in light of a new COVID normal world. The forum is a highlight of the structured Dialogue program, underlined the main focus on young people at the forefront of achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a clear emphasis on the following themes:
- Gender Equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
- Reduced Inequalities: reduce inequality within and among countries.
- Climate Action: take urgent action to combat climate change and its impact.
- Responsible Consumption and Production: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Hosting the event, Ms Sylvia Nguyen – AVYLD 2019 Alumni, CEO at Alphanam Real Estate JSC and Founder of Alphanam Green Foundation, shared her story where she sees her role in the private sector as a change agent for driving positive and sustainable impact: “Young people are becoming more vocal and active in social issues. Now more than ever, it is essential that young people are given the opportunity to learn and equipped with skills so that they can turn their dreams into actions and scalable impacts. The Forum has provided a key opportunity for young Vietnamese to gain a better understanding of the SDGs and opportunities to achieve these goals”.
One of the highlights of the event was a Jamboard filled with actions that attendees were going to take after the event. These actions ranged from taking public transport and bike to school, opting in for reusable bottles, to committing to evenly sharing household chores.
The forum also marks the launch of RISE – AVLD’s first ever social impact platform that allows passionate and action-oriented Vietnamese youth, aged between 16 and 24, to assemble, brainstorm and collaborate to create impactful solutions for a sustainable future. To learn more about RISE follow www.facebook.com/risetogethervietnam on Facebook or visit www.werise.vn.
The Young Leaders Forum is proudly sponsored by the NSW Government. On this milestone, Director International Education, Investment NSW, said: “As entrepreneurs of change, these young leaders build people to people links and collaboration across our borders – whether in education, health, science or trade – learning from one another and solving issues our countries both face.”
AVLD is an independent not-for-profit organisation that was established to nurture relationships, promote engagement and incubate collaboration between Australian and Vietnamese young leaders from a broad spectrum of society. For more information about AVLD, visit www.australiavietnam.org or follow the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/avyld.