Enabling Boat project closes with resounding success

The Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development, in co-operation with the Halong People's Committee, has just held the closing ceremony of the "Enabling Boat” project in the northern city of Halong. 

The project was sponsored by leading tech giants Microsoft and Acer and was implemented by the Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD) in collaboration with Vietnet Information Technology and Communication Center (Vietnet-ICT) and local partners.

The “Enabling Boat” project has been implemented in Halong city in the northeastern province of Quang Ninh since early 2017 with the aim of raising awareness and enhancing the capacity of information technology (IT), computer science, and knowledge related to climate change and environmental protection for adolescents and communities in difficult coastal areas.

It also seeks to raise awareness and provide knowledge on heritage preservation and marine environmental protection, providing soft skills so that young people can actively search for opportunities to improve their lives.

Looking back on the journey of the project, “Enabling Boat” has achieved its goals and created remarkable changes.

Dozens of training sessions were organised for 256 students and young people with limited access to technology on essential life skills, knowledge, and skills in IT and computer science, marine environment, and climate change.

The trainers including teachers and officers from schools and local organisations in Halong city, were trained in innovative teaching methods and the topics of ICT and computer science, as well as marine environmental protection to respond to climate change.

In addition to capacity building and knowledge training, the project has implemented a series of activities to raise awareness of environmental protection and the to protect the Halong Bay heritage, elicit support from parents, local authorities, and local communities for students with limited access to computers, enabling them to study IT and computer science to improve their future lives.

The highlight activities were the contest “Computer Science and Information Technology-Nursing Dreams” for the youth in Halong; the ICT literacy class for youth working on the sea and relocated fishermen in Ha Phong ward; dialogues about the application of IT in Vung Vieng and Cua Van fishing villages; knowledge sharing sessions with teenagers and more than 700 students from Tuan Chau Primary and Secondary School and Nguyen Viet Xuan Primary and Secondary School.

Through creative capacity building activities, meaningful community activities with qualified, deep, and practical content, the project has brought significant changes in awareness and the mindsets of a large number of young people, local students, improving their knowledge and skills in IT and environmental protection, developing skills, as well as nurturing their career dreams.

The project has given a chance for 2,149 people to participate in activities and share information and knowledge with 253,512 people through mass media and social networks.

“The project has achieved remarkable results, completely outperforming the original target,” said  Vu Hong Son, Deputy Chairman of the Halong People's Committee.

“The results cannot only be seen in specific figures, but also in the fun, excitement, and the bright eyes of students and young people participating in the project. With the support of leaders and organisers, we believe that the young generation will have better access to technology and modern life, with better capacity and chances for a brighter future,” Son noted.

At the closing ceremony, the project representatives handed over 25 computers donated by Acer to the local authority for use in local projects to continue implementing IT training and computer science for teens in the near future.

Ho Thi Yen Thu, vice director of MCD, shared her vision for the “Enabling Boat” project, “The results and experience of the project in Halong City will be the basis for MCD to apply this model in other coastal provinces. We will share project materials and practical stories and connect organisations to support online training so that the youth in difficult communities can access practical content.”