Signing Ceremony of MOU and Talkshow "Green Economy - Opportunities and Challenges for Gen Z"

The Memorandum of Understanding Signing Ceremony (MOU) between the Center of Service - Learning and Social Enterprise partner ForGood Vietnam has been held to mark the beginning of the collaborative partnership for the next five years. The unitedly agreed efforts spearhead the accomplishment of 17 Sustainable Development Goals; the focus stressed Goal 4 - Quality Education and Goal 5 - Gender Equality. To be more specific, they are promoting gender equality, teaching 21st-century skills, supporting startups and women’s startups, and capacity building for UEF students.


The momentous signing ceremony was held in the presence of Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc Tran - Co-founder of ForGood, Mr. Huynh Le Khanh - Co-founder of ForGood, Mr. Nhan Cam Tri - UEF Vice President, Mr. Do Huu Nguyen Loc - UEF Vice President, and Ms. Dinh Nguyen Thien An - Director of the Center of Service - Learning UEF.

Mr. Nhan Cam Tri - Vice President of UEF, shared: “The Center of Service - Learning has carried out practical projects. Through reflections of those who joined in the projects of the center, I’m impressed to see that service-learning activities have positive effects on cognition and behavior of the youth. I envision that this collaboration will open up opportunities for UEF students to experience. Therefore, they can increase both personal values and community values.”

Mr. Huynh Le Khanh - Co-founder of ForGood Vietnam, also shared: “Green economy means blissful economy. The combination of three factors: Economy, Society, and Environment, creates an economy defined as energy and natural resource efficiency, low emissions, prevention of the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and social equality. The term “green economy” is now more and more familiar as the development of the modern economy has reached a new direction of change.”

• First, the Green Economy is environment friendly, reduces carbon emissions to mitigate climate change.
• Second, the Green Economy is the economic growth in depth; it focuses on fuel economy, fosters eco-industrial parks, and advances technology.
• Third, the Green Economy is a sustainable development economy; it furthers the poverty-alleviation movement and promotes social equality.

Mr. Huynh Le Khanh added: “I was born in a slum area of Ben Tre province, and I have witnessed the injustice that women and children face in my hometown. Moreover, it takes me, who belongs to the LGBT community, 20 years to gain courage in facing social discrimination and injustice. The green economy is the economy of happiness that makes those who are part of that economy, happy people.”


The notion of a Green Economy creates a new focus on economic development and positive social and environmental outcomes; moreover, it pays attention to the quality of life of people at the center. Therefore, we must equip ourselves with knowledge and skills to live, develop, and support a resource-sustainable and resource-efficient society.

In continuation, Ms. Ngoc Tran - Co-founder of ForGood Vietnam - shared shocking figures: “Women account for 67% of all the illiterate people in the world; there are 650 million women married before the age of 18; on average, women are paid 24% less than their opposite gender counterparts; among the 500 largest companies in the world, only 5% of CEOs are women.”
She then asked: “What have we done to solve this injustice?”
As everyone went silent, there was a spark igniting in their heads. To promote equality,they must embrace the values of positivity, resilience, and sustainability and cultivate basic skills to develop themselves and contribute to society. And the activities of social enterprise ForGood Vietnam are geared toward these things.
 

The MOU signing ceremony was held with the presence of UEF students caring about green startups as well as the representatives of startups and business clubs from UEF, including Business Ideas Hub Club (BiHub), Young Financial Decision Makers (YFDM), Young Promising Managers Club (YMP).
Many first “collisions” were shared to mark this auspicious occasion.
One student said: “I never knew I was indifferent. This talk show was an eyes opener. The green economy is more than just selling environment-friendly products. The term economy of happiness, I love it.”
Another student also said: “Ms.Tran and Mr. Khanh have shared useful knowledge and provided everyone with startup opportunities.”
Photos at the talk show: