WELLA-UNICEF Making Waves Programme Launches Vocational Hairdresser Training for Vulnerable Youth in Viet Nam

Holding a comb and the scissors in her hands, Thai Thuy Dung carefully trims a mannequin’s hair while following the instructions of her mentor.  Although this is only a practice session Thuy Dung is excited about the prospect of becoming a future hairdresser.

Raised in a poor family in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Viet Nam’s largest metropolis, Thuy Dung dropped out of middle school to help her grandparents sell vegetables on the streets which exposed her to many dangers.

Thai Thuy Dung follows the haircutting instructions of the mentor.

Photo: UNICEF UK

Co-creation Workshop in Viet Nam Seeks to Solve Serious Global Problems with Wearable and Sensors

While Viet Nam is well known for its ICT community, a recent UNICEF workshop focused on understanding how to apply technology, not how to build it. Built on a series of “what if” questions, the UNICEF Innovation Lab in Viet Nam asked; What if we could get a room full of smart people with different backgrounds and expertise to focus on a grand challenge to accelerate the use of technology to make a positive impact on the lives of children? What if we could inspire these innovators with a new world of possibilities? The ask built on the Wearables for Good design challenge that was launched earlier this year by UNICEF, ARM and frog.

In designing the Viet Nam event, there were collaborative inputs from the local maker community, agile developers, design thinking & creative professionals and even the venue was a community based art education facility. And the results were astounding.

Protecting Viet Nam’s Invisible Children

Mai* is 12 years old and lives in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam’s largest and most prosperous city.  Her house consists of a 10m2 slab of concrete with aluminum sheeting for walls and roof. Mai lives there with her parents and four siblings, who up until recently had never gone to school, nor had regular health checkup, vaccinations or access to social assistance programmes that are normally available the poor in Viet Nam.

While 96 per cent of Vietnamese children are registered at birth, Mai and her siblings are part of the four percent who fall through the cracks. Unregistered children in Viet Nam are almost always from poor, ethnic minority or migrant families.  Mai’s parents cannot read or write and did not understand the benefits that birth registration would confer on their children.  

Visit of Mr. Philip Clement, Global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer (CMO) of AON Corporation to UNICEF supported programme in Viet Nam.

Ho Chi Minh City, 19 April 2014 - It was a typically busy day in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Viet Nam’s economic engine, with the city pulsing with its usual streams of cars and motorcycles. Amidst the traffic, a UNICEF team was travelling with a special guest to visit the much respected School of Hospitality for youth and children in difficult circumstances.

Aon Corporation CMO, Mr. Phillip Clement had taken time out from a private trip to the country to visit UNICEF-supported projects in the city, some of which are supported by Aon’s partner – the Manchester United. '

Mr. Clement taking photos with students of the School of Hospitality in HCMC

Protecting child victims of commercial sexual exploitation

Children are entering prostitution at a younger age than five years ago
This photo is for illustration purpose only!
© UN Viet Nam\shutterstock48041263\Jose AS Reyes

Linh* was born into a poor family in Chau Doc, a small town in the Mekong Delta region of Viet Nam. She did not enjoy school and dropped out without completing lower secondary level. Despite her parents’ concerns, Linh followed the path of many young people from her region and headed to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) to look for a job. She was only 16 years old and knew very little about Viet Nam’s biggest city.

Sheahan’s diary: volunteering with street children

Sheahan with children from the centre for street and vulnerable children
© UNICEF Viet Nam\2012\Nasir

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, or more commonly known in Vietnam as Saigon, on July 31st to start my month long internship with Thao Dan Child Center. From their website, I found out as much as I could about them before the initial meeting.

Thao Dan Child Center was established in 1992 by a group of volunteers who wanted to protect and take care of street children in Ho Chi Minh City. They have two centers. The one where I was going to work was a day care center where children would be dropped off by their parents when they went to work and picked up again when going back home. The children are taught basic school subjects like math and English, as well life skills such as money management. They were also given information regarding the danger of HIV/AIDS and the threat of child abuse. The second center, called the “Safehouse”, serves as a day care center, and it also provides housing for up to fourteen orphan boys who have nowhere else to go.