72 hours to make the world better for children with disabilities

TOM (Tikkun Olam Makers) is an international non-profit organization using design and technology to address neglected problems. The TOM event is an intersection between challenges and technical solutions. Participants with different backgrounds and expertise gather together for a 72-hour “makeathon” and build a product to help someone in need. TOM focuses on inclusive designs with a reasonable price for people with disabilities. In Hebrew, Tikkun Olam means changing the world; and this is TOM’s mission. (See more information about TOM at www.tomglobal.org) 

In 2016, the United States Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, the Embassy of the State of Israel, UNICEF, Disability Research and Capacity Development (DRD), FABLAB Saigon, and other partners from academia and the private sector will co-organize the TOM event in Ho Chi Minh City. This is a unique opportunity for children with disabilities and families to present their challenges, as well as share ideas of products that would help to reduce their challenges. Based on these ideas, technical teams will develop innovative solutions during a 72-hour “makeathon” to help children have a better life. 

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.