FUTURE BUILDERS
Member
Vuong Khanh Linh
Local organization
JCI South Saigon
National organization
Vietnam
Member
Vuong Khanh Linh
Duration
From July 1, 2021 to July 1, 2022
Target
Children under the age of 18 who have lost one or both parents due to the Covid-19 Pandemic have difficult circumstances and are affected mental-health. The first stage was in Ho Chi Minh City and spread to other provinces in Vietnam.
Target population
500
Target avg age
18
People impacted
300
Sustainable Development Goal
Quality Education
Development stage
Education and Economic Empowerment
Purpose
Children who have lost their parents and foster relatives are suffering from two pains at the same time, which are the loss of spiritual support and the loss of the economic breadwinner in the family. This makes them psychologically affected and lose motivation to try as well as lack of finance to continue pursuing their studies. Ho Chi Minh City is the locality most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in many children falling into orphanages after Covid-19.
The FUTURE BUILDERS project recognizes that quality education is a prerequisite that plays a decisive role in helping children overcome their circumstances and become good citizens, reducing pressure on society. FUTURE BUILDERS - a post-Covid-19 project for Vietnamese children was created to help them continue to pursue their education by supporting the cost of tuition at schools and providing career counseling to them and helping them gain more confidence and motivation to strive in life.
With activities throughout the FUTURE BUILDERS project, the project sets out the following expectations:
- Ensure children's comprehensive development in knowledge, life skills, attitudes, and experiences through tuition support, spiritual nurturing, and career guidance for them until adulthood.
- Implement the spirit of active young citizens, taking specific actions against the problems that are happening in society.
- Connecting with businesses and professional stakeholders, promoting the cooperation relationship between JCI and partners in solving community issues.
Overview
Social Issues:
According to information from the Technical workshop "Building a program to take care of mental health, care for orphans, and care for children affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, migrant children in the period 2022-2030", took place on 30/06/2022 in Hanoi, Vietnam had 4,461 orphans, including 193 orphans of both parents. 8-20% of children and adolescents in our country have common mental health problems.
In Ho Chi Minh City, our survey recorded more than 7500 children affected by the COVID-19 pandemic such as F0, who had to migrate with their parents due to the COVID-19 pandemic, interrupting school, ... By March 2022, there were 2,200 Orphans due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, of which 39 children lost both parents, 78 children lost their direct fosters and over 2,000 children lost their father or mother.
These children face two main difficulties: financial problems such as having to interrupt their studies, having to go to work early to earn extra income, and mental trauma such as facing psychological worries. Quality education and comprehensive development are basic human needs based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
Solution:
JCI South Saigon and JCI East Saigon jointly organize the FUTURE BUILDERS project, mobilizing the financial and professional support of the society to accompany children on their educational path through career guidance, and support tuition at schools so that children can develop comprehensive capabilities.
General Process:
Screening process
Collect cases submitted to the project
The list of children who have lost one or both parents due to COVID-19 pandemic has been sent back by schools and localities. Information is collected from local authorities.
Grouping by priority level.
Find out the call script, survey script, and project update information
Direct survey of circumstances
Calls to survey the situation and aspirations of the child and family, arrange an appointment to meet face-to-face.
Survey directly at home each situation, visit to encourage morale, and give gifts.
Collect relevant documents such as birth certificates, and household registration books, ...
List of children receiving support
Each situation is scrutinized by project team members to determine appropriate levels of support. In case the children show signs of severe psychological effects, they will be put on a special list.
Transfer the support list to the finance team
B. Funding and disbursement process
Funding
Donors contribute funds to JCI Vietnam's bank account.
Update to the project system.
Disbursement of funds
Reviews each transaction by the Project Director and the President of the chapter.
JCI Vietnam makes a direct transfer to the school and supplier's accounts.
Invoice documents and expenses are stored and updated weekly.
C. Result Evaluation Process
Each student's academic results are collected through the school after each semester.
Evaluate each child based on academic performance and conduct. Screening children with poor performance - poor conduct to provide more thorough support, and observe them more.
Values received when children receive a quality education:
They have a learning environment to develop comprehensively, become useful citizens, and reduce evil pressures on society.
Children are more confident, and develop internal capacity from within, from which they will have self-motivation to strive towards a sustainable life.
Reduce the fact that children have to work early, which may be exploited for minor labor. They know how to choose the right career to contribute to society.
Parents can share less financial burdens, and relieve mental pressure so that they can work together with their children to take care of them.
Reducing migration and migration to the homeland because families are not eligible to send their children to study in Ho Chi Minh city.
Results
Results:
The total number of applications received: 388 children.
The number of actual surveyed cases: 267 children (HCMC, Tien Giang, Lao Cai)
Number of cases receiving tuition support: 130 students (HCMC, Tien Giang)
On the occasion of June 23-25, 2022, the FUTURE BUILDERS Project is very grateful and honored to be associated with the Health Care Center and QTSC in the health festival held at Quang Trung Software Park, Tan Chanh Hiep Ward, District 12, HCMC. Activities: Free medical examination, Winning games, Voluntary blood donation, Discount vouchers, and attractive gifts.
Successfully introduced 13 students to the Scholarship Fund of VietSeeds Foundation so that they can continue to receive tuition support when studying at the University.
JCI Mission:
The project has aroused the spirit of young active citizens in JCI and spread that positive spirit to the community, promoting the whole society to take concrete actions to contribute to solving a social problem, making society better.
The project not only receives support and grants tuition fees to children, but also gives love, care, and mutual support to people in difficult times.
Project team members: 23 members are Jaycees and 7 volunteers.
Enhancing JCI awareness:
Information about the project was published in media articles such as Vietcetera and shared by project members, Jaycees.
Thanks to that, the JCI brand spread strongly, creating prestige in the community of JCI projects. Through that, many people know about JCI as well as attend JCI as a member.
Community Impact
Partners/ Stakeholders:
Local partner - Department of Education and Training, and People’s Committee: with the support of government officials specifically the District Council and The Board of Education in keeping close observation with the current status of the pandemic; as well as composing/filtering lists.
Financial consulting partner - Duc Minh Consulting Co., Ltd.: With the companionship of Duc Minh Consulting Co., Ltd. to support and advise on the revenue and expenditure process, keeping documents, and transparent financial report templates for the project.
Psychological counseling partner- CHRISTINA NOBLE CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: To ensure that children are well taken care of mentally, psychologically - the biggest loss they are experiencing. CNCF has agreed to accompany the project with special support from psychologists in talking with the children.
VietSeeds Foundation Scholarship Fund: To continue to support young people after the age of 18, the project has cooperated with the VietSeeds Scholarship Fund in accompanying them on the path of higher education. VietSeeds will continue to support the screening of the list of cases after the age of 18 to finance tuition fees for 4 years of university.
More than 11 businesses have sponsored the project, 50% of the total budget comes from diamond sponsors.
Recommendations
Maintain close relationship with children and their families to ensure their sustainable development.
Continue to work with a variety of school partners to monitor and support children’s learning
Contact
My Huynh - Project Director 2022 and Khanh Linh - Project Coordinator