On Sunday 27th Oct 2019, Center for Knowledge Co-creation and Development Research (CKC) organized the closing ceremony of the Project ‘Empowering Women to Build a Strong and Sustainable Village’. At the same event, CKC also organized the presentation of community ideas to contribute to reducing plastic waste. Additionally, CKC coordinated with local authorities to provide households with 240 rattan baskets and install industrial and bamboo waste bins in Ngu My Thanh village to improve the collection infrastructure and waste management.

Representatives of CKC, Quang Dien District, Quang Loi Commune and the local people of Ngu My Thanh village attended the event.

The project has been implemented between August and October with the commitment and enthusiastic support of the local authority.  The project objectives have now been completed and have achieved unexpected results. In particular, CKC organized two successful training courses for more than 100 local people which focused on (1) environmental protection in the lagoon and reducing single-use plastic products, and (2) the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) approach. Through these training courses, the project motivated four local groups to develop a ‘zero plastic waste village’ model.

At the presentation, the groups presented their project results through a competition, with ideas such as ‘Using banana leaves instead of plastic bags’, ‘Turning waste into flowers’, ‘Community-based tourism without plastic waste’, and a local campaign to clean up the lagoon habitat. The ideas were presented creatively and entertainingly on stage by the women’s groups and with the efforts of everyone in the group, they showed their determination to practice and maintain their model in their community. The initiatives help to raise public awareness and change local habits, and especially emphasize the role of women in reducing plastic waste in their own home, as well as their neighbourhood and the village.

All the community ideas will now be documented to learn from the experience and to communicate the lessons about plastic-free village models.

At the end of the ceremony, CKC gave 240 rattan baskets to each household in Ngu My Thanh village to use for their daily shopping activities, instead of disposable plastic bags.  There were also ten bamboo waste bins for the households which own the tourist boats for the lagoon area. CKC also coordinated with the Quang Loi commune authorities and Ngu My Thanh village to install six industrial waste bins and six bamboo waste bins in prominent places like the market areas and the community house. This will improve the collection infrastructure and waste management in the community.

At the end of the event, each participant was awarded a certificate, as well as their rattan basket. As a leader of their household, they are expected to take a lead in communicating with family members and their community about reducing plastic waste and keeping their environment clean.

The activities were organised through the ‘Empowering Women to Build a Strong and Sustainable Village’ project. The project is funded by Australian Volunteers International (AVI) and was implemented by CKC between August and October 2019. The project will help to build an environmentally friendly community and will attract more visitors to support local tourism.