On November 24, the SWITCH-Asia project "Promotion of supply and demand for Eco-fair Agri-food in Vietnam" (Eco-Fair Project) was successfully launched at the Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake Hotel.
Around 150 guests attended the event, both offline and online, including state agencies, embassies, national and foreign organizations, businesses, press and media professionals.
The ceremony was officially opened by H.E. Mr. Kari Kahiluoto, Finnish Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. Koen Duchateau, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Vietnam, Mr. Le Duc Thinh, Director of the Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and a representative from the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The Eco-Fair project was born with a mission of changing the behavior of individuals and organizations in order to exert the most positive measures on environmental change. Tackling the two components of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP), this initiative sets two main targets:
- Raise consumer awareness on eco agriculture, eco-products and fair trade,
- Engage MSMEs to learn about sustainable practices in food production while cutting production costs.
Implemented by the Vietnam Rural Industries Research and Development Institute, in partnership with the Centre For Creativity and Sustainability (CCS), Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre Co. Ltd (VNCPC) and Funzilife Ltd, this project will be implemented from April 2020 to April 2023.
While presenting the project, Nguyễn Bảo Thoa, VIRI’s director explained,
Eco-fair products are reputable in regard to their quality and health benefits, and consumers can use them safely. Consumption of sustainable products gives consumers the feeling of doing something meaningful and represents the demonstration of positive values in changing the negative trends of modern-day human consumption. They help reduce the negative impacts of human consumption on many aspects of the natural environment such as pollution, soil erosion, and shortages in resources. By choosing these products, consumers help change the mindset of society in general and contribute to the promotion of sustainable development for generations to come.
Mr. Koen Duchateau, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Vietnam also praised this project and recognized the great opportunity this is for the country to promote a systemic approach of the agri-food sector by engaging value chain stakeholders and policy-makers to achieve the switch to more sustainable consumption and production.
The mission of Eco-Fair is to inspire the values of environmental sustainability through the implementation of engaging and innovative activities, including capacity building, awareness raising, building support networks, and encouraging the development of government policies that will enable Vietnam’s smooth transition toward a low-carbon, resource-efficient and circular economy.
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What has been done so far?
A free mobile course for half a million learners in Vietnam has already been launched! The course aims to raise awareness of how the consumption of sustainable products can have a major impact globally and locally.
It gives practical advice on how consumers can recognize sustainably produced products and what kind of daily activities can decrease, for example, the consumption of plastic. The mobile courses are an easy-to-scale and cost-efficient way to share information and raise knowledge. They provide useful and practical knowledge for both, consumers and MSMEs.
This mobile course is accessible to anyone with an internet-connected device and is expected to reach 500,000 consumers in Vietnam. It is by far one of the most impactful development aid projects with a Finnish organization as a solution provider.
Funzi's contribution will help training, education and scaling the initiative with highly modern education tools, Kari Kahiluoto, Finnish Ambassador to Vietnam pointed out.
The first course for MSMEs started in October 2020 and has already 200 organizations participating in Vietnam. The target is to get 1,000 Vietnamese MSMEs to join the programme. The most motivated MSMEs will receive hands-on support and training from the partners of the Eco-Fair project. The opportunities include financing and practical business advice.
REGISTRATIONS ARE OPEN
(Attention: these links are only available to users from Vietnam, they are in Vietnamese)
More info at: https://ecofair.vn/
