Hello everyone, we are Van Khang, Minh Nguyet and Ai Nhan. We represented for International Economics Faculty - Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City to attend #WeCAN International Boot Camp and Research Colloquium on Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovations
This boot camp was held in Philippines by De La Salle University from September 9th to September 18th, 2019. It brought together over 100+ local and international delegates composed of faculty members, students, and advocates from 22 academic institutions in ASEAN+3 (Korea, Japan, and China). The program also aimed to create a network of universities that will promote social innovations and social entrepreneurship in the region.
Now we will tell you about our 11 memorable days of the camp!
[DAY 1 - September 8th, 2019] HELLO, MANILA!
We arrived at Ninoy Aquino airport safely in the early morning and received a warm welcoming from the organizers. On our first day in the country of thousands of islands, we had the opportunity to interact and get acquainted with more than 100 students and lecturers from 10 countries in Asia. In the afternoon, we organized a trip to visit famous places of Manila such as Intramuros citadel, San Agustin church, SM Mall of Asia - one of the largest shopping centers in Asia. In addition, the whole team also enjoyed extremely unique local dishes.
Hopefully, in the next official days of boot camp, we will have more and more interesting experiences.
Mabuhai Manila! – Hello Manila!
Visiting an ancient church in Manila
Taking photo with a new friend from Singapore
Extremely unique local dishes
[DAY 2 - 09/09/2019] OPENING CEREMONY OF BOOT CAMP
The opening ceremony of the camp took place in a joyful, solemn and emotional atmosphere. The program was opened with speeches of Dr. Laurene - Vice President for External Relations and Internationalization of De La Salle University and Ms. Pilar - Country Director of The British Council Philippines. Delegations from 10 countries in ASEAN+3 had the opportunity to exchange and take photos with the organizers and guests.
The Vietnamese delegation attended the camp with the participation of 3 universities: Foreign Trade University, National Economics University and Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City. We had the opportunity to work together under the guidance of Mr. Gary Mendoza - Lecturer of De La Salle University.
"What are your expectations of attending the camp?"; "Which difficulties have you encountered in the camp and what will you do to solve these problems?" and "What do you expect to achieve after participating in this camp?" were three issues we shared together. Each member was then asked to list five keywords related to the concept of "social entrepreneurship". The discussion helped us not only gain new knowledge but also improve effective negotiation skills.
Check-in at De La Salle University
Vietnamese delegation took a photo with the Organizing Committee and guests
Yes, We CAN!
[DAY 3 - 10/09/2019] A MEANINGFUL CULTURAL NIGHT
The morning started with a speech of Ms. Maria - Team Lead of Programme Support Unit of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) about 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. After that, each group is required to make a short video about one of the 17 SDGs. Together with the students of the National Economics University, we discussed ideas, recorded and took photos to complete the video about the 13th Goal - Climate Action.
The workshop was held in the afternoon with 4 topics: "Creative Incubation", "Technopreneurship", "Co-working Space" and "SE Incubation in the Academe". In the workshop of "Creative Incubation", Emi Englis – Head of Center of Innovations and Social Ventures - Philippine Women’s College of Davao - shared to us about creativity and innovation and how to apply them in social entrepreneurship.
The best thing ever was the program in the evening – an extremely meaningful cultural exchange night. We had the opportunity to wear “ao dai” – the Vietnamese traditional dress and introduce some Vietnamese specialities to our Asian friends. In addition, "Song Nhu Nhung Doa Hoa" is a song that we contribute to the entertainment program with various genres: singing, dancing, storytelling and playing folk games... It was very fortunate that we had the opportunity to experience such wonderful things, especially to learn more about traditional and unique cultures from other countries.
Our team prepared the video about the 13th Goal (Climate Action)
Workshop of “Creative Incubation”
BUH x NEU
Taking photo with friends from Japan and Philippines
Cultural night of 10 Asian countries
[DAY 4 - 11/09/2019] EXCITING LESSON ON BRIDGING LEADERSHIP AND DESIGN THINKING
The power of the cultural exchange night gave us a great source of energy to start new lessons. First, we were introduced about "bridging leadership" through the presentation of Ms. Junica - Associate Director, Team Energy, Center for Bridging Leadership, Asian Institute of Management. Next is the sharing of Ms. Lorna - Former Undersecretary of Department of Education on how to apply bridging leadership in practice, especially in a social enterprise.
The afternoon started with a lecture on "design thinking" of Ms. Abigail Mapua - Director of The Hub of Innovation for Inclusion - De La Salle College of St. Benilde. Our practical exercise was to take steps in design thinking to create a product in order to minimize food waste. This learning and practicing activity helped us gain better understanding about design thinking.
Each day with a new lesson helps our knowledge expand. Thanks #WeCAN.
The speech of Ms Lorna about Bridging leadership in practice
Q&A section about Bridging leadership
Tác giả (Authors): Vân Khang, Minh Nguyệt, Ái Nhân