Em Vui Platform – digital space to protect ethnic minority youth

Only 10% of teenagers are aware of online safety

This is information that Dr. Khuat Thu Hong, Director of the Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS), Project Director of Em Vui said at the Communication Seminar to promote the use of the Em Vui online platform in order to raise public awareness. Ethnic minority youth awareness against child marriage and human trafficking. The conference took place online on 5/5.

A pre-project survey conducted with 1,725 ​​ethnic children by the end of 2020 in 17 communes in 6 districts in 4 provinces Ha Giang, Lai Chau, Quang Binh and Quang Tri showed child marriage downward trend.

Dr. Khuat Thu Hong

However, only 28% of children are equipped with knowledge about child marriage. Only 52% of the children surveyed have a correct understanding of the minimum age for marriage. They often misunderstand the age at which men can get married, and girls also feel more pressure to get married (so as not to be “stuck”). 72% know at least 2 consequences of child marriage, most commonly affecting future career, study and personal health; 60% are ready to oppose forced marriage, this rate is higher among girls and school-going children.

For knowledge about human trafficking prevention and combat, only 3% of children recognize the risk of being trafficked, and only 11% know about ways to avoid risks, this rate is lowest in group 10 age (2%). 37% of children know at least 2 helpline numbers: 111 (National switchboard for child protection) and 113 (police).

It is noteworthy that 91% of children and young people of ethnic minorities are using the Internet, mainly with smartphones and often use it 1-3 hours/day. However, only 10% are knowledgeable about online safety.

In which, Facebook and YouTube are the two channels most used by children and young people of ethnic minorities with the main activities being chatting, surfing the net and watching movies and videos.

Up to 42% answered that they had met an acquaintance online, of which 1/3 made an appointment to meet after just one conversation.

Dr. Khuat Thu Hong said that although the rate of children and young people of ethnic minorities using the Internet is high, there is currently no formal training program in the locality for them on safety when using the Internet.

From the above surveys, a project with the foundation of Em Vui was born to provide you with a store of friendly information for young people to participate in learning, exchanging and sharing knowledge related to health. , sex, about child marriage, about human trafficking…

For the joy, safety and development of children and young people

At the seminar, Dr. Khuat Thu Hong, introduced the Em Vui platform to press agencies – media. She hopes that through this Workshop, the Project wishes to join hands with reporters and media agencies to actively spread strong messages, contributing to the joint efforts of the Government and the whole society to fight against the epidemic. child marriage and the prevention of human trafficking.

Talking more with reporters, Mr. Hoang Hai Vuong – Project Communication and Administration Officer said, Em Vui platform is a digital space to equip ethnic minority youth with knowledge and skills. skills so that they can actively and confidently prevent child marriage and human trafficking.

Em Vui was built as a friendly and reliable forum for young people to participate in learning, exchanging, sharing and spreading knowledge. This is also a forum for dialogue between ethnic minority youth and policy makers and managers from government agencies.

Em Vui has been designed and completed on the basis of website https://emvui.vn, mobile application and 6 social networking channels of the same name: Facebook, Tiktok, Zalo, Youtube, Instagram and Twitter.

The project is implemented in 11 districts and 52 communes of 4 provinces Ha Giang, Lai Chau, Quang Binh and Quang Tri in 3 years, from 2020 to 2023.

The main goal of the project is to support ethnic minority boys and girls (aged 10 to 24) to use the digital space to learn about social networks and online safety skills. online as well as knowledge about child marriage and human trafficking to access support services.

It is known that on April 5, after 6 months of the official launch of the platform (October 1, 2021), there were nearly 25000 hits with 8780 interactions in the Learning fun section; 8549 interactions in the section Fun; Notably, there were 8588 interactions with over 1000 downloads in the library section.

According to Ms. Khuat Thu Hong’s assessment, looking at these numbers shows that the Em Vui platform has gradually reached more and more ethnic minority youth. This is also the goal that units and organizations maintain the foundation towards. It is for the fun, safety and development of children and young adults.

The project “Enhancing awareness of ethnic minority youth about human trafficking and child marriage through digital technology” (EMPoWR) was implemented from July 2020 to the end of June 2023 in 4 provinces 11 district 52 communes of Ha Giang, Lai Chau, Quang Binh, Quang Tri implemented jointly by the Institute for Social Development Research and Plan International Vietnam, with the co-finance of the European Union and Plan International Belgium. . Background I’m happy is a content in the program of this project.

N. Huyen