Ani Saguisag, UNICEF | Thúc đẩy kinh doanh có trách nhiệm với trẻ em | TQKS #118

Here's a comprehensive summary of the YouTube video transcript:

Key Concepts

• Demographic Transition: Vietnam's shift towards an aging population with a declining birth rate.
• Climate Change: The increasing impact of environmental degradation and extreme weather events.
• Digital Transition: The pervasive influence of technology, AI, and digital skills.
• Social Policy and Governance (UNICEF): The department focused on broad policies affecting children, including public finance, government engagement, and program success.
• Expanded Immunization Program: A key UNICEF-supported initiative to reduce child mortality from preventable diseases.
• Climate-Smart Social Services: Adapting essential services like health and water to withstand climate change impacts.
• ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance): A framework for businesses to assess their impact, with a focus on the "Social" aspect for child rights.
• CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility): Traditional philanthropic giving, contrasted with strategic social investments.
• Family-Friendly Policies: Workplace initiatives supporting parents, such as paid parental leave and flexible work arrangements.
• Child Rights and Business: Integrating child rights considerations into core business operations and supply chains.
• Convention on the Rights of the Child: The international treaty defining children as persons below 18 years old.
• Online Child Protection: Addressing risks like bullying and exposure to inappropriate content in the digital space.
• Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs): Collaborations between government, private sector, and NGOs to achieve common goals.

UNICEF Vietnam's 50-Year Journey and Evolution

UNICEF established its office in Vietnam in 1975, initially focusing on humanitarian aid and direct service delivery to address the basic survival needs of children in a post-war context. This included providing food, clean water, protection from violence, and education. A significant achievement during this period was the establishment of the Expanded Immunization Program, which dramatically improved immunization rates and reduced child deaths from diseases like polio and tetanus. UNICEF also played a crucial role in improving access to clean water, evolving from installing hand pumps to focusing on the quality and universal accessibility of safe drinking water. Over the past 50 years, Vietnam has demonstrated significant progress in its capacity to deliver these basic services, leading UNICEF to shift its focus from direct service delivery to supporting the government in planning, monitoring, and ensuring the quality of services.

Three Major Transitions Impacting Vietnam's Children

UNICEF Vietnam is currently focusing on three critical transitions that are profoundly impacting children:

1. Demographic Transition: Vietnam is rapidly aging, with a declining birth rate and a growing elderly population. This places a greater burden on the younger generation to support the elderly, necessitating healthier, smarter, and more resilient young people to sustain the workforce.
2. Climate Change: Vietnam is increasingly facing severe weather events like flooding. This "new normal" requires children to be equipped with "green skills" to work in renewable energy and adapt to environmental degradation. Climate change also exacerbates health risks, such as an increase in waterborne and vector-borne diseases like dengue fever due to changing rainfall patterns.
3. Digital Transition: The pervasive influence of AI and digital technologies requires children to develop essential digital skills. The education system must adapt to prepare children for a future where AI will significantly alter teaching and learning methods.

These transitions present both positive opportunities and negative challenges for children, requiring innovative approaches to education, health, and access to safe water.

The Crucial Role of the Private Sector in Addressing Child-Related Issues

Annie Sagisak emphasizes that the private sector has a significant and often underestimated role in supporting children.

Why the Private Sector Should Care:

• Interconnectedness: Businesses operate within communities and their products and services are accessed by children and their families.
• Impact Trigger: When a core business directly impacts children, it inherently triggers social responsibility.
• ESG Framework: While businesses often focus on environmental safeguards, the "Social" aspect, particularly child rights, is crucial.

How the Private Sector Can Contribute:

• Innovation and Technology: The private sector's ability to test and innovate rapidly, coupled with a higher appetite for risk-taking, is vital for developing solutions in areas like renewable energy and digital access.
• Partnerships: Public-private partnerships are essential. Businesses can contribute technical expertise, financial resources, and their core business capabilities.
• Inclusive Financial Instruments: Developing digital wallets and other financial tools accessible to the poor, especially in rural areas, can foster financial inclusion.
• Travel and Tourism Industry: This sector must assess and mitigate risks to children, such as child labor or exploitation, and can implement codes of conduct for tourists and provide internships for young people.
• Addressing Supply Chain Issues: Companies need to look beyond their direct operations and examine their supply chains for issues like child labor, particularly in lower tiers.
• Promoting Family-Friendly Policies: Implementing policies like paid parental leave, flexible work arrangements, and childcare support creates a more supportive environment for working parents, leading to increased employee well-being and productivity. UNICEF has partnered with over 200 companies to promote these policies.
• Education and Workforce Readiness: Businesses should collaborate with schools to identify needed skills, align curricula with job market demands, and offer internships and apprenticeships to bridge the gap between education and employment.
• Online Child Protection: Given that the infrastructure for online access is run by the private sector, their engagement is critical for promoting online safety and preventing harm to children in cyberspace.

Challenges and UNICEF's Approach:

• Lack of Understanding: Some businesses may not fully grasp their social impact on children or consider it their responsibility.
• CSR vs. Strategic Investment: While philanthropic donations are valuable, UNICEF encourages businesses to move beyond charity to strategic social investments that address core business impacts.
• Red Lines: UNICEF has clear ethical boundaries and will not accept financial contributions from industries whose products or services cause harm. However, they will engage strategically with such industries to encourage positive change.
• Due Diligence: UNICEF conducts due diligence on potential partners to ensure alignment with their values.

Key UNICEF Initiatives and Calls for Support

• Family-Friendly Policies: A successful partnership area, with over 200 companies educated on the importance of these policies. A recent agreement with Deep Sea industrial zones in Haiphong aims to roll out parenting programs for employees.
• Education and Workforce Transition: UNICEF seeks private sector collaboration to align education with job market needs and provide internships/apprenticeships.
• Child Protection (Online): Urgent need for private sector engagement to ensure online safety for children, as they run the infrastructure of the virtual world.
• Policy Advocacy: UNICEF works with the National Assembly to provide research and knowledge, advocating for policy changes. A key focus is revising the Law on Children to align with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which defines children as persons below 18, while Vietnam's current law defines them as 16 and below. This discrepancy leaves 17-year-olds without full rights.

Building Successful Partnerships

Successful partnerships between the private sector and UNICEF are built on:

• Shared Values: Identifying common goals for the well-being of children.
• Technical Expertise: Leveraging the private sector's core business knowledge and UNICEF's expertise on children.
• Honest Conversation: Open dialogue to identify areas for investment and collaboration.
• Long-Term Commitment: Recognizing that social change is a marathon, not a sprint, requiring sustained investment and partnership.

UNICEF acts as a convener, bringing together the private sector, schools, and crucially, children and young people themselves, to co-create solutions. The organization emphasizes that businesses should look at how they can improve healthcare, education, and financial inclusion for the most vulnerable.

Conclusion

UNICEF Vietnam is celebrating 50 years of dedicated work, evolving from direct humanitarian aid to strategic partnerships. The organization is actively addressing the complex challenges posed by demographic, climate, and digital transitions. The private sector is identified as a powerful force with immense potential to contribute to child rights through strategic investments, innovation, and a commitment to integrating child rights into their core operations. UNICEF invites businesses to engage in meaningful, long-term partnerships to create a better future for children in Vietnam.