Around 50 inspirational stories encourage ethnic minority girls to go to school

UNESCO summed up the social media campaign on October 1 after launching it on August 3 as having the aim of collecting personal narratives from the public to highlight the importance of learning and inspire ethnic minority girls to continue their education, especially after the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic.

UNESCO estimates that over 11 million girls from pre-primary to tertiary education may not have returned to school in 2020 due to school closures and disruption caused by the pandemic.

In Vietnam, the #KeepingGirlsinthePicture campaign is being implemented under the project ‘We are ABLE – Achieving Better Living and Education’ expected to promote gender equality and girls’ education in ethnic minority areas.

The project is being implemented by UNESCO in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Training and the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, with support from the CJ Group, and aims to promote education for ethnic minority girls in Ha Giang, Ninh Thuan and Soc Trang.

A Tay ethnic woman who used to walk 40 kilometers to school has since become a successful businesswoman. A Xtieng ethnic girl ignored the discouragement of neighbours and fulfilled her dream of becoming a photographer. A Tai Dam female teacher overcame a tough childhood and grew into a feminist advocate. These are some of the inspirational stories from Tay, Thai, Ede, H’Mong, Muong, San Chay, Xtieng, Khmer, Chinese Vietnamese, Cham and Kinh people living across the country that have been sent to the campaign.

The campaign gained an organic online reach of around 300,000 and 40,000 engagement on the Facebook UNESCO Office in Vietnam. UNESCO will be the messenger to bring those stories to ethnic minority female and male students, parents, and the community in We are ABLE project areas.

“When ethnic minority girls can hear voices and real-life stories from insiders, peers, or someone with similar background, they find the message of educational benefit more convincing and relevant to them. We appreciate all those storytellers that joined us to encourage ethnic minority students, especially girls, to fulfil their dream through education,” said Toshiyuki Matsumoto, Education Programme Specialist, UNESCO Office to Vietnam.