Ho Chi Minh City, January 31, 2024, Wildlife Conservation Society – Viet Nam Office (WCS Viet Nam) in collaboration with the Faculty of Journalism and Communications (FJC), University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Viet Nam National University, Ho Chi Minh City (HCM-USSH) organized a review workshop of the mentorship program “Stories on the Go” for FJC’s students. This event was the opportunity for WCS Viet Nam, FJC, lecturers and students to review a series of collaborative activities, present and comment on the journalism and communication products developed by the FJC students who participated in the mentorship program “Stories on the Go”.
Since May 2023, to enhance the participation of journalism and communication students in the Southern part of Viet Nam in combating wildlife trafficking (CWT), WCS Viet Nam has worked with the FJC to organize a series of activities including a sharing workshop on integrating the CWT topic into the journalism and communication training curriculum; supporting the FJC students to develop their final assignments for the multimedia communication course with the wildlife protection topic; two seminars on investigative journalism and storytelling method in developing wildlife-related journalism and communication products. Especially, the mentorship program “Stories on the Go” was kicked off in November 2023 with the participation of 19 FJC students who were selected from more than 50 applications.
Students, lecturers, journalists and communication experts attend the review workshop, Ho Chi Minh City, January 2024
Participating in the “Stories on the Go” journey, students were provided with an in-depth training on journalism and communication skills, knowledge on wildlife protection legal framework, identifying types of violations against wildlife protection regulations, and risks of zoonotic disease transmission between humans and wildlife at the Cat Tien National Park. Then, 19 students were formed into four teams and were coached and mentored by experienced journalists and media experts to brainstom their ideas for their jounrnalism and communication products related to wildlife protection.
Students team presented their journalistic product, Ho Chi Minh City, January 2024
In only more than one month, student groups developed creative briefs and plans to collect information, and conducted field trips to produce their journalism and communication products, including 3 TV reportages: “Stories of people protecting the forest”, "Yellow-cheeked gibbon - Echoes to home", "Brought the pangolins home" and especially the board game "Into the forest of Viet Nam". Along with these main products, students also developed 3 individual products including an article on the portrait of a forest ranger and a series of podcasts on wildlife rescue and conservation. Not only diverse in topics and forms of expression, the products show different aspects related to wildlife protection, while also demonstrating the novelty and creativity of the topics that students selected.
Students team introduced the board game "Into the Forest of Viet Nam", Ho Chi Minh City, January 2024
At the review workshop, FJC’s lecturers, journalists, communication experts, and WCS Viet Nam reviewed and commented on the products so that the students will be able to finalize and publish them on suitable media channels in the coming time. Students also shared their behind-the-scenes stories, demonstrating a spirit of solidarity not only within the group but also between groups and with mentors.
Although these are their very first experiences, the knowledge, skills, and lessons learned from the “Stories on the Go” are valuable for the journalism and communications students to continue contributing to wildlife protection efforts.
The review workshop of the mentorship program “Stories on the Go” was conducted within the framework of the project “Disrupting the illegal wildlife supply chain in Asia through strengthening partnerships between the government and civil society to increase the effectiveness of Government action” - Partners Against Wildlife Crime funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by WCS in Viet Nam.