Women in Van Quat Dong village has utilized folk music creatively as an effective communication tool in order to raise awareness and build capacity for their community on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction (DRR).
Van Quat Dong village is located in low-lying area of Tam Giang lagoon, Huong Tra town, Thua Thien Hue province. The village, situated along lower Huong ricer, has been frequently affected by salinity intrusion, drought or floods. Depending on aquaculture and agriculture as two major sources of livelihood, local people living in Van Quat Dong feel the impacts of climate change and natural disasters more clearly than anyone else does. Therefore, they soon realized the importance of awareness-rising communication on environmental protection and DRR. What set the communication activities organized in Van Quat Dong village apart is the participation of women and their ingenuity in diversifying communication methods.
The women’s club of Van Quat Dong village consists of 34 members. Singing is always a vital part of the club meetings and of the daily life of 34 women in the club. Previously, singing folk songs, such as Ho Mai Nhi (a local boatmen’s chant), Nam Ai Nam Bang, provided them with a chance to ease hardship while working, or to relieve sorrow in their lives. Now the local women have used folk songs to convey communications messages relating to climate change, DRR and waste treatment. By utilizing a wide range of medium such as skits, singing folk songs with new lyric, they have made difficult-to-understand information on climate change and DRR become more understandable to the community. That has created a distinguish feature of communication activities organized by women in Van Quat Dong.
A skit on disaster risk management organized by the women’s club of Van Quat Dong village
After participating in the capacity building training held in the framework of the project “Community-based disaster risk mitigation and climate change adaption”, the Executive Committee of the women club of Huong Phong commune has developed their own communication plan on climate change and environmental sanitation and shared it with other neighbor communes. Their communication activities are always highly valued and actively participated by local authorities and the community.
Moreover, whenever having a chance to participate in training courses or study tour organized by the project (eg: raising earthworm, Perionyx excavatus, in Thanh Hoa province, disaster risk management model in Da Nang city), they all actively share with other member in the women’s club. They often exchange what they have learnt from the study tours or training at the club’s meeting or when they meet each other at market. And once again, local folk songs or skits have become an useful way to communicate information on effective livelihood models.
A folk song composed by members of Huong Phong women club. The song was sung at a local event to celebrate the International Environmental Day
“If I don’t have you, I feel like there is no sun in the sky. If women don’t get involved in confronting climate change, climate change cannot be dealt with.”, said Ms. Nguyen Thi Dao – Chair of Huong Phong women’s club at DRR communication event organized by the women’s club of Van Quat Dong village. After her speech, the audience burst out laughing and the meeting room was filled with continuous big applause. Attending the event, we were so impressed by her speech. That’s so true. Thank to the participation of women, communication messages relating to climate change and DRR have been reached out to a larger audience. They are not only easy-to-understand but also very locally-characterized.
Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD)
No.31, Alley 19 Kim Dong Street, Hoang Mai District, Ha Noi
Phone: +84 24 3943 6676/78 | Fax: +84 24 3943 6449
