MCD Deputy Director, Ms. Ho Thi Yen Thu, represented MCD to participate in the Kickoff Workshop of the Marine Coastal and Delta Sustainability for Southeast Asia Program (MARE). The workshop was organized in the University of Bremen, Germany during 18-21 February 2020.

MARE is a three year program funded by European Commission and aims to promote sustainable governance & management of coastal, delta & marine (CDM) socio-ecological systems in Vietnam and Malaysia and adjacent waters through ICT-enhanced tertiary education linked to labour markets & wider stakeholder circles. This aim will be achieved through the following objectives: (i) to revise and upgrade selected CDM-relevant BSc, MSc & PhD CDM programs in partner institutions to make them end-user-oriented & policy-relevant, and develop modules addressing CDM-related hotspots, that can be used interchangeably in tertiary & lifelong learning education; (ii) to develop shared MARE open education environment platform & online training services of the new generation for qualitative improvement of the education process & academic workflow support among universities & stakeholders across the participating countries & EU; (iii)  to create sustainable feedback mechanisms to end-users, ensuring adaptive & practice-relevant teaching contents, knowledge co-production opportunities and stakeholder support to post-project course development & teaching; and (iv) to develop capacity for academic mobility, shared experimental facilities and joint research by partner institutions & beyond.

MARE brings in novel tools & methods used by international research communities, and creates the contents reflecting on CDM issues from a variety of contexts. In addition to quality curriculum contents; it also creates innovative ICT-based management system for teaching, learning & research training, and builds institutional mechanisms to engage stakeholders with research & education to improve the relevance of educational provision to the society.

The Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD), with its position as a leading Vietnamese NGO in the field of coastal and marine ecosystem conservation that strives for a sustainable coastal zone of Vietnam with healthy ecosystems and good quality of life for its coastal communities, plays a vital role of the only non-academic partner in this multiple partner program with thirteen partners across EU, Malaysia and Vietnam. MCD participation in MARE is the connecting part to the project “Accelerating the declaration of Co To MPA to strengthen the MPA network in Vietnam” being implemented by MCD that promotes integrated coastal zone management for sustainable development in Vietnam.

Photo: MARE Kickoff Workshop Participants, at the front door of ZMML Building (the University of Bremen)