New safe, inclusive and gender-responsive playground for children in Dong Anh

(VNF) - On May 21^st, as part of the “Safer Cities for Girls” project, Plan International Vietnam, Hanoi Public Transport Management and Operation Center (TRAMOC), Dong Anh’s Women Union and Institute for Development & Community Health (LIGHT) have jointly opened a new safe, inclusive and gender-responsive playground at Kim Chung Junior High school on the outskirts of Hanoi.

The inauguration ceremony of a new safe, inclusive and gender-responsive playground for students in Kim Chung Junior High School, Dong Anh District, Hanoi.

From an empty plot of land often used by male students as a mini football field, it has been renovated and equipped with wooden playground facilities such as swingsets, overhead parallel bars.

The new playground in Kim Chung Junior High School is the result of the commitment of the school, teachers, parents, district and commune authorities to meet the demand for safe and healthy playground for children.

“The playground will fulfill students’ right to play safely, and helping them, especially girls among whom, to be more liberated in moving and participating in the community, without fear for their safety, particularly in summer time. This will be one of seven safe community playgrounds constructed in Dong Anh this June, benefiting nearly 4,500 local girls and boys,” said Le Quynh Lan, Hanoi Program Unit Manager of Plan Vietnam.

"The difficulty in deploying playgrounds for children, in my opinion, is awareness. The awareness of both parents and local authorities. They often think ‘School life is just all about studying’ and ‘Schools do not need a playground’. However, children often spend 60 per cent of their day at school. We need to create for children a space to exchange with each other, besides learning, in school. Also, shortage of outdoor play areas have left urban kids growing increasingly dependent on digital devices for leisure activities, which has resulted in their imbalanced mental and physical growth and other issues," she added.

PROVIDING MORE SAFE ENVIRONMENTS FOR CHILDREN

Violence against women and girls is a global phenomenon that has no respect for class, age, income, religion, culture or place of residence. Sexual violence, and the threat of such violence, haunts many adolescent girls as they go about their daily lives in the city, whether in school, on public transport, or in the street.

According to a survey conducted by Plan International Vietnam in June 2013, 31 per cent of 1,128 girls were sexually abused on bus and only 13 per cent of girls and 8 per cent of boys said that girls always feel safe in public. Meanwhile, 45 per cent of respondents in the survey said they did not do anything about harassment they witnessed in public and 20 per cent did not intervene when they saw the harassment on the bus.

Creating safe cities for girls creates long-term economic and social change that will benefit everyone. Safe cities are crucial to achieving gender equality because they will allow the girls who live in them to access all the opportunities they offer.

Students play in the new playground in Kim Chung Junior High School, Dong Anh District, Hanoi.

Since 2014, Plan International Vietnam has started cooperation with the Dong Anh District People's Committee to implement the “Safer Cities for Girls” project. It aims to create a safe and friendly city where people - especially women and girls - are free to work and live, access or use public services, focusing on awareness raising activities of local agencies and organisations; providing knowledge and skills for boys, girls, parents and teachers on the prevention and response to gender-based violence in public places. In particular, the project is piloting safe communities in Kim Chung and Hai Boi communes and supporting the replication of the whole district.

Plan International has, together with local authorities and schools, organised school-wide awareness and consultations events with boys and girls, use the "Safe Walking Experience" toolkit to evaluate public spots through seven criteria.

Up to now, 130 boys and girls have participated in safe walking activities in nine communes and three schools in Dong Anh District. After the walk, the children gathered together and held talks with adults, commune and district agencies to share about the safety of girls in public, as well as proactively make recommendations and proposals to make the public spaces really safer for the children.

The new playground let students relax, interact with other children and bond through play.

Based on these recommendations, Plan International Vietnam coordinated with Dong Anh District People's Committee, district departments and Commune People's Committees, school administrators to improve the three tunnels of the commune Kim Chung with lighting system and paintings by the female students in the walls; renovated an empty yard in Thang Long residential area, Hai Boi commune into a safe public place to meet the needs of about 500 children, especially the children of the migrant workers living, working in North Thang Long Industrial Park.

At the same time, set up two safe, inclusive and gender-responsive playgrounds in North Thang Long high schools which inaugurated and put into use on May 18^th and Kim Chung Junior High School, benefiting about 1,900 male and female students.

In June 2018, Plan International Vietnam will continue to coordinate with the Dong Anh District People's Committee and seven communes of Xuan Canh, Lam Dong, Dong Hoi, Nguyen Khe, Co Loa, Kim No and Bac Hong to set up seven safe community playgrounds, which is expected to create peaceful and friendly places for nearly 4,500 boys and girls this summer.

According to Lan, Plan is focusing on promoting the safety of girls in public and on public transport. This is a problem that has been almost forgotten in recent years. In the minds of many, the public is a very safe place. Over the next two years, Plan wishes to be able to work more closely with the Hanoi People's Committee so that the successes in Dong Anh District can be replicated in other districts. Plan hopes its activities can inspire the whole society. Especially, when these playgrounds do not require too much investment yet will make a big difference for adolescent girls and boys./.

Minh Chau