MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

WATERSPORTS FOR CLIMATE ACTION WORKSHOPS

One-line solution summary:

Skills elevating kids too poor to read, write, swim/surf, from local whale temple/fisherfolk communities (http://bit.ly/climate-action-task)

Pitch your solution.

VIETNAM LOST NO PEOPLE TO COVID, WHILE 6,000+ CHILDREN DROWN ANNUALLY.

Workshops address:

*Global ocean issues (over-fishing, pollution, climate change), locally, with alternative livelihoods for fisher-folk.

*High drowning rates (90% children cannot swim), with swimming survival workshops.
*Illiteracy (some children too poor for school/smartphones/learning online), with Vietnamese video voice-overs, shared online stories, canva.com, Udemy.com, FishFace App/fisheries data on recycled phones.
*TECHNOLOGY TRAINER UPGRADES FOR SPORTS-SCIENCE WORKSHOPS (e.g. translate https://sphero.com/pages/sphero-sports).

MANTA's takes fishermen off: fossil-fuel, over-fishing, endangered habitats, translating existing ocean-skills to water-sports following governing-body guidelines.

Water-sports trained fishermen train large-groups of school-children/tourists, water-sports and climate-change survival-skills.

In-turn, students simultaneously help sustain fisher-folks' new livelihoods, national team-training, MANTA's circular-model, while delivering UN global-goals, and zero-waste awareness, as sea-levels rise (http://bit.ly/EIS-2019, http://bit.ly/EIS-2019, http://bit.ly/AIS-2019).

Nationally, Vietnam's Vice-Minister of Sport envisions Vietnam Sports University students scale this along Vietnam's 4,000km coastline as students return home to their provinces.

Cyberspace connects children globally/raising skills and awareness...

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

Addressing priority global ocean issues (over-fishing, pollution, climate change), within workshops developing swimming survival skills, technology skills, and environmental awareness - for Good Jobs & Inclusive Entrepreneurship, in Mui Ne - a global watersports hotspot.

Priority ocean issues can effect everyone, amplified by exponential human population growth. Asia Pacific holds 60% of the world's population and climate change impacts are expected to be harsh in Vietnam's local fishing communities.

Contributing factors:
*The world is 75% water and rising.
*Vietnam's 4,000 km+ coastline is considered 5th most vulnerable to climate change.

*Although Vietnam lost nobody to CoVid, more than 6,000 Vietnamese children drown each year.
*Only 1 in 10 children can swim.
*Vietnam has an horrific sea history.
*Education can skip a couple of generations after war.
*Vietnamese fisher-folk coastal communities are marginalized, considered lowest caste and least educated.
*Some children are too poor for school, and yet to read/write.
*Vietnamese language, with lack of English, minimizes access to online learning during lockdown++.
*Trainers often lack technological skills and environmental awareness.
*Although local carbon footprints are relatively small, these communities are front-line on climate change impacts.
*It is necessary flatten the curve of greenhouse gases, and reverse global warming, for the health and wealth of people and planet.

What is your solution?

WORKSHOP SOLUTION: HELP REVERSE GLOBAL WARMING by reducing carbon emissions (e.g. https://drawdown.org), using power of sport, and collaborative action, to help strengthen water-sports/ocean awareness, skill, resilience and framework for climate action in Mui Ne.

MANTA's circular model reduces carbon emissions, using alternative energy (wind, tide and paddle power), not fossil fuel:

*ELEVATE SKILLS AND AWARENESS of fishermen/children to survive/navigate the earth/ocean (3,000+ students trained), simultaneously RECYCLE SKILLS for potential careers/livelihood developments.

*ROLL OUT, with sponsorship, TEACHING SWIMMING SURVIVAL WITH ENVIRONMENTAL FUNDAMENTALS including CLIMATE CHANGE for local children, some too poor for school and yet to read, write, swim/surf (http://bit.ly/climate-action-task), as sea levels rise.

*SHIFT MATERIALS ONLINE for (5 month) school lockdowns.

*UPGRADE CYBERSPACE (meeting/learning) SKILLS: Children share skills and cultural stories with other beach children globally, although ocean practice requires social distancing, in the time of pandemics.

*ADD FishFace App with RECYCLED PHONES- to help FEED THE FUTURE.
*TRANSLATE Sphero-Sports football robotics app.

*With SURFING now an OLYMPIC SPORT, Vietnam hosting 2021 SEA Games, MANTA continues to ELEVATE/grow LOCAL children/coaches WATER-SPORTS SKILLS with national team pride. ADD FRAMEWORK: Help Vietnam join another water-sports governing body, this time International Surfing Association (ISA).

TOGETHER LET'S WIN THE RACE (globally against climate change)!

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Local whale temple/fishing communities (https://bit.ly/VN-whale-worship, http://bit.ly/Van-Chai-BT) - children, fisher-folk, retirees.

Collaborating with power of sport/water-sports.

Collaborating with power of culture.

One example: The whale temple keeper and board (men in their 70s/80s), agree to sharing their whale tales for children to illustrate for homework during lockdown. Children develop cultural pride with cyberspace skills, while sharing their stories and what they love about the ocean, with children in other local beach communities, starting with Bali and Peru.

Surfing invitation. 2021 SEA Games. Olympics/ISA.

The cyberspace skills can help reduce marginalization in general.

Strengthening survival skills, resilience, awareness, alternative livelihoods, culture and framework for individuals and the community. Strengthening generation bonds. Reducing the risk of drug addiction.

Watersports, ocean awareness (benefits, challenges, solutions), and cultural wisdom can upgrade tours for tourism including climate action tours - on site and in cyberspace.

*Want to grow online skills, and make recycled phones, with FishFace App (https://bit.ly/FishFace-proposal-VN), to minimize marginalization, for example during pandemic lockdowns.

Skills developed tally as career training in the multicultural water-sports of Mui Ne to help both navigation on land and sea, with pride in helping preserve their cultural heritage.

With sport universities, scaling the coast - for health/wealth of people/planet.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Equip workers with technological and digital literacy as well as the durable skills needed to stay apace with the changing job market

Explain how the problem, your solution, and your solution’s target population relate to the Challenge and your selected dimension.

Challenge: Good Jobs+

Problem: Marginalized coastal fisher-family children often too poor for school, unable to read, write, swim/surf, unable to access training online, with Vietnamese language, not English. In Mui Ne, Vietnam's water-sports capital - with drowning risks high.

Workshops align solutions including tech solutions:
*Swimming survival skills - with the world 75% water and rising.
*Access to ongoing vocational skills training for good jobs in water-sports - to help service a growing global multi-cultural water-sports community.
*Vietnamese video voice-overs raise awareness on human/environmental health.
*Sharing stories marginalized children connect with children elsewhere while learning online skills.
*Technology training upgrade e.g. Translate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtKZgMAVs94&t=16s
to Vietnamese.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Phan Thiết, Bình Thuận, Vietnam

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model rolled out in one or, ideally, several communities, which is poised for further growth

Who is the primary delegate for your solution?

Julia Caroline Shaw, Founder