Lighting up the spirit of volunteerism and creativity of Nghe An youth

(Baonghean) - On the occasion of the 17th Congress of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Nghe An province, term 2017 - 2022, Nghe An Newspaper interviewed comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the National Assembly delegation of the province about his feelings, sharing, and orientation for the work of the Youth Union and the youth movement of the province in the new term.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc discussed with leaders of Nghe An province and youth union forces about helping people overcome the consequences of storm No. 4. Photo: Hoai Thu

PV:Nghe An is a province with a large population, of which the youth union members and youth are more than 1 million people, accounting for about 31% of the population and 47% of the province's labor force. What do you think about the role of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union in leading the youth of the province?

Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh:The Provincial Party Standing Committee highly appreciated the effectiveness of the activities that the province's youth union members and youth have carried out in recent years. The Youth Union chapters at all levels have demonstrated seriousness, responsibility and especially the creativity of the youth in their activities. There have been many innovations in education; movements have been vibrant and attractive to the youth; the Youth Union, Association and Pioneer organizations continue to be strengthened.

The activities of the Union have attracted young people, trained them in the will to strive, helped them realize noble ideals in life, strive to establish themselves, start a career, and contribute to the cause of building their homeland and country.

Nghe An youth have actively responded to movements launched by the Central Youth Union. Youth Union chapters at all levels have selected practical, specific tasks closely related to social life, typically: building youth career villages, supporting youth in building production and business models, etc.

The Youth Union has also focused on selecting, training and fostering Youth Union cadres, thanks to which the team has been gradually standardized and rejuvenated, continuing to create a source of leadership for Party agencies, authorities and unions at all levels.

PV:Despite many remarkable achievements, we must frankly admit that, in the current context, the Youth Union is facing significant challenges. Is it necessary to be more creative in the Youth Union movement to attract and gather union members and young people to participate effectively, comrade?

Scene of the 17th Congress of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Nghe An province, term 2017-2022. Photo: My Nga

Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh:The main task of the Youth Union is to educate the youth and foster revolutionary ideals. The Youth Union's movements create an environment for the youth to practice, strive and mature. Currently, the Youth Union movement is facing many challenges. With the rapid development of science, technology and the process of deep international integration, the young generation has many favorable conditions to receive information, especially information on the Internet. However, besides the positive factors, its negative side has an impact on the thoughts and feelings of the youth and the education of the young generation. The challenge of the Youth Union is how to educate the youth to have correct awareness and the ability to resist harmful information.

Some activities of the Youth Union are sometimes considered ineffective, "labeled" as formalities, mainly due to the way they are implemented. Each youth group has its own characteristics, therefore, the task and requirement for the Youth Union organization is to choose a movement that is suitable for each group. If the movement is not suitable, union members and young people will participate reluctantly, leading to low efficiency. The Youth Union movement must promote creativity, otherwise it will easily fall into stereotypes and mechanicalness. One criterion considered as a "measure" for evaluation is that the Youth Union movement must be both practical, closely linked to the requirements of local socio-economic development, and achieve the goal of educating the ideology of union members and young people. If these factors are not carefully calculated, the movement will not last long and will not be very effective.

We must see that the Youth Union organization is strong if the Youth Union cadres are exemplary, qualified, and capable; and the youth union members have good qualities. The Youth Union cadres must truly be youth leaders, enthusiastic, exemplary, dedicated, and have good working methods. The recruitment of new members must be done carefully and thoroughly to ensure the quality of the organization. If the organization is to be strong, the members of the organization must be truly good.

PV:A current issue is entrepreneurship among young people. Can you suggest some things for the Youth Union to better fulfill its role as a companion to young people in this urgent issue?

Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh:Starting a business is an inevitable need of young people and needs to be encouraged. Currently, in our province, the work of attracting investment and developing businesses has not yet met the employment needs of people of working age; meanwhile, a part of young people have the intelligence and enthusiasm to start a business.

Therefore, the Youth Union must launch and lead the start-up movement strongly, arousing the desire to establish a career and start a business of the young generation; at the same time, there must be practical support measures such as: advising the Party Committee and the government on start-up policies, providing legal advice, supporting access to capital sources, etc. From successful start-up examples, the Youth Union must continue to develop models and promote and propagate for replication. Thus, the start-up movement will spread among union members and young people.

Students from the Pedagogical College and the Art College teach children in mountainous areas. Photo: My Nga

However, starting a business is a difficult process, and it is inevitable that there will be a risk of failure. Therefore, in its own conditions, the Youth Union must choose a suitable model to support and accompany, and must consider leading the start-up movement as a regular task.

PV:Given the achievements and challenges, what does the Provincial Party Secretary have to say to the Congress and the youth of the province?

Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh:The 11th National Congress of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union will take place at the end of this year. The Central Youth Union has determined to deploy 3 movements: Youth Volunteers; Creative Youth; Youth Pioneers to Protect the Fatherland in the 2017-2022 term. Thus, the Central Youth Union highly appreciates the volunteer spirit, creativity and dynamism of union members and young people. These are very important qualities associated with youth. Creativity will help the activities and living methods of the Youth Union organization become more attractive and diverse, thereby bringing higher efficiency; and the dynamism and volunteerism of union members and young people have been affirmed in practice.

Youth Union members of Nghe An Newspaper talk with the US Ambassador to Vietnam.

In any historical period, our country's youth always have the spirit of shock and volunteerism. During the resistance wars, the previous generation of youth joined the youth volunteer force, frontline laborers, contributing significantly to the national independence and unification. During the period of peace restoration, youth volunteers went to remote, isolated and disadvantaged areas to help local people, contributing much to the community and contributing to firmly protecting the sacred territorial sovereignty of the Fatherland. Therefore, the youth volunteer movement combined with creativity will create a new look, helping the Youth Union to more effectively carry out its assigned political tasks.

I hope and believe that the Youth Union cadres at all levels and each member and youth of the province will always foster the spirit of vanguard, volunteerism, and constant creativity and innovation to lead the Youth Union movement more and more effectively, arouse and promote the qualities of Nghe people, and contribute youth to the cause of building and protecting the homeland and country.

PV:Thank you very much, Provincial Party Secretary!

Thanh Duy