The main work package of the Blue Dragon Program is the Blue Dragon Pools.
These pools are the training sessions that will be held from time to time at partner provinces to assure cooperation and coordination between the participating departments and provinces.
Each Pool will focus on discussing these general themes designed to meet the actual need of partner provinces:
The program of each Blue Dragon Pool will focus on:
Pool 1 with the main training topic Asset Management which was started by the first week in June 2022. From there, the group of experts was formed with the participation: of local officials of 3 provinces (Can Tho, Kien Giang, and Hau Giang), Dutch trainers from the Dutch Water Authorities (Mr. Robin de Bekker and Mr. Marcel van Zutphen), and a Vietnamese trainer (Mr. Trần Văn Tỷ) from Can Tho University (CTU).
You can find here some brief of the implemented training weeks of the Pool in Phase 1 (2021-2023):
The first training week of Pool 1:
During the week from 13 June to 17 June 2022, the Blue Dragon Team and our valued partners together executed a successful first week of Pool 1 Asset Management at DARD Can Tho.
Thanks to the introduction and informative presentations from Dutch trainers, a Can Tho University (CTU) trainer, and Vietnamese participants, everyone becomes closer and begins working together in Pool 1.
Besides, decomposition theory, exciting discussions and group activities provided including a field trip to the KHD 9 Sluice Gate and the Nhiem Bridge Sluice Gate brought a vast of helpful knowledge to both the Dutch and Vietnamese sides.
After that, the Dutch Trainers also received many additional requests from the participants which will be beneficial to developing the training program aligned to the actual work demands.
We are so pleased to hand the Certificate of Completing 1 week of Pool 1 to all participants on 17 June 2022 and those participants will continuously join the remaining 4 weeks of Pool 1 until the end of 2023.
The second training week of Pool 1:
The week happened in Dec 2022 in Kien Giang, the Pool kept working Decomposition which used KHD9 Sluice gate as a study case, with the discussion on risk management and asset management.
CTU trainer gave a presentation about the Asset handover.
At the end of the week, two homework had were assigned to the local participants who were expected to report in the third training week.
The third training week of Pool 1: updating…
The forth training week of Pool 1: updating…
Some pictures from the second week of Pool 1 from 2022 to the end of 2023 (Phase 1):
From 03 October to 07 October 2022, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hau Giang and the Blue Dragon program collaborated on the first week of Pool 2 organization which is about Communication in the water sector.
During the first week, we came up with the communication topic: raising public awareness on using water effectively/safely, and water resources protection. All participants from 03 provinces (Kien Giang, Hau Giang and Can Tho) will work together on the framework, making plans, and implementation with the support of Dutch Water Authorities Trainers and Can Tho University Lecturer ( Mrs. Bernoe Meierand Mrs. Coby Nagelhout - Mrs Huynh Vuong Thu Minh).
During the training week, Participants shared the contexts, challenges, methods, experiences, and initiatives…relating to the water communication of 03 provinces, city (Hau Giang, Kien Giang, and Can Tho) through many group presentations
Also, Pool 2 visited the Fresh Water Supply Station belonging to Water Supply and Rural Sanitation JSC Hau Giang province. We were introduced to how they provide fresh water to local citizens in the region and how the water is treated to meet the regulated criteria.
The next training week of Pool 2 will be held on 21 November to 25 November 2022 in Rach Gia, Kien Giang.
From 3 April to 6 April 2023, Blue Dragon Program, Can Tho University, and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Can Tho, Kien Giang, and Hau Giang jointly organized another training week in Can Tho with diverse participants from departments: Departments of Construction, Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development, Departments of Environment and Natural Resources, ODA office, etc…
Through the first training week, Vietnamese participants got to know 02 new trainers from Dutch Water Authorities - Mrs. Lucy Afman and Mr. Hannes Versteegh, 1 new trainer from the Dutch national organization Rijkswaterstaat - Mr. Reindert Stellingwerff and 1 trainer from CTU Mr Dinh Diep Anh Tuan and were introduced about general information of Dutch Flood Risk Management (Dutch flood control and organization of flood-defenses, Spatial planning, and land use legislation, Flood information management systems, etc…)
After one week of working, learning, and understanding each other, we now have an enthusiastic Pool with knowledgeable trainers and experienced participants, which promises successful outcomes during the implementation of the Pool and after the finish of the Pool.
As usual, we also had briefing presentations from provincial participants to management and discussed input for the next training week.
The second training week will be from 18 September to 21 September 2023 in Kien Giang.
The Pool has started from November 2023 with inspiring content about how to make an action plan for each provincial partner.
The training team was formed from the following members:
Our trainers have been working on the same vision:
Each Provincial Partner came up with their challenge which needs action, promising as the outcomes of Pool 4 after 5 training weeks
With the collection of data and study of understanding the case from the provincial partners, the Pool will meet soon in 2025 for the third training week,
Thank to the great collaboration between the Blue Dragon Program and the Coordination Office of MARD (Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) and Can Tho University in 2024, our partnership has been organising 3 training weeks with the participation of 13 Mekong Delta provinces with 60 participants.
With the Pool, we have offered the theories part, and practice part with the direct assistance of CTU and DWA trainers during the training weeks. On the final training day, we do the evaluation with all participants and trainers to come up with the needed training content for the next week. So far, our participants have gone through the basic skills of GIS in mapping functions, and collecting information in the field via phone apps (Qfield), etc…
The training team with the participation of:
From Can Tho University:
Cô Phan Kiều Diễm and Thầy Trương Chí Quang
From Dutch Water Authorities:
Mr. Hannes Versteegh
Mr. Wietse Wierks
Ms. Petra Hulsman
The partnership agreed to continue with more training weeks in 2025 which will be very promising because there will be more advanced skills will be trained. Looking forward to seeing the fruitful outcomes of the Pool next year.