grantees » Ly Thu Trang

This grantee is still in the process of their leadership development with the JWH initiative.

Ly Thu Trang is from a rural ethnic Khmer community in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, an area currently under threat from dams on the Mekong River and predicted to be adversely affected by global climate change.  Through her remarkable motivation, Trang excelled as a student in Social Work at the University of Humanities and Social Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and has brought the knowledge and skills she gained back to her home community in the form of a wide range of participatory environmental awareness activities.

Trang is currently the building officer working to establish the Mekong Delta Youth Network in Vietnam. The aim of the network is to connect young environmental leaders to learn, share, and improve their knowledge of sustainable development in the Mekong Delta. Trang is busy writing project proposals, organizing workshops and trainings, and recruiting local youth for the cause. With her bright and outgoing personality, she possesses a strong capacity to motivate her peers to defend community rights and the environment. 

In order to be even more of a force in the field of environmental protection in the Mekong Delta, Trang has received a JWH Initiative grant to further develop specific leadership skills. She will attend five months of intensive English language courses as a means of solidifying her ability to internationalize her organization’s work. Furthermore, Trang will participate in two training workshops- one on climate change and one on project management skills- to strengthen her competence. Upon completion of her grant activities, Trang intends to return to the Mekong Delta region to play a leadership role in addressing the crises facing the delta’s fragile ecosystem as it faces stress from dam construction and climate change.