In anticipation of the International Women’s Day on 8^th of March with the theme “Young leaders and Access to Information”, YLeader had the honour of welcoming the following distinguished guests: Mr. Duc Kien Nguyen, former Vice-President of the National Assembly of S.R of Vietnam; Mr David Devine, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada to Vietnam; Mrs Thuy Anh Pham, President of C&D Foundation; Mr Duc Lai Tran, Deputy Minister of Ministry of Information and Communications; Mrs Thi Hoa Hoang, Standing Commissioner from the Committee of Culture, Education and Youth for National Assembly; together with many honoury representatives and more than three hundred students participating in the event.

Photo 0: Yleader welcoming Ambassador David Devine

Photo 1: Honoury Guests delivering their speeches

Along with the special performances, games and recap videos of YLeaders for the past year, our participants also had the opportunity to hear memorable and meaningful speeches from our distiguished guests; the heartfelt wishes from MrDucKien Nguyen; the amiable but inspiring words from the Canadian Ambassador to all the ladies; the gushing stories from Mrs Thuy Anh Pham about her “brainchild” YLeader; together with presentations from coextending organisations such as YCulture and YThinkTank about the past Access to Information events. Afterwards, Ambassador David Devine highly commended YLeader’s activities for community development and expressed his wish to support our future activities. Coming to this event, Embassy of Canada to Vietnam brought 50 special prizes for exceptional female leaders in addition to the awards and certificates already prepared by C&D Foundation for our volunteers in the past year. 

Photo 2: Ambassador David Devine awarding exceptional female leaders

Photo 3: The report by concepts leaders about Access to Information

Remarkably, as our guests thought that the event had come to an end with its curtains closed and lights dimmed, an ambrosial stream of dazzling colors engulfed the stage. Ten exceptional representatives from various universities in Hanoi donning on the exquisite traditional “Ao Dai” from prominent designer Kenny Thai walked out to close the program. YLeader with our own ivory white “Ao Dai” lit up the stage with our congratulatory candles to honour the mothers, sisters and teachers in our Young Female Leader Alliance.

Photo 4: Female students donning the “Ao Dai” collection by designer Kenny Thai

Photo 5: YLeader litting our congratulatory candles

Some have said that “the best way to assess an event is to look for the smiles of its attendants”. Surely, YLeader has been successful in certain aspects as we were able to retain not only the smile and appreciation of Ambassador David Devine but also the support from all of our guests. We hope that such gesture signifies many more encounters with all of you in our future events.

Author: Phuong Nghi

Photographer: Thanh Van