Climate change lessons move beyond classroom into fields: LEARN-VN initiative

A Hmong student saves used plastic bottles to turn them into flower vases as gifts for her teacher. A farmer in Dong Hy District, Thai Nguyen Province, decides to postpone fertilizer application because no rain is forecast and harvests his rice when it is only about 80% ripe to reduce the risk of weather-related losses. A staff member of the Farmers' Union changes the way training sessions are conducted, no longer speaking on behalf of farmers but instead encouraging them to analyze problems and develop their own solutions.

These three stories unfold in different settings, yet they share a common thread: climate change can only be addressed effectively when knowledge is translated into action. This is also the most significant achievement of the Learning Center for Net Zero and Climate Resilience in Northern Viet Nam (LEARN-VN) project after more than two years of implementation.

From classroom lessons to student action

As a Geography teacher at Quang Son Secondary School in Thai Nguyen Province, Ms. Tran Thi Yen Hoa had long struggled to integrate climate change into her lessons. Concepts such as greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation, and mitigation often seemed too abstract for students, particularly at a school where more than 70% of the pupils belong to ethnic minority communities.

According to Ms. Hoa, students previously learned about weather and climate mainly to pass exams. They understood what climate change was, but few could imagine how they might respond to it in their daily lives. After participating in training courses under the LEARN-VN project, the biggest change was not the amount of knowledge she gained, but the way she taught.

Instead of relying on one-way lectures, she adopted a participatory teaching approach. Students were divided into groups to discuss issues, identify causes, and develop their own solutions. They were also assigned practical tasks, such as producing awareness-raising videos or designing models that demonstrate climate change adaptation measures. In her view, when students are encouraged to think creatively and solve problems themselves, they no longer learn simply to memorize; they learn to apply their knowledge.

On International Women's Day (March 8), a Hmong girl presented Ms. Hoa with a flower vase made entirely from discarded plastic bottles. At first, Ms. Hoa assumed it was an art class project. Later, the student explained that the idea had come from a Geography lesson on climate change about two weeks earlier, when the class discussed ways to reduce plastic waste. Instead of throwing away empty bottles as she had done before, she collected them, cut and assembled them into small flowers, and turned them into a handmade gift.

"That gift is still hanging in my classroom today. What makes me happiest is not the gift itself, but the fact that the lesson inspired a real change in my student's behavior," Ms. Hoa shared at the project's closing event on June 25.

In her view, a greener future does not begin with grand slogans, but with small actions repeated every day. While one phase of the LEARN-VN project may have come to an end, the new teaching approach it introduced will continue to shape classroom learning for years to come.

The transformation taking place in the classroom reflects the broader approach pursued by LEARN-VN. According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Tan, Country Representative of the International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) in Viet Nam, the project has gone beyond establishing demonstration models. Its ultimate goal is to create a learning ecosystem that enables farmers, teachers, students, and local communities to continue learning about and applying climate solutions long after the project concludes.

Over the past two years, the project has established a 15-hectare Climate Park at Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, featuring 34 demonstration models covering climate-smart agriculture, forestry, renewable energy, and waste management. It has also developed more than 30 training modules, delivered training and awareness-raising activities to approximately 9,000 participants, and reached around 310,000 people through communication and outreach efforts.

The project's endline survey indicates that about 61% of those who received training have adopted climate change adaptation or mitigation practices. Meanwhile, 94% of survey respondents reported applying at least one climate solution in their daily lives, with approximately 44% saying they began doing so after participating in project activities.

In its next phase, LEARN-VN will build on the Thai Nguyen Climate Park's foundation to develop a dedicated Climate Learning Center. Once completed, it is expected to become the first climate learning center of its kind in both Viet Nam and Southeast Asia, where climate solutions are not only showcased but also tested in real-world conditions and shared widely with communities.

Measuring impact through realistic decisions

If the classroom demonstrates a shift in awareness, the fields reveal that change through everyday farming decisions.

Mr. Dang Ngoc Hieu, Chairman of the Farmers' Union of Van Lang Commune in Thai Nguyen Province, said that the most valuable lesson he gained from the project's training courses was not simply technical knowledge, but a new way of working with communities. Previously, training sessions typically followed a one-way approach in which officials delivered information and farmers listened. Under the LEARN-VN project, however, facilitators introduced participatory tools that enable community members to assess their own strengths and weaknesses, identify local needs, and select solutions best suited to their specific conditions.

According to Mr. Hieu, this represents a fundamental shift because when people are involved from the outset, they are far more likely to take ownership of the solutions rather than view them as externally imposed requirements. After completing the training, he integrated these participatory methods into the Farmers' Union's activities, ranging from awareness campaigns and training sessions to establishing community-led models for environmental protection and climate change adaptation.

As a result, several community groups have been formed to organize "Green Weekend" campaigns, promote waste separation at source, produce organic compost, and gradually convert parts of their farmland to more water-efficient crops such as peanuts and soybeans.

These changes have reached the people who matter most: the farmers themselves, who are both beneficiaries of the project and agents of change. Ms. Nguyen Thi Nho, a farmer from Van Huu Hamlet in Dong Hy District, explained that fertilizer application and harvesting decisions were once based largely on experience. Today, her family regularly consults weather forecasts before making key farming decisions. If fertilizer is scheduled to be applied but no rainfall is expected, they postpone the application to avoid nutrient loss. Likewise, they now harvest their rice when it reaches around 80% maturity to reduce the risk of crop damage from heavy rain or other extreme weather events.

Beyond household-level changes, local communities have also organized collective initiatives to improve environmental management in agricultural areas. Instead of being discarded along field boundaries, empty pesticide containers are now collected regularly, helping to reduce pollution in rural landscapes.

Taken together, the stories of Ms. Hoa, Mr. Hieu, and Ms. Nho illustrate that the project's greatest achievement lies not in the number of training courses delivered or demonstration models established, but in fostering lasting behavioral changes that will continue to spread long after the project has ended.

Dr. Nguyen Chi Hieu, Vice Rector of Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, affirmed that the project's outcomes will continue to be integrated into the university's education, research, and technology transfer activities. The Climate Park and the future Climate Learning Center will serve as long-term infrastructure for students, lecturers, researchers, and local communities to study, test, and disseminate practical climate change adaptation solutions.

A flower vase made from discarded plastic bottles, a farmer's decision to delay fertilizer application, or a new participatory training approach adopted by a Farmers' Union officer may each appear to be a small change in isolation. Yet when thousands of teachers, farmers, and local officials make similar changes as demonstrated through the LEARN-VN project, these individual actions collectively form a stronger and more enduring foundation for climate change adaptation.

The LEARN-VN project is funded by the Government of Germany through Bread for the World (BfdW). The Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) in Vietnam serves as the project's implementing and management agency.

On the Vietnamese side, the project is overseen by the Ministry of Education and Training. Thai Nguyen University is the grant recipient, with Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry serving as the lead implementing institution. The project is carried out by the university's Institute of Forestry and Sustainable Development.