Panasonic Vietnam has coordinated with World Vision International Vietnam to organize solar lantern donation program to grant 510 solar lanterns in Tua Chua and Muong Cha district of Dien Bien province. This year, 19 young volunteers joined with Panasonic in contributing to local community towards realizing wellness and sustainable development for Vietnam.

The event was held in Dien Bien provinces to donate 510 solar lanterns to two remote districts including Tua Chua and Muong Cha, where hundreds of residents are still not able to access the national electricity grid. Meanwhile, Panasonic representatives and young volunteers had to cross over 120 km of mountainous road to Tua Chua districts to distribute the lanterns to more than 100 households directly on field, as well as implement corporate social responsible activities including STEM and Eco-learning class for over 200 students and workshop on natural disasters prevention for hundreds of residents, hosted by young volunteer from Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

General Director of Panasonic Vietnam hand-over the symbolic donation to the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Dien Bien province

Mr. Marukawa Yoichi, General Director of Panasonic Vietnam shared: This year, on the very special milestone of celebrating the 70th year of the historic Dien Bien phu battle, we are very honored to bring back our program to Dien Bien province for the second time. In Vietnam, we set our new vision to contribute to the wellness of Vietnamese people and sustainable development of the country in the next 50 years. Moreover, since its foundation, Panasonic Group has started our business with electricity as we see the future of society from it. Nowadays, a lot of people still cannot reach electricity. That is why we donate solar lanterns to those people to improve their living standard and provide children with better conditions for studying, especially at nighttime. Something very special about this year's program is that we invited young generations as volunteers, to share with them the understanding and experiences about take act for the wellness of people and society. We hope that our efforts can generate bigger green impact and contribute to wellness and sustainability of Dien Bien in particular and Vietnam in general.

Solat lantern donation has been implemented since 2015, under Panasonic’s global initiative “Light up the Future”. In the two recent years, solar lantern donation program has become an anticipated activity by Vietnamese youngsters, when they are offered a meaningful opportunity to accompany with corporate, better understand local issues and expand the networking amongst youth.

Light from solar lanterns provides better learning conditions for children at night

In addition to donating solar lanterns, 19 young volunteers have travelled hundreds of kilometers from all the part of Vietnam to join-together and organize some CSR activities for local community of Tua Chua districts, including:

- Co-ordinated with Panasonic for Sustainable Schools, a CSR initiative of Panasonic in education, to deliver the STEM and Eco-learning classes to more than 200 students of Trung Thu Secondary boarding ethnic school.
- Distribute solar lanterns to more than 100 households of Hang Cu Tau village (Trung Thu communes) and guide local people on lantern use.
- Organize workshop on natural disasters prevention with the sharing from 03 youth representatives of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Volunteers guide local people to use the solar lantern

Panasonic and volunteers delivered STEM and Environment classes to more than 100 students

Volunteers from Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment host the workshop on natural disaster prevention for local people

Ngo Ba Khoa, a young volunteers shared: “When participating in the program, I have chance to experiences, not just to be a coordinator of an environmental project sponsored by Panasonic, but also become a volunteer to get better understanding about of the difficult lives of people in remote areas, and be more inspired by the Panasonic's vision of contributing to society.”

In its second time coming to Dien Bien province, the program is implemented with the coordination of World Vision International in Vietnam, an NGO expertise in local supporting activities for more than 20 years, to grant 510 solar lanterns 300 households in 10 villages in Tua Chua district and 210 households in 8 villages in Muong Cha district. These households, which are mostly Mong ethnic groups, face significant challenges in all living standards due to the lack electricity.

More than 100 households in Hang Cu Tau village received solar lanterns from Panasonic and volunteers.

The joy of the people in Hang Cu Tau village when receiving the lanterns

"Dien Bien province is located in rugged mountainous terrain with the lack of infrastructure. That is the reason why, even with the investment from Government, we have not been able to expand national grid electricity to all households, especially ethnic minority households living in remote areas. 510 solar lanterns donated by Panasonic to the off-grid households in villages and hamlets of Tua Chua and Muong Cha will be a gift that provide lights to improve the living standards of local people, especially helping students have better studying conditions” shared Mr. Vừ A Bằng, Vice Chairman of the Điện Biên Province People's Committee.”

Mr. Doseba Tua Sinay - National Director, World Vision International in Vietnam express his grateful for the support of Panasonic through this solar lantern donation over years, and hope for continue lighting up the lives of the most vulnerable children and communities in the province in the coming time.

Up to today, Panasonic’s global initiative "Light up the Future" has donated more than 100,000 solar lanterns to off-grid areas in 30 countries in Asia and Africa, in which more than 3,800 units were contributed to communities of five provinces in Vietnam including Dien Bien, Yen Bai, Thanh Hoa, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai. The product is a LED lantern with a built-in rechargeable battery to store solar energy during the day, enabling it to provide light at night and offer a clean and safe solution as a light source as well as a power source for people living in areas without electricity.

The active participation of young volunteers is the inspiring extension activity of “Live Green and Wellness with Gen G” campaign implemented by Panasonic Vietnam earlier this year to inspired future generation become ambassadors of green lifestyle and sustainability and contribute to the wellness of Vietnam.

Another remarkable activity this year, the Japanese corporation soon to reach the milestone of 1 million trees by the end of 2024, through two key programs including EcoRelay - Panasonic for a green Vietnam, the annual tree planting program since 2014 with the active participations of employees; and another special tree planting program with partners and customers contribution since 2022.