Fatherland Front spearheads green community drive in HCMC

This isn’t just a story about planting a few extra potted plants. It’s a journey of citizens joining hands to preserve a civilized way of life, starting right in their own residential areas. On this journey, there is the diligent effort of Fatherland Front members at all levels, mass organizations, and businesses. But most of all, it comes from the unassuming hands of residents voluntarily beautifying the places where they live.

Without waiting for inspections or reminders, the story of “self-management” has become a natural way of life in many neighborhoods across HCMC. This change belongs largely to the residents themselves. The people who live there benefit directly and see the value of a green, clean, and civilized lifestyle.

Bui Thi Phuong, leading Residential Area No.7 in Con Dao Special Zone, views the Fatherland Front Congress as a catalyst for communal introspection regarding environmental stewardship. Under the “Bright – Green – Clean – Beautiful” framework, her diverse constituency has mobilized extensive resources, including business machinery and over 1,300 annual labor days, to eradicate landfills and cultivate floral landscapes.

Yet, the initiative’s true resonance lies in the social cohesion fostered; the collective act of planting has become an intrinsic habit, bridging generations and newcomers alike. For Phuong, the ultimate reward is not the flora itself, but the “green consciousness” now deeply ingrained in the domestic sphere. She maintains that cumulative individual efforts, from waste reduction to planting trees, are the mechanism through which urban beauty naturally manifests.

It's not just on distant islands; in inner-city HCMC, green is reviving from the smallest things. Alley 212/1 Thoai Ngoc Hau Street (Phu Thanh Ward) bustles with children’s laughter every afternoon. The Green Energy Park, once a weed-choked lot, is now a community hub with swings, stone benches, a children’s play corner, solar lighting, and free Wi-Fi.

60-year-old Nguyen Thi Phong lauded the park for revitalizing community interaction. This transformation necessitated a robust collaboration between the ward’s Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and local leadership, mobilizing over 370 volunteer shifts to clear land, install solar lighting, and curate environmental murals.

Crucially, the initiative prioritizes sustainable self-governance; the completed infrastructure was formally transferred to the neighborhood party cell and residents. This empowers the local community to jointly monitor and preserve their shared green space, ensuring its enduring vitality.

Deep in the northeast of the city, Phu Thuan Neighborhood (Phu An Ward) is changing daily. The current spacious, clean roads make it hard to recall the image from a few years ago, when grass grew thick and trash was scattered in unnoticed corners.

On weekends, over 150 officials, association members, youth union members, and residents clean up together, clearing bushes, collecting trash, and removing illegal ad signs. Newly planted flowers are cared for by residents themselves: one house prunes, another waters, children pick up fallen leaves.

Yellow flowers, bougainvillea, and roses seem to brighten the whole neighborhood. Residents living there usually joke that the cleaner the alleys become, the merrier people feel.

Secretary Nguy Thi Chau of Phu Thuan Neighborhood’s Party Cell observes that the neighborhood’s metamorphosis stems from a shift in consciousness; enduring beauty emerges only when residents internalize environmental preservation as a personal mandate. Her neighbor Nguyen Van Dong corroborates this, noting that collective vigilance has eradicated indiscriminate dumping and fostered communal pride.

Under the Fatherland Front’s “Road of Joint Effort” model, Phu An Ward has managed 20 green routes. Remarkably, the “Each person plants 1 tree” initiative has mobilized the planting of over 33,000 trees, exemplifying the potency of roused civic strength in revitalizing even the riverbanks of the Sai Gon River.

Another successful story comes from Ngai Giao Commune, which exemplifies the shift to civic environmental stewardship, with residents zealously adopting “Green Sundays.” This collective effort yielded a record-breaking 6.4km apricot blossom road, the country’s longest. It stands as a testament to the potent synergy generated when a community unites under a shared vision of preservation and beauty.

In Long Huong Ward, Ms. Dau Thi Vinh herself initiated the “green house basket,” mobilizing residents to dispose of plastic bottles and iron cans correctly. Initially hesitant, after a few months, everyone saw a marked reduction in trash. “If you want a green neighborhood, every house must be green first,” Ms. Vinh said.

Late in the afternoon, solar lights at Green Energy Park turn on; in Con Dao, moss rose bushes close their petals; in Phu Thuan Neighborhood, residents linger by freshly watered flowers, all creating a city full of vitality and hope.