Mission to Viet Nam
APCD Human Resources Development Follow-ups From 29 March to 5 April 2005, APCD dispatched a Mission to Viet Nam, visiting Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Danang. The main objective of the Mission was to monitor the post-training activities of the Vietnamese participants in the following fields:
- Accessible Web-based Information Networking (WBN)
- Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Visually Impaired Persons (VIP)
- Comprehensive Approach to Community-based Rehabilitation (CBR)
- Capacity Building of Self-help Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (CBSHOD)
From APCD's inception until April 2005, APCD has trained
Accessible WBN and Effective Trainers of ICT for VIP
more than 60 Vietnamese, respecting Viet Nam as an important target country. Through interviews and visits with former participants at their organizations, the Mission found the following major outcomes:
The APCD WBN Training is designed for participants to learn information networking and accessible web-site production in order to be a source of information. One participant from the Disability Forum has been successfully developing a web-site to be more accessible for users with visual impairments, etc. and also facilitating information network among the Forum members as a web-master.
When APCD organized the first "training for trainers" for ICT for VIP in 2004, targeting computer teachers for the blind and equipping these teachers with pertinent knowledge/skills on various software and assistive devices, APCD selected two participants from Viet Nam; one sighted participant from the Viet Nam Blind Association in Hanoi and one blind participant from Bung Sang Institution for the Blind in Ho Chi Minh City. The Mission visited their organizations to conduct post-training interviews, to see how they developed their expertise and became more knowledgeable and skillful "trainers" on ICT for VIP. They have been sharing their knowledge/skills at their respective organizations with local blind persons regularly as well as training sighted persons to teach blind students more effectively.
Nowadays large cities in Viet Nam, more organizations and schools for the blind are beginning to teach computer skills in order to help more blind citizens educationally for future employment. Although still limited, ICT for VIP, and especially computers, have become more affordable, and are a prerequisite for higher education and office work for blind persons. Former APCD training participants have been pioneers leading this movement; APCD will further develop human resources, which can help social participation of VIP via ICT.
Strengthening CBR through a Social and Comprehensive Approach in Danang
APCD's CBR Training aims to facilitate social inclusion of PWD through their participatory process in CBR and supports covering various aspects of life of PWD. Although CBR has been greatly promoted in Viet Nam, APCD believes that it can be further strengthened through a social and comprehensive approach. Through the monitoring of the former CBR participants from 2003, APCD strategically targeted Danang province in 2004, inviting 6 medical professionals (e.g., medical doctors, nurses, physio-therapists) responsible for their CBR program. Through the post-training interviews, the Mission confirmed that their pro-medical paradigm for CBR changed to pro-social after the APCD training, stressing the importance of social inclusion of PWD and a "bottom-up" approach. Some who work as CBR trainers, modified their CBR training materials covering social awareness, income generation, SHG of PWD, etc. and improved the training methods to become more participatory.
The Mission was also invited to meetings and activities of SHG of PWD, supported by some former participants. It was an excellent first step to utilize the collective power and participation of PWD for strengthening CBR while it was observed that the APCD HRD Program, the SHG Training in particular, would be able to help Vietnamese further develop effective SHG of PWD at the grass-root level.
Self-help Movement throughout Viet Nam
In cooperation with the Government Focal Point, the National Coordinating Council on Disability (NCCD), APCD organized a 5-day Regional Seminar for CBSHOD in Hanoi in December 2004, inviting 25 national leaders with disabilities from Asia-Pacific countries and 30 local participants from throughout Viet Nam. APCD emphasized a participatory planning process and raised awareness on the significance of empowering PWD, by involving as many as Vietnamese leaders with disabilities in the Seminar's Organizing Committee.
The post-training activities of local participants were monitored by the Mission through a half-day meeting in Hanoi and respective interviews in their organizations. According to their feedback of the CBSHOD Seminar in which most of the resource persons were also PWD from developing countries, it was an eye-opening event for the Vietnamese, shifting their paradigm from a charity approach to one of supporting and empowering PWD. Through the Seminar, participants could learn good practices of self-help activities, further develop their leadership skills, and were motivated to empower other PWD. In short, the participants could gain knowledge and spirit, and establish attitudes and a basic capacity for the self-help movement. Since the CBSHOD Seminar, new SHGs of PWD have been initiated throughout Viet Nam and a movement to organize a cross-disability national federation of SHG of PWD is emerging.
