Sponsor: the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the VOICE* program (Netherlands).
Objectives: empower Cambodian and Vietnamese deaf people by building skills in leadership and policy influencing and building confidence through public discussion and exchange visits to an oversea country in the Asian region. It also builds the alliances of deaf people between Cambodia and Vietnam that aim to bring a stronger voice at the regional level to the global level to fight stigmatization against deaf population.
Duration: from 1/1/2020 to 31/03/2021
Implementing organizations: Research Center For Inclusion (SPO) in combination with 2 partner organizations (PO): HandSpeak Vietnam and DDSP (Disability Development Service Program) Cambodia.
Project areas: Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, and Pursat Province, Cambodia.
Project components:
1. Capacity building for young deaf people: Organise training on deaf identity, culture, leadership, policy influencing, and communication; Refer the deaf to study sign language in DDP/KT (Deaf and Development Program and Krousar Thmei; Mentoring trained deaf trainers in Vietnam;
2. Organise exchange visits between Cambodia and Vietnam;
3. Organize events in Cambodia and Vietnam:
(1) Sensitise local key persons, local partners, and DDSP staff on sign language, disability inclusion, and the culture of the deaf to promote the deaf's participation in society in Cambodia.
(2) Support Deaf representatives to attend the monthly meeting of communes and districts (Pursat, Battambang, and Kampong Chhnang);
(3) Organise a provincial workshop in Cambodia for the deaf, stakeholders, NGOs, and local authorities to discuss and document stigmatization-related issues to the deaf;
(4) Organise Deaf Day/Disability Day in Pursat in Cambodia to raise awareness and increase knowledge of the deaf on their rights;
(5) Organize reflection workshop and final/project closure meeting in Cambodia (Keys persons, deaf representatives including HandSpeak, DDSP and NLR Mekong), 70 persons in Pursat;
(6) International Week of the Deaf in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to raise awareness about the Deaf community and Sign Languages;
(7) Organise Deaf Forum event led by deaf leaders/trainers in Vietnam;
4. Awareness raising on the rights of the deaf via local radio casting and national television;
5. Linking and learning: best practices and stories from deaf leaders, deaf community in Cambodia and Vietnam.
* VOICE is an initiative by The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is executed by a consortium between Oxfam Novib and Hivos
Research Center for Inclusion aims to enhance social inclusion of persons with disability, including those affected by leprosy through: