HANOI INDEPENDENT LIVING CENTER 1 Hanoi Independent Living

HANOI INDEPENDENT LIVING CENTER 1

Hanoi Independent Living Center of People with Disabilities 42 Kim Ma Thuong st. , Hanoi, Vietnam ttsongdoclaphn@gmail. c om http: /www. ttsongdoclaphn. vn 2

Public assistance system in Vietnam • Viet Nam does not have Public Personal Assistance System for people with severe disabilities living in community, just 156 institutions nationwide. • Population of Persons with severe disabilities: 574, 000 (0. 7% national population aged over 5 and 4. 7% PWD population). 3

Public Assistance System in Vietnam • At the institutions, one assistant may take care of – 3 -4 children with disabilities aged under 6, or – 4 -5 children with disabilities aged from 6 to 16, or – 8 -10 adults with severe disabilities who still can serve themselves, or – 3 -4 adults with severe disabilities who can not serve themselves. (According to Decree 68/2008/NĐ-CP issued 30 4

Assistant Service System at Hanoi ILC • Presently Hanoi ILC is the only one organization of this kind to provide Personal Assistant (PA) service to PWD living in community • One PWD may be provided with one or more PAs per day , according to the user’s needs and the availability of the PAs, identified by 3 PA Coordinators from the Center 5

Basis q. International Policy and Legislative Frameworks: ü UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ü UN Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities ü Millennium Development Goals q. Regional Commitments/Frameworks for action: ü BIWAKO +5 ü BIWAKO Millennium Framework for Action 6

Basis q. National legislations: ü Ordinance for People with Disabilities 1998 ü Vietnam Disability Law 2011 ü Building Code for Accessibility in Building Environment for People with Disabilities 2002 7

Strategy • Doing advocacy by working in cooperation with the Media, especially with different television channels • Cooperation with GOs, NGOs, the Youth Union universities and DPOs • Lobbying the Government for support to IL model and IL centers • Advertising for the ILC’s services by networking and website • Capacity building and empowerment to 8

Hanoi ILC activities 1. Peer counseling 2. Program of training on IL skills (income planning, moving, cooking, outing, accessibility, organizing events. . . ) 3. Capacity building for PWDs (teamwork, basic leadership, advocacy) 4. Training and providing personal assistants (types of disability, communication, accessibility, specific assistance, time management, conflicts management)

Hanoi ILC activities • 5. Dissemination of IL philosophy and ILC in three other main cities in Vietnam: Haiphong, Danang, Cantho by working with local disabled people, DPOs and, through them, with local governments. IL seminars and Peer Councelling courses have been organized in those three cities. • 6. Other supports (for instance: providing information on Vietnamese welfare system, how to get the house modified for accessibility, transportation with lift van to 10

What has been done? • IL Seminar in Hanoi with the attendance of DPOs, MOLISA, other ministries, Government agencies and local authorities

IL Seminar in Hai Phong 12

Peer counseling trainings Purposes: • Rebuild selfconfidence • Build or rebuild social relations • Help with integration into community

What has been done? • Helped and supported outdoor activities to the participants of the PC trainings (shopping and going to the parks and on picnic) • Elementary and advanced IL Skills Trainings to PWD (communication skills, moving in the house, cooking, traveling in wheelchair, planning, group activities, team work, advocacy)

Going on Picnic

IL Program Learning experiences

Learning how to travel

What has been done? • Working with the media to be on TV talks with supportive speech of Government officers • Information about Hanoi ILC on most of the TV channels • Using the lift van as a travel service for severely disabled persons • Articles about Hanoi ILC in different newspapers and magazines

Personal Assistant (PA) Service • Provide assistance to people with severe disabilities in everyday life so that they can take their rights to full and equal participation in the social activities and demonstrate their abilities • Create a model of assistive service to meet the needs of PWDs, in the hope that the Government will support and provide budget for that in the future • Build cordial and cooperative relation between PWDs and non-disabled persons • Making ILC a proof of ability of PWDs to manage and provide the service system for their peers in 19

PA trainings How to carry PWD How to put clothes on to

PA learning assistive skills

Companions to PWD

Outing with PWDs 23

Offering certificates 24

Encouraging the best PAs Happy birthday! 25

PAs and PWDs – always together

IL and ILC Model IL Dissemination Program • IL seminars have been organized in Hai Phong, Da Nang, Can Tho • An IL Group has been formed in each city and this group has raised the awareness and promoted the action of the local government • The Group is supposed to be the core for the leaders and prepare to establish an ILC in their cities in the future. 27

ILC development • In each of the IL groups in the three cities is supposed to set up a service model of a person and a PA • Peer-councelling trainings and activities have been done • Elementary IL skill trainings • Elementary PA trainings 28

Outcomes • PWD have become confident and can demonstrate their abilities, even in the cities where we just have IL groups • With help of the PA service, PWDs can go to school to work • PWDs have done advocacy by writing articles in newspapers with help from PA • A newsletter has been created

Outcomes • Personal assistant has become a job for young people, promoting the social assistance for PWD • IL has been recognized by the Government as a good model run by PWD to provide assistive services to PWD, and with the impact of Hanoi ILC, IL has been introduced into the Disability Law 2011 • Number of service users: 57 – 65 Number of PA: 60 - 85

Strength • Support from MOLISA and NCCD in all the establishment process • Administrative assistance from DP Hanoi • Good and well-trained staff • Good coordination • PAs are mostly students and university graduates → good awareness on the rights of PWD and good attitude to the job and the service users 31

Changes in life of the PWDs Some case-studies: Mr. Văn Đức Hòa used to live with his 83 -year-old mother, who took care of him. He could hardly find chances to be taken out. His life has changed since he had PAs. He could go on a picnic without having a relative with him. He’s now the editor of Hanoi ILC members’ newsletter named Independent Living. After his mother passedaway, he started using 20 -hour service. 32

With their PAs, the brothers Tuấn and Tú have taken part in social activities, developed their work of collaborator with newspapers and become active and dynamic in their daily life 33

• The PA teaches the PWD and takes him to school 34

Changes in policies of the Government • The Disability Law was approved by the National Assembly, in which was stated the right to independent living of PWD • The Government has recognized that ILC is one of the organization to provide assistance to PWD 35

Raising awareness and cooperation • Worked with MOLISA and trying to organize seminars and workshops with attendance of Government officers and local governments • Worked with DPOs to spread out the IL philosophy and find promising leaders for IL movement and ILC in the future 36

Raising awareness and cooperation • Social Work Department of the universities started working with Hanoi ILC and PA job has been recommended to become a part of social worker’s job • Cooperation with INGOs has been strengthened and they have brought some contribution to the IL activities 37

Expectations for the sustainability • PAs will be more and more professional • More PWDs will have PAs, benefits by the service and their lives will change; they can take their rights to education and employment, and can live independently • The PA service of the Center will be supported and budgeted partly by the Government • The PA job will be recognized by the society as an authentic job • More ILC will be established in Vietnam to help PWD live independently and integrate into the 38

Thank you 39