Nearly 15 per cent of the population in Viet Nam live with some form of disability – that’s an estimation of 13 million people.  The vast majority – 75% - of persons with disabilities live in rural areas. They are some of the most vulnerable members of society, facing significant challenges and barriers in their daily lives.

UNDP has been working with partners to provide an enabling environment for persons with disabilities to participate meaningfully in processes that affect their rights and interests. 

LEGAL EMPOWERMENT

Viet Nam ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities in 2014.  Since then, UNDP, UNICEF and ILO, in collaboration with other development partners, have supported the Government and organizations of persons with disabilities to implement the Convention and to strengthen monitoring and implementation mechanisms, including the development of monitoring indicators and preparations ahead of the country’s first review on the implementation of the Convention.

As a result, the Law on Legal Aid took effect in 2017, with Persons with Disabilities as the subject to be provided with legal aid, together with Article 2 of Decree 144/2017/ND-CP on providing legal aid and monthly difficulty allowances to people with difficulties, including Persons with Disabilities.

Many persons with disabilities still lack understanding of their entitlements and rights. To provide a practical solution, UNDP has partnered with Disabled People’s Organizations to provide a series of legal aid consultations in different regions of Viet Nam, providing more than 300 persons with disabilities with the advice they need.

In addition, discussions to advocate for the rights of the Persons with Disabilities to be further recognized in the Labour Code (amendments) are underway, with the policy discussion on the subject matter with the National Assembly delegates in 2018 being an example of the UN’s and its DPO partners’ joint efforts in this endeavor.

ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

Among the four winning teams of the SDG Challenge 2017 - a UNDP-supported national competition for social impact startups and business innovators – two are startups by persons with disabilities'”:

Imagtor provides video and photography editing service with majority of the staff are Persons with Disabilities. The company started to generate profit after four months of operation with 100% customers from oversea, and a monthly sale growth is 36%.

Sign Language Interpreting Service Company provides sign language translation between deaf and hearing people via video telephones and similar technologies. The project idea was started in September 2017 with focus on fund raising in parallel with introduction of the service to Hanoi Association of Deaf People (HAD) and its member’s network to acquire early adopters.  

UNDP in collaboration with HATCH! VENTURES organized this competition and launched the Social Impact Incubation Program to provide business consultancy to the winning teams for further development. Under the program, the teams are provided with initial working capital with total of USD 85,000, and consultancy package in business development. The program activities focus in supporting the companies to develop prototypes to test ideas and business models in the market, as well as to seize opportunities for future fundraising or grant proposals. Read more 

SOCIO-CULTURAL EMPOWERMENT 

Music concert empowers children with disabilities

Vietnamese differently-able children performed traditional songs with Japanese artist Kiyomi Watanabe. UNDP, Yamaha and Nguyen Dinh Chieu junior secondary school jointly organized this special concert to celebrate the International Day on Persons with Disabilities.

Research study on stigma and discrimination

As the stigma that persons with disabilities face is still widespread, UNDP has conducted a research study on stigma and discrimination against persons with disabilities to support evidence-based reporting and monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as well as policy advocacies in reviewing the relevant laws and policies relate to persons with disabilities.

The Final Report was consulted with DPOs in January 2018, and launched at a thematic discussion with the participation of more than 100 representatives from different DPOs and stakeholders in April 2018.

More than 100 books of “Ending Stigma: Assessment from the Perspectives of Persons with disabilities” were sent to the National Assembly for elected legislators to reference while discussing the amendments to the Labour Code, and to propose a Law on Anti-discrimination. 

download the report here

Improving access to published books for persons with print disabilities

The World Blind Union estimates that globally less than 10 percent of published books are ever made into accessible formats. This lack of access to books, information and knowledge severely limits opportunities for people with print disabilities to study, work, enjoy culture and fully participate in society.

To discuss a path forward to address this in Viet Nam, UNDP in collaboration with the National  Committee for Persons with Disabilities and the Viet Nam Blind Association (VBA) organized a national workshop on the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled. Read more 

WALKING THE TALK WITH A UN DISABILITY FRIENDLY OFFICE

In Viet Nam, persons in wheelchairs have difficulties when moving around. To improve accessibility, the UN is leading the way in Ha Noi. Along with many other UN agencies, UNDP is located in the Green One UN House. The building is well known to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient, but little is known about its accessibility to persons with disabilities. Read the blog: "Free to move around - Accessibilities for People with Disabilities".