In early 2022, as the Voice teams, we tentatively stepped back into the post-pandemic world where travel, gathering and connection still had a lot of pre-conditions attached. My magical moment happened during my maiden visit as a Programme Manager to a Voice focus country- Laos. With my colleagues Boren, Sokha and Kahlille, the first grantee partners we visited in Vientiane were the Voice Laos NOW-Us! Award Organisers – Rural Development Agency (RDA) and STELLA. I was super excited to meet them because the NOW-Us! Awards in each country have brought Voice into connection with the most innovative and creative initiatives for advancing inclusion. They are also a powerful example within Voice of an idea sprouting from the global, but rooting and blooming in the local.

RDA and Stella are two young social enterprises, made up of young people who want to help unleash the creativity and passion of rightsholders communities to dream up and walk towards an equal future. The amazing NOW-Us! Award winners from Laos are a testament to their success. In May 2022, we gathered around the table at the RDA office and watched KESORRR’s amazing music video ‘Me, You and Us’- an offering of NOW-Us! Cambodia exhorting everyone to embrace diversity as the norm. The passionate lyrics, the vibrant visuals and the powerful beats made the room thrum, but also my heart. This was/is the power of ‘nothing about us, without us’ in all its beauty and complexity. This is why Voice exists. For now.