The Lao Disabled Women Development Center (LDWDC) was founded in 1990 as a sewing group in the home of the Director. Disabled women were taught the skills of needle work and pattern making. In 2002 the LDWDC group became the Lao Disabled Women’s Development Centre. The Centre is an active advocate for the rights, recognition and equal opportunity of disabled women.

LDWDC’s objectives are divided into two separates yet equally important parts. The first is to create practical opportunities for people with disabilities through vocational training, life skills training, education and subsequent employment. The Centre empowers individuals by facilitating understanding of their abilities and supports them by creating an environment of peer support and liberation.

LDWDC is the fiscal host for HandSpeak Vietnam the first deaf-led organisation in Vietnam.

The DeafLoud project aims to bring a stronger and louder voice of deaf people in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia at local, regional, and global levels. In Vietnam, the deaf population is estimated at2.5 million, while it is around 19 thousand in Laos and 51 thousand in Cambodia. Regarding the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): Cambodia signed (2007) and ratified in (2012); Laos ratified in 2009; and Vietnam signed in 2007 and ratified in 2015.

However, a gap between these policies and their implementation remains significant: persons with disabilities, including the deaf do not actually benefit from the policies or have opportunities to execute their rights. The needs and issues of the deaf remain invisible to the broader population and largely unaddressed.

DeafLoud focuses on four key issues:

(i) the government has some attention on the deaf community however they do not provide full and direct participation of deaf people in policy making process and other projects that impacts deaf people’s lives (Article 24 ”Education” and Article 30“Participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport ”UNCRPD);

(ii) lack of opportunities and access in education employment, training, personal development which limit deaf people to live independently and to stand for themselves (Article 9”Accessibility” UNCRPD);

(iii) lack of safe space to discuss their common issues and capacity to organise themselves as groups or alliances from making their voices heard (Article 21 “Freedom of Expression and opinion, and access to information” UNCRPD);

(iv) lack of a strong network in advocating for their rights and make a louder voice.

The main objectives of DeafLoud are:

(i) Empower deaf people in three countries by building skills in sign language, leadership, policy influencing through training,community meetings, public discussion

(ii) Amplify the voices of deaf people by providing opportunities for them to share their perspectives through raising awareness campaigns

(iii) Build a network of deaf clubs in different regions within the countries and also a network of the deaf community in the Mekong region to bring a stronger voice at the regional level to the global level to fight stigmatisation against the deaf.

In each country, the activities focus on important issues raised by the local deaf community. In Vietnam, the project raises deaf awareness to the government and the public; empower and build a stronger network of deaf clubs throughout the country. In Laos, the need to develop Laotian Sign Language and empower deaf community is essential.More deaf clubs in different provinces are established to create safe spaces for deaf people. In Cambodia, there is no deaf-led organisation or formal group existing yet. With DeafLoud, PARD Vietnam works together and share their empowerment journey with Phnom Penh Deaf Club to build on their confidence, leadership skills and be independent to lead their community.

PARD Vietnam is the new name for HandSpeak Vietnam – the first winners of the NOW-Us! Award in 2018 having implemented two Voice grants:

Empowering Cambodian and Vietnamese Deaf

Brighten Vietnamese Sign Language