Lao PDR

The ILO has been involved in encouraging the Laos Government to develop policies and legislation for people with disabilities for several years. Most recently, in December 2005, the ILO and the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare jointly sponsored a meeting in Vientiane entitled Decent Work and People with Disabilities. This was follow-up to a 2004 study tour of a tripartite delegation, plus representatives of Laos Disabled Persons Association to Cambodia and Viet Nam to examine the policy framework and service delivery structure in those countries. Other activities in Laos have focused on the inclusion of people with disabilities in other ILO projects and activities in country.

Decent Work and People with Disabilities: Workshop

The objectives of the 2005 strategic planning workshop were as follows:

• To promote decent work and a rights-based approach to training and employment for women and men with disabilities
• To raise awareness about people with disabilities to ensure their training and employment needs are represented in the Master Socioeconomic Plan and related national development plans
• To conduct a SWOT analysis and identify specific priorities for action related to employment and training of disabled persons for the next two to four years that will guide the country and ILO interventions.

The meeting was attended by a delegation from the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare including several representatives from the provinces, one representative each from the employers’ and workers’ organization, and several representatives from LDPA and selected NGOs. A representative of Viet Nam’s National Coordinating Council on Disabled Persons served as a resource person, along with two ILO officials.

The programme involved presentations on regional and international perspectives, the situation of people with disabilities in Laos, panel presentations and a review of the situation in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. It also included active working groups using a strategic planning framework or SWOT analysis. The workshop resulted in 8 recommendations or priorities to guide future ILO activities in country and as a foundation for Government initiatives and the inclusion of disability issues in socioeconomic and social service/labour plans.

The workshop was the first tripartite workshop on disability ever held in Lao and the first time many of the participants had been involved in strategic planning.   

Study tour to Cambodia and Viet Nam

From November 29 to December 10, 2004 a tripartite-plus delegation from Laos participated in a study tour in Cambodia and Viet Nam. The study tour had the following objectives:

• Explore participatory approaches to addressing disability issues and the respective roles  of social partners and disabled persons organizations in developing and implementing disability policy
• Examine the workings of interagency and coordinating bodies such as the National Commission on People with Disabilities in Viet Nam and the Disability Action Council in Cambodia
• Study and apply examples of good practice and lessons learned from host countries with regard to addressing issues of training and employment and disabled persons  
• Develop an action plan for next steps that the Laos Government and social partners will take to move the disability policy agenda forward.

The delegation learned from the Business Advisory Council in Cambodia, a group of volunteer employers who promote the training and hiring of disabled workers, from the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, which includes disabled persons in its vocational training programmes, from Viet Nam’s employment service centres that include disabled persons and from programmes such as the ILO’s Alleviating Poverty through Peer Training, as well as from presentations and field visits related to policy development and its implementation. These are just a few of the many organizations, agencies and social partners who contributed to study tour.

The delegates from each sector completed evaluations, action plans and reports which were presented at the December 2005 workshop in Vientiane, described above.

Other activities

The ILO, through in-country missions, provides technical assistance and guidance to the Government, disability-related NGOs and its social partners. It also includes people with disabilities in some of its other projects and activities in Laos.

For example, at the end of 2001 the ILO included people with disabilities as a key target group in a study to examine the development of small and medium sized enterprises in the country. The study was published in 2002. A follow-up meeting on small and medium enterprise development in 2003 included representatives of disabled peoples' organizations and government officials responsible for disability issues. The meeting effectively mainstreamed the needs of people with disabilities as part of the programme. It led to the ILO’s Integrated Small Enterprise Development project and the inclusion of several LDPA members in ILO entrepreneurship training workshops. Additionally, disability issues are addressed in the ILO’s Social Security project as well.

For more information about training and employment of people with disabilities in Laos, consult the following:

•  Generating Employment through Micro and Small Enterprise and Cooperative Development in Lao PDR, 2002
  (html)  (pdf)
• People with Disabilities in Lao PDR: Training for Employment and Income Generation
  (full text at GLADNET)

For more information about disability related laws and policies and the country consult our National Laws and Information pages.

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