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Remote Education, Anti-Trafficking and Community Health4wd Vehicles to Combat Human Trafficking in Rural Laos
REACH - One Innovative Solution Who is Village Focus International?
______________________________________________________________________________________________ The Problem? Remote Lao villagers and children at-risk to trafficking
A major international road building project linking Thailand to Vietnam is increasing the access that criminal networks have to rural and remote Laos; making it easier for criminals to engage in human trafficking of indigenous Lao villagers and children. Laos is a relatively peaceful nation made up of different Indigenous communities and has been isolated for hundreds of years. Additionally, Laos is one of the top five poorest countries in the world, which means millions of Lao villagers live in poverty. The people living in these remote communities are vulnerable to the enticing promises of “legitimate work” and “good pay”, not understanding that these are false promises offered by traffickers. Children and women often find themselves being forced to work as sex slaves in brothels or in bonded labour in the neighbouring countries of Thailand and Vietnam. Thailand has one of the largest demands for female and child sexual exploitation in the world, and slave-like conditions in many Vietnamese industries are widespread.
Contributing to the problem is the reality that Laos borders are easily crossed and poor people and traffickers living remotely as they are beyond the reach of government services and other development assistance. Furthermore, many district officials and villagers are not participating in the leadership, planning and implementation of development, counter trafficking and basic healthcare activities.
These are real dangers occurring in Laos today.
REACH - One Innovative Solution Village Focus International (VFI) , one of GDI’s first community partners has hired local villagers to be trained in management, planning and as Trainers for Village Health Volunteers and Counter Trafficking Practitioners. These Practitioners will engage in a new program called R.E.A.C.H. - Remote Education, Anti-Trafficking and Community Health.
Two 4wd vehicles will be customized, transformed and sent to meet traffickers head-on. One truck, the Mobile Health Education Unit, will deliver basic health supplies and services. The other truck, the Anti-trafficking Unit, will carry counter trafficking materials such as audio visual gear and other educational materials that will be used for leadership and counter trafficking workshops and training.
These trucks will allow the newly trained practitioners to combat rural health issues and engage in counter-trafficking initiatives with rural communities at-risk to trafficking.
Many reasons exist for this type of innovative project:
REACH is an innovative health program and counter trafficking intervention/prevention program that will reach an estimated 6000-9000 beneficiaries (half of which are women) in rural southern Laos at risk to trafficking.
REACH will:
Local support of the REACH mobile units is crucial to the success of the program. VFI has hired locals to be trained in management, planning and as Trainers for Village Health Volunteers. With strong local leadership, the Mobile Units will become an important and accessible centre of learning.
The purchase and stocking of REACH Mobile Units will be the project’s primary expense, estimated to come to a total of over $70 000. VFI will integrate the use of the vehicles into ongoing program activities. GDI and VFI will raise funds for the restocking and maintenance of the vehicles from existing and new donors. In order to assist long-term sustainability, VFI will charge a nominal fee, either in cash or in kind, to villagers for medicines, but not for services. This also gives villagers a sense of self-worth. We will also have international volunteer opportunities for mechanics to work on vehicles.
We are currently seeking the following:
Who is Village Focus International?
Founded in 2000 after the disbanding of a Laos NGO, Village Focus International (VFI) is an organisation working in Southeast Asia at national, provincial and village levels, with much local experience and expertise. VFI often works with the Lao Ministry of Education and has worked on projects including Community Action Against Trafficking and Enhancing Rural Women‘s Socio-Economic Position. Currently, VFI has programs in Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines. VFI receives funding from a number of sources, including Terre Des Hommes (Germany) and the McKnight Foundation (USA).
VFI’s vision is that every community has the capacity, understanding and legal right to participate fully in the effort to improve their quality of life. Their mission is to provide non-formal education and training in health care, sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, and legal protection to marginalized communities - where the needs are the highest and assistance is the lowest.
VFI have worked with a number of developmental organisations including UNICEF, UNESCO and The Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education, as well as having staff active in informal networks and associations such as the Sustainable Agriculture Forum (SAF) and Rural Health Promotion Project.
REACH builds upon VFI’s methodology of focusing on capacity-building to support local people to help themselves, creates a mechanism for district and village people and VFI staff to meet, plan and implement village activities and will provide an opportunity for women to gain access to education, training and direct support.
The main objective of REACH is to purchase, adapt and stock two vehicles to be used as accessible, appropriate mechanisms to educate, train and engage vulnerable people in remote villages in southern Laos in regard to Health Care and Trafficking issues.
All planning will continue to focus on village-level needs. REACH will provide a mechanism for meeting, planning, gathering information and direct service and education. VFI will work closely with District Education, Health Care, Agriculture and Women’s Union officials, all of whom have the potential to benefit and to use the REACH Mobile Units for meetings, education activities and a variety of workshops. Village and district partners will be intimately and constantly involved in the operation and management of the REACH Mobile Units.
The construction and active use of the REACH Mobile Units will directly contribute to poverty reduction, for example, by decreasing the number of children dying of preventable diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, and malaria.
The interests of women are paramount to the work of VFI, and more than half of the projected 6000-9000 beneficiaries of REACH are expected to be women. Women will participate in this VFI project as planners and designers, managers and administrators, and as trainers and facilitators (VFI staff, district and provincial staff, district and village team members).
VFI is committed to working with local ethnic groups on their own terms. Village Planning Teams (VPTs) are organised and become the central research, planning, management and evaluation body in villages, with all project development going through this team. In this way, VFI will deal with issues on local terms and with a special sensitivity to local beliefs and conditions. Therefore the REACH Mobile Units will encourage the use of indigenous knowledge in all training activities. Local support of the REACH mobile units is crucial to the success of the program. VFI has hired locals to be trained in management, planning and as Trainers for Village Health Volunteers. With strong local leadership, the Mobile Units will become an important and accessible centre of learning.
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