Viet-Nam Assistance for the Handicapped
Short Name
VNAH
Address Line 1
5th floor
Address Line 2
101A
Street - Number and Name
Nguyen Khuyen
District
City
Hanoi
Province – Vietnam
Phone
+84-4-3747 3000
Fax
+84-4-3747 2986
Email Address
Contact Person – Vietnam
Mr. Bui Van Toan, Country Director
Vietnam Website
International Website
International Headquarters
Mission Statement
Viet Nam Assistance for the Handicapped (VNAH) is a non-profit, non-political, tax-exempt organization providing humanitarian assistance to persons with disabilities (PwD) and other disadvantaged groups, as well as policies and programs affecting them. Specific areas addressed include provision of rehabilitation services and assistive devices (artificial limbs, braces, wheelchairs), promoting economic empowerment and self sufficiency with vocational training programmes and capacity building for the disabled and their organizations; and assisting the Government of Vietnam to mainstream disabilities in social-economic development programs, as well as to put in place policies and programmes needed to ensure the full access for people with disabilities to public transportation. housing and employment. In additional, the VNAH program focuses on improving the legal framework and capacity building for local not-for-profit organizations in Vietnam.
History of operations in Vietnam
VNAH initiated its humanitarian operation in Viet Nam in early 1991. Initial cooperation was with the Can Tho Prosthetic and Rehabilitation Centre in providing assistive devices to amputees and other PwD residing in 9 provinces of the Mekong Delta. Subsequently, VNAH constructed a prosthetics clinic in Thu Duc district, Ho Chi Minh city, to help address enormous unmet needs in the surrounding area. From 1998, VNAH's assistance programme has gradually expanded to all provinces in the Central Highland and Central Coastal areas of Viet Nam. To date, VNAH has provided over 60,000 assistive devices including artificial limbs and braces, and approximately 10,000 wheelchairs to PwD throughout 64 provinces in Viet Nam. VNAH currently works with six prosthetics rehabilitation centres in Viet Nam: Can Tho, Ho Chi Minh city, Da Nang, Quy Nhon, Vinh and Ba Vi, and several state-owned and private wheelchair manufacturers. In addition to provision of assistive devices, VNAH has been providing vocational training and employment services for several thousand disabled people throughout the countries, as well as capacity building for employment services centers in several thousand disabled people throughout the countries, as well as capacity building for employment services centers in several provinces in Vietnam. Since 1995, VNAH has expanded its scope of work to include promoting policies and programmes for people with disabilities. These initiatives have encompassed working closely with national and local government officials in Viet Nam, international entities, and experts as well as people with disabilities and self-help groups in the areas of barrier free access, employment, policy advocacy and capacity building. Significant efforts and achievements reflecting VNAH's role in these areas included the drafting of the Disability Ordinance, drafting and enactment of “Barrier Free Access Code and Standards for construction” and the establishment and operation of the National Coordinating Committee on Disabilities. Currently, VNAH is helping to develop accessible standards for public transportation benefiting disabled people. In addition, since 2000, VNAH initiated projects aimed at assisting local government organizations to improve legal frameworks for local NGOs and promoting the development of Vietnamese NGOs.