Binh, Reaching Out's Manager, at a producer group in Hanoi
Community Programs and Reaching Out
As a Fair Trade enterprise, we at Reaching Out, take seriously our social responsibility.
We extend our commitment to people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups beyond our doors, into the wider community. Here are a few ways we do that.
Producer Network
Additionaly to our workshop in Hoi An with 45 craftspeople, we are currently supporting 6 self-help groups with 52 artisans altogether and 22 home based producers with different abilites (click Worker Support programs to see details). Our customers appreciate the broad choice and quality that this network produces.
Advocacy and Public Awareness
Mr. Binh Le is a leading advocate for
people with disabilities in Vietnam
In Vietnam it is estimated that 7% of the population is disabled. In a country of over 80 million people this is a stunning 5 600 000 people. Government assistance reaches only a small number of the most severely affected. Most schools aren't equipped to receive students with disabilities and employers don't see the disabled as having employable skills. Most disabled people are cooped up at home with few or no friends, entirely dependent on their families or the government for support. However we advocate a more pro-active and healthy approach, encouraging integration and independence.
Through national workshops and conferences we try to raise public awareness of the difficulties people with different abilites have to face in their daily lifes. We educate reporters and jounalists to have ambassadors for the people with disabilities in the media. We educate businesses and industries, who with our guidance are able to make the often minor adjustments in their workplaces to make them accessible, safe and comfortable for people with disabilities. We help companies to structure their jobs and develop hiring practises which are non-discriminatory focusing on abilities rather than disabilities.
Co-operative Projects
Binh (Manager of Reaching Out) and Bruce (volunteer)
attending a workshop in Hanoi
Reaching Out was selected by Asia Pacific Development Center on Disability (APCD) to partner in a program highlighting thirty best practices and initiatives by and for people with different abilities in Asia Pacific Region. Together we have produced a documentary film, which tells the story of how Reaching Out, a social enterprise, was established Reaching Out, its struggles, its management philosophy and its ultimate success. The film will be distributed to 250 self-help groups across Vietnam to encourage their own efforts in becoming self-supporting. Once the film is subtitled it will also be distributed throughout South East Asia. We feel honoured to be able to tell our story in this way and to share our excitement and pride in being exemplary leaders in advocacy for people with different abilities.
Our special thanks go to the Foundation of Asia-Pacific Development Center for Disability and the Japan International Cooperation Agency for sponsoring this project.