Inclusion of Vietnamese with Disabilities Fiscal Year 2015 –QIII Performance Report

The program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), focused on providing training and job placement opportunities for youth with disabilities in the ICT sector. In Quarter III of Fiscal Year 2015, the program made significant progress in achieving its objectives. Hanoi College of Information Technology (HCIT) collaborated with NTC Company to recruit 11 students with disabilities for a training course on IT skills and customer care. Despite the project funding ending in March 2015, HCIT demonstrated commitment by raising funds independently to run the training course in the quarter. Both HCIT and University of Dong A (UDA) have developed sustainability plans for the Information Technology Training Program (ITTP). UDA plans to recruit 250 disadvantaged students, including youth with disabilities, from 2015 to 2018, and provide a 50% discount on tuition fees for youth with disabilities or students whose parents are persons with disabilities. HCIT is committed to organizing at least one training course with around ten to twenty students with disabilities per year and will continue to raise funds and collaborate with businesses to cover expenses. Van Lang University (VLU) is also committed to continuing the ITTP. The university is currently transforming into a private university and constructing a new campus with accessible infrastructure for persons with disabilities. During this quarter, VLU focused on completing training activities for 41 students from training courses coded with GD 39 and GD40. After graduation, 11 students out of 19 from training course GD39 have already found jobs. To document factors contributing to the successes of the ITTP model, CRS and ITTP partners conducted an internal review from May 16 to June 10, 2015. Initial findings show that students, teachers, and other stakeholders believe that the ITTP has brought positive impact to the lives of youth with disabilities, building their confidence and creating opportunities for social inclusion and participation. Most respondents also believe that the involvement of businesses is very important to ensure that market needs are met through the training. CRS hired an external consultant group to conduct a labor market assessment for persons with disabilities, to inform schools as they design upcoming training courses and pursue new business relationships. The team conducted data collection in three locations of Hanoi, Danang, HCMC, and DongNai province through in-depth interviews with businesses, students, employees with disabilities, government officials, and ITTP school leaders and teachers. There were a total of 118 respondents: 51 persons with disabilities, 58 businesses, and 9 other stakeholders from government offices and DPO disabled person organizations. In Quarter III of FY2015, CRS and MOET hired an external consultant group to evaluate the results of ICT pilots, including distant learning, use of video lectures, and use of software to support persons with visual impairment in several provinces. Through initial findings, students, teachers, and other stakeholders give very positive feedback to these ICTs, believing that they help students to understand lessons better and have opportunities to explore additional knowledge and learn at higher grades. Quantitative impact of the program in Quarter III of FY2015 includes: * 11 students started their 6-month training course in IT skills and call-center customer care services in HCIT in April. * 13 visually impaired persons enrolled in the short-term online training course coded with KTH41 in VLU. * 40/43 students graduated from training courses (coded with GD39 and GD40) from VLU. * 12/13 visually impaired persons completed the course coded with KTH40 in Binh Thuan and graduated in April. * All 41 students from training courses GD39 and GD40 received training in soft skills and GBV training. * 115 participants participated in the ITTP internal review. * According to the periodic alumni survey in the quarter, the employment rate of graduate students after 12 months of graduation is 57%. * Total 541 students participated in the pilot of ICT tools (distant learning, video lectures, and TTS/NVDA software) through this quarter; 38 students are new participants in the pilot of distance learning model in this quarter. * Total 42 schools/centers participated in ICT pilot activities.