Evaluating the vocational training for women with disabilities in vietnam

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY PHAM THI LAN HUONG EVALUATING THE VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES IN VIETNAM MASTER'S THESIS Hanoi, 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY PHAM THI LAN HUONG EVALUATING THE VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES IN VIETNAM MAJOR: PUBLIC POLICY CODE: PILOT RESEARCH SUPERVISOR: Dr NGUYEN THUY ANH Asst Prof JUN KAWAGUCHI Acknowledgment Hanoi, 2019 ACKNOWLEDGMENT Foremost, I would like to extend my appreciation and sincere thanks to my supervisor from the Vietnamese side, Dr Nguyen Thuy Anh Her patient and constructive advice had helped me a lot in the completion of this thesis My great gratitude is due to my supervisor from the Japanese side, Dr Jun Kawaguchi for imparting his valuable guidance and constant supervision during my time in Japan and in Vietnam Special thanks to the lecturers and staffs in Master’s Program of Public Policy and researchers for their studies and reports on the topic I have researched, whose information and findings had been a great support for my thesis My appreciation goes to the directors and staffs of vocational training centers and organizations who willing to participate in the in-depth interviews Their honest and cooperative answers have provided useful information for my analysis Finally, I would like to express my love and gratitude towards my family and my friends Their encouragement and support have shaped my thesis to this stage th Hanoi 17 June 2019, Sincerely, Pham Thi Lan Huong i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENT .i TABLE OF CONTENTS ii LIST OF TABLES iv LIST OF FIGURES v ABBREVIATIONS vi Chapter INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 Research background 1.2 Problem statement 1.3 Research purpose 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Research scope and time 1.6 Research significance 1.7 Methodology 1.8 Structure of research .7 Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGY 2.1 Literature review .9 2.1.1 Studies on Persons with Disabilities 2.1.2 Studies on vocational training for women with disabilities 17 2.1.3 Research gap 18 2.2 Theoretical framework 18 2.3 Research flow 20 2.4 In-depth interviews 22 Chapter CURRENT STATUS OF WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES IN VIETNAM 25 3.1 Definition of disability 25 3.2 Current status of PWDs and WWDs in Vietnam 28 3.3 Legislation documents and legal framework on PWDs in Vietnam 33 Chapter FINDINGS 35 4.1 Interview sites 35 4.2 Interview results 36 4.2.1 From the perspective of owners of vocational training centers for PWDs 36 4.2.2 From the perspective of a female student with disabilities 41 4.2.3 From the perspective of a company who employed PWDs 44 4.2.4 From the perspective of social organization that works with matters related to PWDs 47 ii 4.3 Findings and discussion 48 Chapter CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 52 5.1 Conclusion 52 5.2 Recommendations 53 5.3 Limitations 55 REFERENCES 56 APPENDIX 60 iii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 2.1 Guidelines and Rules on disability adopted by the UN in the 1990s 13 Table 2.2 Method to evaluate vocational training 19 Table 2.3 Theoretical framework to evaluate vocational training used in the thesis 21 Table 2.4 In-depth interview plan 23 Table 3.1 Share of disability types classified by functional domain and gender (older than 18 years old) 30 Table 4.1 Interview results from the perspective of owners of vocational training centers for PWDs 36 Table 4.2 Interview results from WWDs who are taking vocational training courses 41 Table 4.3 Interview results from the perspective of social organization worker related to PWDs 47 iv LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1.1 Employment inequality between PWDs and the overall population, by sex Figure 2.1 Research flow 22 Figure 3.1 The Interaction between the components of the ICF 26 Figure 3.2 Percentage of PWDs (18 years old and above) in the labor force .31 Figure 3.3 Reasons why PWDs not work or look for a job 32 v ABBREVIATIONS CRPD: Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities PWD: Person with disabilities PWOD: Person without disabilities SWD: Student with disabilities UN: United Nations UNFPA: United Nation Population Fund WHO: World Health Organization WWD: Women with disabilities vi Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research background As stated by the World Health Organization (WHO), the share of persons with disabilities had increased from 10% in the 1970s to about 15% in 2011 (cited in Nguyen, T.A, 2018) According to a report of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017, there were 15% of the world population (around 7.8 million people) were suffering from physical or mental disabilities As we can see, the quantity of persons with disabilities (PWD) in the world is quite significant and this figure has been increasing year by year There are several reasons for this emerging trend in the world Firstly, the aging population has not only put the world in the situation of the aging labor force but also raised the number of PWDs because there are several types of disabilities appear as people getting older Secondly, due to the advancement of technology in medical practice, new types of disability have been discovered and recognized worldwide Besides that, the world also changed the way to approach and shaping the definition of disability The conventional concept of disability is usually based on the biological and individual aspect However, in recent years, researchers and society have taken into consideration the social and environmental factors in defining disability In consonance with that, the disability of a person is not only represented by the dysfunction of their own bodies but can be affected by the social, cultural and economic barriers Defining disability this way gives the society a new perspective on how to view the PWDs and help to detect and have more people registered as disabled PWDs not only have many difficulties in daily life due to their body dysfunction, but they also face several discriminations Most of PWDs have a low education background, very few of them attend in higher education Due to their disability, especially learning disability, some PWDs are not able to finish the study program Also, the reason could come from prejudices from family, which consider that it would be a wiser choice to let them study at vocational school and working rather than studying Therefore, compared to the academic path, going to vocational training and getting a job is more common for most PWDs Regarding the women with disabilities (WWDs), due to discrimination and prejudice based on gender and disability (Nguyen, Mitchell, de Lange, & Fritsch, 2015), they have to face two types of discriminations: one for they are women, and the other for their disability In the world population with disabilities, the “disability is more common among women, older people, children and adults who are poor” (WHO, 2017) In the report of United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child UNCRC - (UN, 2006), it is said that “Girls with disabilities are often even more vulnerable to discrimination due to gender discrimination.” The struggles and difficulties for women with disabilities in accessing education and vocational training is vivid, and yet the situation has remained unimproved In a smaller scale, among the world’s regions, the South East Asia countries record the second rank and third rank in the prevalence rate of moderate disability (16%) and severe disability (12.9%), respectively (WHO, 2013) However, these high figures are still assumed to be underestimated for this region because most of these countries (except Indonesia and Thailand) applied the medical approach definition for disability rather than the definition of ICF which included the social and cultural aspect The situation that few children with disabilities attend school is quite common in lots of countries in this region Data from Nuri et, al (2012) shows that the difference between school attendance rates of children with and without disabilities varies from 10% in India to 60% in Indonesia In Nepal, there are 68% of PWDs have no education (ILO & IRISH AID, 2013) In a report of International Labor Organization (ILO), it is stated that in Thailand, there are nearly two million people (around 3% of the total population) have a disability and majority of them live in the rural area The report also cited data from Thailand National Statistics Office Survey in 2007 which show that more than 60% of the PWDs over the age of 15 are unemployed Especially, among the employed, only a few of them are hired for professional occupations and a majority (more than 50%) worked in the agriculture and fishing sector (ILO & IRISH AID, 2013) Noticeably, the take into consideration the special needs of PWDs in policy making, give PWDs more privileges and incentives However, implementation of these policies is not effective The actual supports are quite trivial and not helpful to PWDs (such as free bus ticket and monthly financial support) For persons who must take health check-up and medicine for their diseases, the supports are not enough, thus, they still depend on their family Next, vocational training is proved to have an important role for WWDs It helps to prepare them with skills that enable them to make a living and live independently This would raise their confidence and self-esteem as they can contribute to society and they are useful Besides that, this is the opportunity for them to be in a community where they can share their feeling and make friends and have joyful lives Finally, social responsibility companies did a good job of integrating PWDs in society Especially, WWDs are welcomed and protected in this working environment as the company emphasizes human rights and gender equality They put efforts to make the workplace more comfortable for PWDs and make sure to treat the male and female employee equally 5.2 Recommendations Based on the findings in chapter 4, the research proposes some following recommendation overcome the challenges and problems existed in the situation of vocational training for women with disabilities in Vietnam The government needs to be more active in supporting the provision of vocational training for women with disabilities Besides the public vocational training organization, the local authority research and choose good private vocational training centers in the area as candidates for collaborating in government project related to vocational training for PWDs The policy should emphasize on gender equality and human rights issues to meet the need of PWDs: 53 a Policy lobby on the disability assessment to integrate into the assessment framework the economic and social factors in defining disability This will promote the implementation of the Conventional on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and help to redefine the concept of disability in Vietnam according to international standard b Promote the use of sign language and braille in vocational training centers At present, the majority of vocational training centers not hold separate classes for each type of disability In fact, they tend to arrange students with different types of disability in one class due to the financial shortage Most of them not afford to prepare equipment or human resource to support the special needs of PWDs Therefore, to improve the quality of teaching and the learning environment of the PWDs, the government’s support in promoting the use of sign language and braille in vocational training is essential c Establish an agent and a framework to monitor and ensure the equality and justice for PWDs in general and WWDs in the recruitment process and working condition The government needs to promulgate documents require firms and organization which employed PWDs to adopt reasonable accommodation according to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities d Provide career orientation and diversify the jobs in vocational training for WWDs that suit their type and level of disabilities Most of WWDs have a low level of education, they often rely on parents’ opinion when choosing a job Therefore, it is of great importance to providing career orientation for WWDs, which help them in making the right decision when choosing a job that suitable for their disability and their needs e Conduct researches and report on PWDs to systemize the data and information of PWDs in Vietnam and promote the international definition of disability to society f Encourage the business firm to employ PWDs by enhancing the implementation of incentives policy on employing PWDs Moreover, the government needs to promote the development of social responsibility company, support and assist them in recruiting 54 PWDs g Hold campaigns and projects to raise awareness of WWDs about their rights, teach them knowledge related to family abuses and sexual abuse so they can protect themselves Moreover, the propaganda of gender equality also needs to be enhanced and continued to eliminate gender discrimination toward WWDs 5.3 Limitations The research provided a diverse and quite comprehensive viewpoint of different stakeholders on the current situation of vocational training for WWDs in Vietnam: WWDs, owners of vocational training centers, teacher, employer (the company that hires PWDs to work), social organization work with matters related to PWDs However, due to the time limitation and difficulties in contacting the interviewees, the author was unable to conduct in-depth interviews with public vocational training centers PWDs It would be a suggestion for further studies to conduct survey and interview on a larger scale to compare the model of the public and private vocational training centers in providing vocational training for PWDs 55 REFERENCES Economic and Social omission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) (2018) Building Disability – Inclusive Societies in Asia and the Pacific Assessing Progress of the Incheon Strategy United Nations Publication https://doi.org/10.18356/33d778b1en ILO & IRISH AID (2013) Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Thailand 1–4 ILO (2008) Survey report on vocational training for disabled people in Vietnam [Báo cáo Khảo sát Đào tạo nghề việc làm cho người khuyết tật Việt Nam] ILO (n.d) Integrating disabled people in Vietnam [Hòa nhập người khuyết tật Việt Nam] ISEE – UNDP (2017) Eliminate discrimination: Perspective and evaluation of disabled people [Xóa bỏ kỳ thị: Quan điểm đánh giá người khuyết tật] Gambin, L (2009) Initial vocational education and training (IVET) in Europe: Review Thessaloniki: CEDEFOP, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training General Assembly resolution 3447 (XXX) of December 1975 General Assembly resolution 2856 (XXV1) of 20 December 1971 General Statistic Office of Vietnam (GSO) (2018) The National Survey on People with Disabilities 2016 (VDS2016), Final Report Ha Noi, Viet Nam: General Statistics Office Haile, G A 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the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities General Assembly resolution A/RES/48/96, 85 th plenary meeting, 20 December 1993 Retrieved at https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/48/a48r096.htm on May th 24 , 2019 SIDA (2014) Disability Rights in Southeast Asia: The situation of persons with disabilities in the ASEAN countries (November) Retrieved from http://www.sida.se/globalassets/sida/eng/partners/human-rights-basedapproach/disability/rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-south-east-asia.pdf World Programme of Action concerning Disabled Persons General Assembly resolution 37/52 of December 1982 Retrieved at th https://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/38/a38r028.htm on May 25 , 2019 World Health Organization Executive Geneva: WHO, Disability report 2012 Document by No the secretariat EB 132/10 30 November 2012 World Health Organization Ten facts on Disability (updated 2017) Fact file Geneva WHO - https://www.who.int/features/factfiles/disability/en/ - accessed on 16 April 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Factsheet: Disability in Vietnam: Evidence from General Investigation on Population and House in Vietnam 2009 Vocational Education Law [Luật Giáo dục nghề nghiệp] No 74/2014/QH13 Vietnam National Assembly 59 APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR OWNERS OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTER FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES The number of students who are persons with disabilities in the center? How many students are women with disabilities? The type of disability of the female students with disabilities? How many employees of the center are persons with disabilities? What type of job they in the center? Could you list the name of occupation that is taught in the center? Is there any job that only for women with disabilities? How many teacher and students are there in one class? What type of equipment and facilities that are necessary for the teaching activities? Is the preparation of these facilities and equipment costs for or create any difficulties for the center? Does the center receive any support from the government for providing vocational training for persons with disabilities? Does the center collaborate with the public vocational training center in providing vocational training for the PWDs? What is your evaluation of the learning ability of students who are women with disabilities (compare to male students with disabilities and persons without disabilities)? What is your opinion on accessing opportunities to vocational training for women with disabilities? Does the center participate in any project that supports and provide vocational training for PWDs and WWDs in particular? Please indicate the name of the projects? 10 Do you think the propaganda of government policies and policy incentives on disability is effective? 60 11 Does the center have any difficulties in providing vocational training for women with disabilities? Please indicate specifically the difficulties 12 Does the center cooperate with firms in ensuring the employment output and job matching for the students? 13 Does the center perform any exam to test the quality of vocational training? If yes, what types of criteria and standard are applied in the test? 14 Do you think vocational training is necessary for women with disabilities? 61 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR FEMALE STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES Personal information of the students (Name, age, type of disability, have they ever done disability assessment?) At present, what type of job you are training for? Before attend training this occupation, have you ever been trained for another kind of jobs? If yes, please indicate the name of the job and the place provided vocational training of this job for you? Why you choose to learn this job? Do you have any career guidance before deciding to attend a vocational training course (from school, family, friends or organizations) Do you receive any support from the government? Do you think the support from the government is helpful and sufficient for you? Have you ever borrowed credit to support your vocational training? What are your most difficult challenges in attending vocational training? Have you ever experienced discrimination and stigma in vocational training and employment because you are women with disabilities? What is your opinion on the learning ability of women with disabilities compared to men with disabilities and persons without disabilities? Do you think vocational training is necessary for women with disabilities? Please indicates the benefit that you get from vocational training 62 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR COMPANY EMPLOYED PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES General information of the company (name, history, type of business activities) How many employees of the company are persons with disabilities? How many of them are women with disabilities? What are the types of disability of these employees? What type of positions in the company that open recruitment for persons with disabilities? Does employing persons with disabilities cause any difficulties for the company? Does the company receive any support from the government in recruiting persons with disabilities as an employee? Does the company collaborate with any vocational training center for persons with disabilities? Do you think vocational training is necessary for women with disabilities? 63 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR SOCIAL ORGANIZATION THAT SUPPORT PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES Could you list and describe the projects and activities related to PWDs in general and WWDs in particular of the organization? In the projects related to WWDs of that the organization participated in, have the respondents ever share their story about the discrimination and stigma they experienced in vocational training and employment? Do you think the incentive policies and the law related to persons with disabilities are propagated effectively to persons with disabilities? In your opinion, what types of obstacles and challenges that women with disabilities often faced in accessing and attending vocational training? In your opinion, what challenges and difficulties are existing in the current situation of vocational training for women with disabilities in Vietnam? In your opinion, what is the meaning of vocational training for women with disabilities? 64 LIST OF INTERVIEWEES PARTICIPATED IN THE IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW Name of organization/center/company Hold the future Center - Heath support, vocational and job matching for Persons with Disabilities Mai” Center] Dream Seed Center [“Nghi Luc song” Center] Quynh Hoa Training Charitable 65 [Trung tam day nghe tu thien Quynh Hoa] EsoftVietnam Ltd Company Action to the Community Development Center (ACDC) 66 ... used in the thesis Before the vocational training Access to vocational training According to Table 2.3, the research will evaluate vocational training based on the factors during the training process... accessing the vocational training and support them during the training process The primary data in the research is collected through in- depth interviews with several stakeholders involved in the vocational. .. on vocational training for women with disabilities MOLISA has published two reports in 2012 related to vocational training in Vietnam, one focuses on the statistic of the vocational training