Project 2 - Vocational Training Centre for Women in Nghe An Province, Vietnam

New Day's 2nd Project - Vocational Training Centre for Women in Nghe An Province, Vietnam

At the meeting on 1 November 2007 New Day members unanimously voted to adopt it as our 2nd project - to be funded by the end of 2007. This grant will be made with assistance again from The Asia Foundation through their Hanoi office. Liza and Chris will be the project leaders along with anyone else who would like to contribute. Pauline Fong has volunteered to make either a site visit or a visit to TAF's office in Hanoi in December. Debra Tan will brief a friend of hers who is extensively involved in Vietnam, on this project and who could potentially also make a site visit before the end of the year. Pauline and Debra, I will forward more details of geography and logistics to you both shortly. If any of you are planning a trip to Vietnam in the near future and would like to assist with this project, please let me know.

Finances

We currently have HK$ 65,000 available. By the end of the year we should have the required US$ 8,600 for the Vietnam project.

Membership and fundraising

Our current membership stands at 33. All members have agreed to make an effort to introduce New Day to one new prospective member in the future. In addition, we will all find out what funding we may be able to access through our companies' corporate responsibility programs although we may need to build a greater track record before we can do this successfully. It is also important to note that all members agree that there is no need for frenzied growth and that we are all pleased with what New Day has achieved so far in its first 6 months!

Future Projects

All members will be on the look-out for projects for 2008.

Next Meeting

No date has been set for our next meeting. If one of you would like to volunteer to organize it, please let me know and we can finalise a date and venue. It will be in the first quarter of 2008. I think we will try to make it more of a meeting than a sit-down dinner (not that food will ever be dispensed with!) so that we can work through some issues we may have in smaller groups and really move forward on where we'd like to take New Day in 2008 and beyond.

New Day funds the Counseling and Protection Center for Women and Children in Vientiane, Laos

On the 25th of September we delivered a cheque for HK$ 80,000 to the Asia Foundation offices in Hong Kong. The monies have been deposited into the Asia Foundation trust account to be disbursed to the Laos Women’s Union. The equipment for the multi-purpose room will be purchased according to the procurement policies of the Asia Foundation. All relevant quotations and receipts will be forwarded to New Day along with the final amount spent by the Lao Women’s Union. Any excess funds will be returned to New Day or will be used to purchase additional items needed by the Shelter upon permission given by New Day. We will monitor this project on an ongoing basis and provide members with feedback as and when it becomes available, along with photographs of the completed room and details of its usage.

Site visit to the Counseling and Protection Center for Women and Children in Vientiane, Laos – Friday the 21st of September, 2007

Project leaders: Chris and Liza Green

We visited the Shelter to learn more about its activities, day-to-day running and specific needs ahead of handing over the funding for their multi-purpose room. It was a very successful visit that included a sit-down meeting with the Director and two other staff members as well as a tour of the four buildings that make up the Shelter.

Location:

The Shelter is located approximately 30 kilometers, 30 minutes, from the center of Vientiane.
There is a main road that takes one most of the way; however, the Shelter itself is located approximately 2 kilometers down an unpaved, bumpy and somewhat eroded road that is lined with small village homes. This stretch of road has areas that are impoverished, while in other instances we saw some fairly nice homes.

The Shelter itself has approximately 1.5 acres of land, all of which is walled by a solid fence of about 8 feet. The front gate is steel and high, but during the day it was not particularly secure, as we could get out of the car and simply wheel it open.

Running of the Shelter:

The Shelter provides two primary functions: (i) counseling for drop-in and phone-in victims, and (ii) accommodation to women and children who are victims of domestic abuse or sexual exploitation/trafficking. It is the first and only shelter of its kind in Laos and women come from all over the country to utilize its services (particularly those staying at the shelter). It is run by the Lao Women’s Union, an organization that has a network of centres and members across the country.

Victims learn about the Shelter through print and radio announcements or are referred through the Lao Women’s Union network. This network seems to be active, as we even saw a rather “Mao-esque” sign for the Lao Women’s Union in the center of Vientiane.

Those residing at the shelter include women, women with their children, and in some cases children who themselves have been abused and removed from their homes. Length of stay at the Shelter varies from case to case – whereas some women leave within a week, others may be there for over six months.

The compound currently consists of 4 buildings: one dormitory for victims of domestic abuse, one dormitory for victims of sexual exploitation/trafficking, one training/activity building and one ‘main’ building where the staff work, train and counsel. A fifth building is being planned in the compound which will become a vocational training center for women and children from poor communities who are at-risk of exploitation and trafficking. Victims and staff take part equally in all cooking, cleaning and childcare activities.

The Shelter has a staff of 7 who provide legal, psychological and health counseling. Medical care is arranged by the Shelter with attendant doctors at a local hospital when needed. The cost of this is often carried by the Shelter and, like everything else, needs to be funded through donations. Each night 3 staff remain at the Shelter on a rotating basis to look after the victims who are housed there. There is a clear ‘family’ structure in place for the victims, especially the children, with Mme Thoummaly being referred to as ‘Mother’.

The Shelter is entirely reliant on donor aid. Their main donors to date have included are The Asia Foundation, the Japanese Embassy and Unicef.

The Shelter’s operational budget is minimal and it is run with very little in the way of furnishings, office equipment and even basic daily necessities like soap, shampoo, etc. Clothes donated to the Shelter, for example, are altered using donated sewing machines to be able to fit the victims. Much of the vegetable produce that feeds the victims is grown in the compound. We became very aware that the basic day-to-day needs of the Shelter in terms of toiletries, food, clothing cannot be taken for granted. The annual staff salary bill is US$ 13,500.00 and it has been paid by an Asia Foundation grant for the past year. Per our discussions with Asia Foundation, it is expected that the Asia Foundation will provide funding for the salaries for the coming year. This is an area of concern, as the Shelter will constantly need to lobby for donor aid to pay salaries – and the quality of the personnel are what drive the Shelter’s success.
It was a real pleasure to spend time with the Shelter staff. Mme Thoummaly, Soudalack and Lek are especially gracious and thoughtful and their care and concern for this project is evident. Their English is good and they were able to provide very detailed answers to each query that we raised. They are fully invested in the Shelter, even with the challenges of learning on the job (none have worked in this specific environment before as it is a ‘first-of-its-kind’ project in Laos). Each member of staff sees counseling and caring for the victims as their primary job and they are devoted to this activity. Although, she is the Shelter Director and an active member of the Lao Women’s Union, Mme Thoummaly is equally involved in this day-to-day care even with the onerous task of constant fund-raising. It is clear that no human resource is wasted.

The land has been provided by the Lao government and appears to be decent, capable of cultivation, growing vegetables etc… Approx. 2/3 of the land has been cleared and accommodates the buildings on site and grass areas between the buildings. Attempts at beautifying the property are underway, including planting of some flowers, some vegetables and maintenance of the grass areas. Large tiles provide walkways between the buildings – the tiles themselves have been decorated by women / children who have stayed at the shelter.

There is clearly a sense that this is a well-cared for project – even with the minimal resources available to run it.

Activities of the Shelter:

Shelter staff counsel around 8-10 women a day on a drop-in basis. In addition to this, they provide counseling over the telephone. Shelter staff have received training in various areas of expertise, be it psychological counseling or legal counseling (two are qualified lawyers).

Some vocational training is provided, but it would seem that this could be improved. Victims are trained in sewing (the Shelter has three sewing machines for training), organic farming, cooking, domestic work and weaving. At least two women who have received training in cooking have taken up jobs in local hotels / restaurants. They are encouraged to produce items that can be sold at local markets and fresh produce for their own consumption. At this point these activities are not income-generating – a real challenge with the shelter turnover and the care of children who go to the local school every day.

The Shelter is a meeting point for staff, the local police, community leaders, prosecutors and all persons involved in providing assistance to women and children in need. All training, meetings, fundraising and administration takes place in the main building of the Shelter. These activities are currently conducted in an extremely haphazard way as the multi-purpose room is bare and meetings often take place sitting on the floor and in extreme heat.

At the time of the visit there were 9 victims housed at the Shelter, including twin nine-year-old girls who had been raped by their stepfather and whose mother was unable to care for them due to mental illness. Their stay at the Shelter is indefinite as they have nowhere else to go. They attend school during the day and are cared for at night by staff on site.

We were informed that in the first year of operations, the Shelter has housed over 45 women. Capacity is higher, but the costs of maintaining victims are also high (approx. USD3 per day), and the Shelter is still in the process of being outfitted with appropriate bedding, etc… We believe the amount of women sheltered to date is impressive given the resources available.

Use of the multi-purpose room / Needs of the Shelter:

This is a large room in the main building. It is entirely bare and currently unusable due to the heat and the glare from the lack of curtains. The only set of tables and chairs in the main building is an old wooden table with six chairs currently in the directors office. This is the only meeting and training place they have and very inadequate.

In order to help more women and children at the Shelter and improve on the help they are currently providing, Mme Thoummaly made it very clear that they need a room that is equipped to train staff. They also need a meeting room for staff to meet with outside parties and a training room to be used for the victims. It was clear to us that this multi-purpose room would be used extensively once it has been fitted with all the furnishings and equipment to be funded by New Day.

In the evenings, i.e., when not being used during the day for formal matters of training etc…, we believe it will represent a more accommodating room for residents of the shelter to gather, socialize and perhaps even watch a DVD.

The Shelter gives the impression of being a carefully run and solid operation with a very committed staff. The ongoing challenge is to raise enough money to keep it functional. In addition to this the staff will clearly appreciate and benefit from any targeted training that can be provided. Should New Day be able to provide specific skills as identified by Mme Thoummaly to her staff, this would be very helpful. They would probably be concentrated in the areas of vocational training, fund-raising and business administration.

What is New Day's charitable focus?

New Day focuses on helping the neediest children and women in Asia. Members look for charities, educational projects, humanitarian relief organisations, specific orphanages or shelters that New Day can assist. New Day always works in partnership with established charities in Asia. New Day utilizes collected money in two ways; either transforming it into a tangible resource prior to donation, or agreeing to the creation of a tangible resource through a established charity in advance of a financial donation. No blanket financial donations are be made, and we will always attempt to choose projects where those members with time, skills or energy can get involved in where appropriate.

Examples of ways New Day would help might include the following: buying the annual medical supplies for an orphanage, kitting out a playroom or playground for an orphanage or shelter, providing a related school with books and teaching materials, building a soccer pitch, funding counselling for previous sexual or physical abuse, providing bedding, clothes and kitchen facilities for a street children shelter, and so forth. What is important to note is that there is never simply a hand-over of money without a specific goal or follow-through. We will choose projects in a sustainable way and will avoid areas that create long-term dependency.

Meetings

New Day meets every six months in Hong Kong at an appropriate venue, and will work to a fixed agenda which focuses on the following areas:

• An overview of funds available
• A review of current projects
• A presentation or presentations from projects that members would like New Day to get involved in. These can be done by the member themselves or someone from the project who is invited to the meeting to meet the group and talk about how we could contribute to their work.
• A discussion on the merits of the presented projects (any guests would have left at this stage) followed by a firm decision, and if needs be a vote, on where New Day will get involved.
• Miscellaneous: accounts, media, expansion, etc.

Each meeting is minuted and a copy of all the minutes will be kept by the trustees and distributed to all the members. A website will be set up to provide information on the foundation and the projects it supports.

The Structure of New Day

Trustees

New Day will be a group of interested people in Hong Kong who will select a few projects to work with and structure the aid to those projects together. New Day will be incorporated as a non-profit organisation with a memorandum of association drawn up according to Hong Kong law, and a bank account will be opened in the name of the foundation. New Day will be managed by a board of trustees consisting of no fewer than 6 and no more than 10 members. The board of Trustees will be chaired by an elected member. Trustees will be signatories on the New Day bank account and responsible for the payment of funds to designated charities. They will also be responsible for all the banking, accounting and member liaison in that particular year.

Members

Membership is open to anyone on the basis that they make monthly contributions.

A person can become involved with New Day at three possible levels, to the degree to which they choose:

1. 
   Contributor - They can simply contribute financially and play no active role, not attend meetings and not participate in realising any projects. On a regular basis they will be kept up-to-date with New Day's activities.
2. 
   Thinker - The can contribute financially and attend meetings when they are held and perhaps introduce potential projects without getting involved in any implementation.
3. 
   Trustee - They can contribute financially, attend the meetings, propose various projects and actively take part in their setting up and any follow-up that may be required.
   

If someone would like to join, they can simply come along to the next meeting or just start their contributions immediately if they want to limit their involvement to that. If someone is leaving Hong Kong they can choose to discontinue their support, or can continue their monthly contributions if they still wish to be part of New Day’s projects in Asia from wherever they may have relocated.

Contributions and tax deductions

Each group member makes contributions to New Day’s bank account via Autopay on a monthly basis. The amount each member contributes is entirely at their own discretion but we will aim for a contribution of between HK$500 and HK$1000 per month. These contributions can be used as tax deductions according to Hong Kong law. Members will receive a receipt of all their donations for this purpose.