“As a representative of National Committee for Disabled People and the Elderly (NCDE), I am glad to participate in this Okard Redesign workshop. The project gives “Okard” opportunities to persons with disabilities. We are the key driver to support and serve persons with disabilities in two targeted districts. Today all sub-recipients presented updates and various information about the Assistive Products to improve people’s functioning and well-being, economic empowerment and other services along with the success, we also have faced some challenges and difficulties that we need to increase our synergies and work together and today we set up the timeline and action plan for extending the project to ensure we all together achieve the goals of Okard to support persons with disabilities.”
– Sisavath Khomphonh, Director General of NCDE, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare
On 14 December 2021, USAID Okard hosted a project redesign workshop. All Okard partners were in attendance, including the National Committee for Disabled People and the Elderly (NCDE) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, the Department of Health and Rehabilitation (DHR) of the Ministry of Health, the Center for Medical Rehabilitation (CMR), Humanity and Inclusion (HI), the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE), Quality of Life Association (QLA), Association for Rural Mobilization and Improvement (ARMI), Disability Mainstreaming Advisory Service Center (DMAS), the Association for Autism (AfA) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The workshop was informed by an external Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) conducted in August 2021 and focused on making adjustments to each partner’s activities based on the recommendations from the MTE report. For the last two months, partners have been reflecting on the progress made to date and preparing a revised workplan, based on the feasibility to achieve the intended impact of activities in the remaining time of USAID Okard. These preparations culminated in the Redesign Workshop, where each partner had the opportunity to present their revised workplan of key activities and outcomes in pursuit of Okard’s overarching goal: to support disability inclusive development in Lao PDR.
USAID Okard, funded by USAID and implemented by World Education, Inc., improves access to quality healthcare and economic opportunities for persons with disabilities, while also engaging them in policy design and implementation.