Vocational training and meaningful jobs for persons who are blind or visually impaired

The Nhat Hong Centre for the Blind and Visually Impaired trains its students so as to enable them to join the open labour force as well as the supported labour markets in Ho Chi Minh City. The programme creates a personalized career plan that is not only tailored to the job search, but also to personal interests and skills.

The Nhat Hong Centre for the Blind and Visually Impaired trains its students so as to enable them to join the open labour force as well as the supported labour markets in Ho Chi Minh City. The centre’s career training programme creates a personalized career plan for each individual, thereby not only supporting their job seeking process but also basing it on their personal interests and skills.

Problems Targeted

If people with vision impairments in Viet Nam find jobs at all, they are most often low-profile jobs without the potential of developing a career.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

The Nhat Hong Centre is working with the blind and visually impaired to train and educate them in skills such as agriculture, crafts, music and dance, food and drink service, ICT and office work, translation, teaching and caring, business, and domestic economy. A vocational counsellor, who helps students to choose a career and to prepare for its required qualifications, meets with the students at the centre on a regular basis. The counsellor also works out an individual transition plan to help each student to be as prepared as possible to enter the labour market upon graduation.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

The vocational training programme has a total cost of about US$75,000 per year. Overall sales of products and services generate US$30,000 per year, which covers 40 per cent of the programme budget. The difference is paid for by supportive NGOs, such as CBM and ICEVI. In addition, the programme receives support from some of its alumni.

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