ENGAGE-India_Leadership Workshop: Key Learnings and Reflections

A residential workshop was conducted during 30th June and 1st July 2025 as part of Project ENGAGE, in Seva Kendra Calcutta. There were in total 13 participants and 1 parent. 3 members of the research team were present. The main objective of this workshop was to revise both, the various concepts of rights, leadership, etc. that participants had been exposed to as well as the activities that they had been a part of over the years. Through the two-day workshop we also revisited some questions of their identity as disabled women and girls, their views on leadership and concepts around knowledge/praxis.

A group photo of women and girls with disabilities in July 2025

The participants were enthusiastic and active in the sessions. They were keen to learn things they did not know, for instance, the steps to organizing an awareness programme or workshop in their community. At the same time they were articulate about sharing their own experiences. Overall the workshop ended on positive notes, with a whatsapp group having been created (with most of the girls and women becoming a part of it) and plans for a programme organized by them in the autumn of this year.

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On May 4, 2025, the Engaging girls and young women with disabilities across Southern spaces (ENGAGE) project conducted the final local fieldwork for the project in A LĆ°á»›i District, Vietnam. This activity aimed to report research findings to project participants and local partners, fostering two-way dialogue and recognizing the voices of the community.

During the reporting session, the research team summarized the participation journey of women and girls with disabilities in A LĆ°á»›i through three phases:

Phase 1: Building knowledge on community issues
Phase 2: Addressing community issues through concrete actions
Phase 3: Developing networks for collective learning and action

Key research findings presented to the community included: Analysis of the local context and the social position of women and girls with disabilities; Social prejudices and perceptions about disability; Challenges and opportunities in leadership and participation of women and girls with disabilities; Visions for change, and affirmation of the voices and capacities of women and girls with disabilities.

Participants engaged in group discussions to reflect on their leadership journey and provide feedback on the research results. The findings once again affirmed the active participation of women and girls with disabilities. “We were presented with issues that needed to be addressed, and the world got to know about us…”

Through the research results, women and girls with disabilities affirmed their role as agents of change, saying they were “both recipients of information and partners in completing the research outcomes.” A young woman emphasized that listening to and empowering women with disabilities during the information-sharing process is essential. Participants also expressed their desire to widely disseminate the research findings through various formats: community meetings, informational materials, or a compilation of artistic works they created throughout the project journey.

Image 1. Women and girls with disabilities in A LĆ°á»›i District, Vietnam discussing and providing feedback on the research findings

In addition, an art-making activity was carried out to reflect the leadership journey of women and girls with disabilities. Through this activity, participants illustrated the transformations in their journey of capacity building, voice development, and the affirmation of their leadership roles within the community. More than just symbols of change, the artworks also conveyed a message of solidarity—connecting the community of women and girls with disabilities in A Lưới to a broader network of women and girls with disabilities around the world.

Image 2.  Art-making: The leadership journey of women and girls with disabilities in A Luoi district, Vietnam

With the commitments already made through the Women and Girls with disabilities club, the project remains confident in the ongoing and future journey of women and girls with disabilities in affirming their leadership roles.

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Women and Girls with Disabilities and Media Communications: Ways of Bringing about Social Changes

Engendering Disability-Inclusive Development: Vietnam Case Study – EDID 2024

The EDID Vietnam team organized its third local fieldwork in Hanoi from June 1^st to June 4^th,2024. This year’s fieldwork focused on women and girls with disabilities and media communications to enact social changes. Prior to the fieldwork, the women and girls were invited to participate in an online consultative meeting to identify what issues or topics they would consider significant for sharing and learning from one another. This served as a community-engaged opportunity to advise the project team members in our project design and direction.

Interestingly, most participants agreed that media communications have played an important role in their social activism because the media can bring their knowledge and concerns to the public and foster more inclusive communities. Accordingly, this fieldwork aims to empower women and girls with disabilities in media communications to foster social change. We do so by creating an activist space for the participants to: 1) Share their knowledge about the role and impact of media communications for the disability community in general, and for women and girls with disabilities, in particular; 2) To understand their experiences, knowledges, and skills pertaining to media communications; and 3) To identify how they can use the media communication tools to foster social changes.

Women and girls with disabilities created their art-based products as a means of communication

Women and girls with disabilities created their art-based products

During this four-day fieldwork, we organized discussions and presentations on the participants’ experiences with media communications; followed by two arts-based workshops that aim to create communication products, including participatory video-making and collage-making. Creating their art-based communication products also manifested women and girls with disabilities’ political voices using the power of communication. We continued to foster the participants’ reflections on their engagement throughout the project through various reflective activities and discussions.

A young woman presented their own products and communication experiences

A key highlight of this fieldwork is that by engaging in building and organizing the agenda, as well as in sharing their knowledge and creating the media products, the women and girls with disabilities have gradually sharpened their knowledges about the impacts of media and strengthening their leadership skills.

A young woman presented their own products and communication experiences

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ENGAGE_October Workshop- India

On October 3, 2023, 4 girls and 12 young women with disabilities participating in India met to commence the second workshop of the year. This three-day workshop was dedicated to creating a theatre play to be performed on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3). Here the participants played several theatre games to facilitate coordination, learn role-play as a medium of activism and also wrote a script for a play. They also shared their learning experiences in the Youth Leadership Circle (YLC) event and devised ideas through which they could continue to build a network of girls and young women with disabilities in their villages in the district of South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India.

The video shows participants engaging in a theatre game, where one is role-playing as a Tiger (king of the jungle) who suddenly spots a deer and chases it. One picture shows YLC leaders sharing the Manifesto they had made in Vietnam in June, 2023. The second picture shows Dr. Xuan Thuy Nguyen joining us virtually for a meet and greet.

A group of girls and young women presented their manifesto from the YLC workshop

Dr. Nguyen engaged in the workshop virtually

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SUMMARY OF SUPPLEMENTARY DATA ON ISSUES IN RELATION TO THE INITIAL REPORT OF VIETNAM ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CRPD

The Decolonial Disability Studies Collective (DDSC) at ĐÓ°ÉÔ­´´ University has released a Summary of Supplementary Data on Issues in relation to the Initial Report of Vietnam on the Implementation of the Convention on The Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

This report addresses the inquiries of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) for additional information regarding the Vietnamese government’s progress in implementing the CRPD. The report draws data from the Engendering Disability-Inclusive Development (EDID Vietnam) and our previous research. Specifically, it offers supplementary information related to the implementation of Article 6: Women with disabilities; Article 7: Children with disabilities; Article 16: Freedom from exploitation, violence, and abuse; Article 20: Personal mobility; Article 23: Respect for home and the family; and Article 24: Education.

The findings highlight that women and girl with disabilities in Vietnam face multiple barriers in education, public transport, employment, and social services. Despite the assumption of their inclusion in national programs and policies, our research indicates that the intersections of disability, gender, ethnicity, age, and geographical locations create significant obstacles for their participation in these programs.

The English and Vietnamese versions of the report are available at:

[English] Summary of The Supplementary Report on CRPD Implementation

[Vietnamese] Supplementary Report on CRPD Implementation

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On October 11, 2023, representatives of girls and young women with disabilities in India, Vietnam, and South Africa gathered for the Youth Leadership Circle Zoom meeting. This workshop created a space for disabled youth leaders to continue to reflect on their art production, learning, and engagement in the 2023 Youth Leadership Circle (Hue City, Vietnam). It also creates an opportunity for mutual learning across Southern contexts. Finally, it sets a stage for their actions by discussing their “next steps” for local activism.

The image above displays a Zoom screenshot featuring the participation of the Vietnam team, Dr. Thuy Nguyen, Dana Corfield, the India team, Thandile Butana, and the South Africa team, respectively.

Artwork by Vietnamese girl and young women with disabilities show their manifesto. The manifesto delivers a message “Meeting – Sharing – Confidence – Inclusion”. We are women and girls with disabilities who are marginalized and have not had a chance to speak out our voices. We want to establish a Club for A Luoi women and girls with disabilities.”

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Engendering Disability-Inclusive Development (EDID) Vietnam case study: Fieldwork Activities

June 2023

Local workshop and Dialogue Forum: “Eliminating barriers for women and girls with disabilities”

Hanoi, Vietnam

During EDID Vietnam project’s second fieldwork sessions, we undertook two significant activities. The first activity involved a local workshop on 21-22 June 2023, wherein women and girls with disabilities collaborated to identify key issues and to strategize their approach for the upcoming dialogue forum. The workshop therefore sought to further address issues that were identified during the first fieldwork session, and to explore and inform the participants ideas for the upcoming forum.

Subsequently, the dialogue forum took place over two days, from 22 to 23 June 2023, in Hanoi. In collaboration with local partners, including the Hanoi Association of Disabled People (DP Hanoi), UNICEF Vietnam, and the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), a two-day dialogue forum was organized to discuss the issues previously identified by the girls and young women, and to mobilize efforts for the elimination of the barriers they face.

The objectives of the dialogue forum were as follows:

• Sharing the preliminary findings from the first stage of the EDID-Vietnam case study.
• Facilitating policy dialogues concerning two primary areas: (i) the impact of laws and policies affecting the lives of women and girls with disabilities, and (ii) the barriers encountered by them in advocacy and decision-making processes.
• Engaging participants in knowledge-sharing and mobilization efforts concerning these issues.
• Contributing to the establishment of a supportive network and connections for women and girls with disabilities in Vietnam.
• Creating a constructive space that encourages government policymakers, international partners, local communities, and research institutions (including universities) to participate in dialogues supporting women and girls with disabilities in Vietnam.

The dialogue forum garnered interest from various stakeholders, including participants from MOET, the Ministry of Labour Invalids and Social Affairs, leaders from the Association of Disabled People and its affiliated branches, organizations representing people with disabilities, as well as representatives from UNICEF Vietnam, UNDP, the Canadian Embassy, and Humanity and Inclusion Canada.

Participants were provided with an open platform to discuss issues concerning equal access for women and girls with disabilities across various areas. Education emerged as a particularly significant topic of debate, with participants engaging in discussions with the Deputy Director General of the Department of Primary Education.

Throughout the two-day forum, women and girls with disabilities actively shared their knowledge and mobilized support for the identified issues. They drew upon their lived experiences, highlighting the barriers they faced and expressing their unique demands through powerful manifestos. In preparation for this forum, women and girls had worked together for two days in the local workshop to develop their agenda. They also participated in discussions on the use of art-based methods to enhance their advocacy efforts. The manifestos of women and girls with disabilities were conveyed through collages and artworks, offering a novel approach to capture the attention of policymakers and the community while advocating for their concerns and leveraging their expertise. The second fieldwork session revealed an improvement in women’s leadership and girls’ participation, with the women actively supporting the younger girls in raising their voices in the dialogues.

Through this forum, representatives from the government and stakeholders gained valuable insights into the barriers faced by women and girls with disabilities in accessing education, employment, and other public services. Moreover, the forum presented a distinctive opportunity for national and international disability rights activists to exchange knowledge and insights regarding their activism within the local and global contexts through a panel discussion that created connections with transnational activism, all in an effort to remove barriers for women and girls with disabilities.

A young deaf girl was presenting her manifesto. Through her presentation, she addressed the issue of inclusive education for the deaf community.

A young girl shared her experiences regarding barriers to accessing books in braille for blind students.

A young girl raised the issue of violence against students with disabilities.

Women supported girls in presenting their manifestos.	Women and girls worked in groups to develop their manifestos.

Artwork by women and girls with disabilities show their manifestos.

 Ms Saowalak Thongkuay – an activist for the rights of women and girls with disability in Thailand and the Asia Pacific – share her experiences.

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Learning With and From the Global South: Engaging Girls and Young Women with Disabilities Across Southern Spaces

Objectives: The Youth Leadership Circle (YLC) workshop aims to:

• Create a transnational space for girls and young women with disabilities across three project sites to engage in network building and enhance learning experiences regarding their approaches to leadership and activism.
• Facilitate opportunities to engage across the three transnational sites to promote a shared collective agenda for and of women and girls with disabilities across three locations.
• To explore and develop a culturally relevant approach that adapts and translates this agenda to each of their local contexts.

Attendees:

• Twelve girls and young women with disabilities from Vietnam, India, and South Africa & caretakers of the women and girls.
• Do Hoang Duc Anh, Nguyen Thi Yen Anh, Phan To Mai (UNICEF Staff).
• Professors Vo Xuan Tung and Nguyen Truong Tho from Hue University of Sciences.
• Professors Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Karen Maree Soldatic, Dr. Huynh Thi Anh Phuong, and Ms. Truong Thi Xuan Nhi (The Research Team Members)

Activities:

June 12, 2023, marked the opening sections of the Youth Leadership Circle – one of the unique transnational learning networks of young women and girls with disabilities across three countries from the Global South including Vietnam, South Africa, and India.

The activities included:

1. Storytelling of young women and girls with disabilities through collage making: Each of the participants made their collage that tells their personal stories of leadership and activism, using different materials to create their art.

Image 1: A woman with visual impairment participated in the collage making

Image 2: A deaf girl from India presented her artwork through sign language

2. Talk Sections delivered by Dr. Vo Hoang Yen – the Founder and Executive director of the Disability Research and Capacity        Development Center (DRD) and Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tam – the President of the Youth with Disabilities Club in Nam Dinh province.

Image 3: Dr. Vo Hoang Yen shared her journey in disability activism

3. Reflection on the participants’ leadership journeys

The participants showed great commitment and dedication to their learning journeys, engaging in different forms of knowledge production through art-making, music performance, and community building. They reflected on multiple barriers they had encountered and how this may set them up for their journey to activism. The young leaders also imagined their leadership futures to prepare themselves for change in their schools and communities.

Image 4: A girl with disabilities from South Africa shared her leadership roadmap for the future

Image 5: At the end of the day, all participants joined a city tour in Hue city

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ENGAGE conducted its second fieldwork in A Luoi, Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam, from 11-13 February 2023.

The following are the specific objectives of the three-day fieldwork:

[1] Conduct data analysis activities involving the participation of women and girls with disabilities.

[2] Provide opportunities for participants to build knowledge on disabilities, leadership, and the role of girls with disabilities from their perspectives and lived experiences.

[3] Gathering knowledge from the community’s stakeholders’ cultural, historical, and traditional context.

Fieldwork included the following activities:

– Reflecting on Cellphim: Women and girls with disability shared their views on stories created from the Cellphim method in the first fieldwork.

– An art activity on the theme of “Imagining Disability”. Participants used artistic drawings/symbols to imagine what disability is.

– A leadership model building: The participants were exercised from their perspectives within the community. Through group discussions, members identified critical issues that needed to be addressed; Identified members/groups/organizations involved in solving the issue and described the specific roles of members (including disabled women and girls) in resolving the issue (through images/diagrams/language).

– Discussing the roles of girls with disabilities in the community and voting for members to join the young leadership group. By identifying the qualities and skills needed for leadership, participants had the opportunity to understand themselves and other members of the group. They could then nominate and elect capable representatives to speak for the group.

– Interview a key informant regarding indigenous knowledge and the community leadership model.

Through activities, we achieved some significant outcomes:

• The participants participated in the data analysis process.
• Participants began to change their views of disabilities. They see themselves connected to disabilities.
• Girls with disabilities were more open in expressing their opinions, and young disabled women demonstrated their ability to coordinate the group.
• Participants shared an initial understanding of leadership and identified a leader’s qualities during the discussions.
• Three women and girls were voted as representatives for participants to join the Youth leadership circle event.
• Overviews of indigenous knowledge, community leaders’ roles, and perspectives on the leadership abilities of women and girls with disabilities within the local context are provided by the key informants.

Picture 1: Present the group discussion findings on leadership model building.

Picture 2: Creative activity “Imagining Disability.”

Picture 3: Exhibition “Imagining Disability”

Picture 4: A group discussion on leadership model building

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