Linked with Boualaphet Chounthavong – Laos.
Village Focus International envisions a world in which every community has the capacity, opportunity, and legal right to improve its quality of life. VFI’s mission is to invest in local staff and leaders working to design and implement
projects that create positive change in their own communities by bridging international support to local action. (full text).
Non-profit U.S.-based organization empowering communities and leaders in Laos, Cambodia, and Southern India. Incorporated in 2000 by a group of Lao people and two Americans who have worked together for over ten years. Grassroots model that differs from large development organizations, known to be ineffective and wasteful, by keeping overhead costs low and emphasizing local leadership. (full text).
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Cambodia: The Khmer Rouge regime, responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people, brought Cambodia’s flourishing society to a halt in 1975. The resulting years of war, isolation, and uncertainty lasted until 1998. (full text).
Laos: Laos is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It has a population of 5 million, the majority of whom are ethnic minorities practicing subsistence living. (full text).
India: Since its independence from Britain in 1947, Indian civil society has made great strides in developing initiatives to alleviate poverty, develop local leadership, empower women, improve education, and promote public health. (full text).
Mission Statement: Village Focus International envisions a world in which every community has the capacity and legal right to improve its quality of life. VFI’s mission is to provide non-formal education and training in healthcare, sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, and legal protection to communities with the greatest needs and the least access to assistance.
To achieve this mission, Village Focus International recognizes the following principles:
- The right to a basic level of healthcare and education services;
- Community participation in local and national policy-making;
- Gender equality in planning and decision-making;
- Sustainable natural resource management as an integral part of community and national development;
- Land tenure, co-management and user rights over land and natural resources;
- A transparent and just legal system with equal access and protection.
(full text).