Building Trust: Partnerships for Gender Justice in Laos

The lives of many women in Laos are shaped by inequality. A World Bank study reveals that almost one-third of partnered women have experienced gender-based violence, and only 20% of victims reported it to the authorities. The pursuit of gender equality is at the heart of the work carried out by the Association for Development of Women and Legal Education (ADWLE), which has been a Helvetas partner since 2014.

ADWLE’s work relies on strategic partnerships — with the government, members of the judiciary, law enforcement, village chiefs, village mediation units and INGOs like Helvetas. In this interview, Inthana Bouphasavanh, founder and director of ADWLE, shares what those partnerships look like in practice and what locally led organizations need to sustain and grow their operations.

Who are key partners you work with to further ADWLE's mission? 

On the development side it is Helvetas and The Asia Foundation. Our government partners are the Vientiane Capital Judicial Department, the Ministry of Justice, the Lao Women Union and the district judicial office. We also work with the Gender Development Association and the Lao CSO Coordination Committee, which operates across the country and has more than 80 association members that work on community development.

Why were these partners chosen?

We have had good experiences in writing proposals with Helvetas and The Asia Foundation and won several projects together. During the implementation of these projects, we have seen a very good collaboration with my staff. They learn a lot of technical knowledge, as well as finance management and tools, which is essential for helping us produce high quality financial reports.

Since 2016, we have also had a good partnership with the Vientiane Capital Judicial Department. They are very keen to work with us and help us implement projects by providing a smooth MoU process. The reason for this is that most CSOs and NGOs implement projects outside of the capital, Vientiane, in other provinces. ADWLE is one of the only ones to implement projects in this province and so they want to support us by making the process as easy as possible. The Ministry of Justice, too, is always helpful in giving us the green light to help us progress our work.

What are some ways you work with these partners?

Trainings on gender-based violence (GBV) and human trafficking are the launchpad for our work — they create shared understanding and build a network that can carry the work forward. When we start a project, we identify all the stakeholders and invite them to the same training.

The main participants in the trainings are typically people involved in the judicial system. This includes those that make up the protective framework and can ensure GBV is fought, like law enforcement officers, judges and prosecutors. Government officials, village chiefs, village mediation units, law students and teachers also join. Before our training, many don’t know about GBV or the right procedures and process for handling these cases.

We also aim for a gender balance among our participants.

Sometimes the training is conducted by our staff, but for advanced legal topics we partner with local law firms to ensure the content is high quality and provides expert insights.

The trainings are anchored in a participatory approach. In addition to educating people, they serve as a place to have all stakeholders come together, establish new contacts and share lessons learned. People appreciate the opportunity to talk about their experiences, and a safe space is created for all participants to raise their voices — even women have the bravery to speak up in this environment. It is also very interesting for ADWLE because the participants often provide evidence for GBV, which we can use to identify victims and offer help.

Though trainees may start as strangers, they end up creating lasting connections. Participants are ultimately building a comprehensive referral system — of police officers, hospital workers and judges – across different districts that works together in fighting GBV.

Can you tell us about your partnership with Helvetas?

Helvetas was there at the beginning of ADWLE, helping us build capacity. We’ve worked on five projects together over the last 12 years. We really value Helvetas’ transparent approach as well as their accountability. We also feel like Helvetas really cares about CSOs and is respectful to even the smallest organizations.

They respect the rights of ADWLE. Helvetas built a real connection and friendship with us, and we have a lot of mutual trust. We are both confident in the work the other is doing. Even if something does not go according to plan, we always resolve issues in a very peaceful way together.

The trust Helvetas has in local partners and their potential is also visible in my personal story. Many women in Laos do not know their rights and know the law — this is a gap I identified and wanted to change. In 2010, I was applying to formalize ADWLE as an association with the government. Helvetas saw my motivation to work for the rights of women in Lao PDR and supported me to achieve this by enabling me to attend women’s workshops abroad. This built my confidence that I could start ADWLE, stand on my own two feet, and do a good job serving women and vulnerable groups in Laos.

What are some of your key learnings about what it takes to have good partnerships that are effective and mutually beneficial?

Good partnerships start with trust. They also require accountability, transparency, solidarity and alignment on ethics.

Helvetas believes partnerships must be locally led in order for development work to be sustainable. Do you agree? If so, why? What should be done differently in the future to ensure more local organizations like ADWLE can take the lead?

I completely agree. Local actors like CSOs are working at the grassroots level. We understand the Lao context, especially on the village level. CSOs are the voice and representative of the people. People often cannot raise their voices by themselves. We listen to them, hear what they need and what they would like to improve to better their living conditions — and carry this message forward to donors and decisionmakers.

There are three key dimensions to help us continue working and take on more responsibility and lead development: funds, training and IT support. We are dependent on donors to continue our work — but need more coaching on pursuing sustainable funding. All our services are free for the victims. This means they must be financed in another way. ADWLE is the only organization in Laos providing lawyers to represent victims of GBV in court, and many GBV court cases last for years, meaning multi-year funding is critical.

We would also like to extend the services that we can provide to victims. For this we need more funding but also more training. Capacitating our lawyers and legal service providers on gender sensitivity is essential, as well as learning more about best practices in delivering legal aid.

Finally, we need technical experts to help us with our databases. Our legal aid clinic collects a lot of victim data. It is important that this data is maintained and used to effectively create awareness on the realities of GBV.